The union between technology and law became very popular in the last few years. Although, technology has not been the only disrupter of the legal industry, it was and still is one of the most popular. This innovative "friendship " takes me to my first internship, which involved nothing but sorting through a huge pile of dusty files. Also, one of my clients who seems so resistant to letting go of his physical files and every time I walk into his office, I feel like he may need to rent another floor just for his files. Luckily, he owns the entire building.
You may find some humor in my stories, because I do too, however, this is the truth and it can be very overwhelming and inefficient. So, the biggest favor that technology did to law was to eliminate the need of accumulating numerous files, having to go through them and even cleaning them up. Yes, you may not have thought about the cleaning part, but I did because I had to inhale the dust for three months. So, law firms that had a chance to experience the cloud legal software would agree with me. It did become a lifesaver.
However, the cloud solution did not eliminate completely the need of storing some of the documents, so if you are working remotely or run a virtual law firm, you will still need to either rent an in office storage or find a way to store the files in your house. Some of the documents that must be kept in the physical files are: originals, CMRRs, DVDs or flash drives, transcripts, etc.
Also, COVID-19 pushed courts to transform the way they are handling their best practice. Zoom meetings replaced in-person hearing across the country. Instead of having to carry your files with you, all you need to do now is to share them via Zoom feature. Not to mention the saved time on travelling to and from court, waiting for the Judge to become available or even worst having to return from a hearing because of a last minute cancellation. Today, even if the Judge is running late and a hearing is cancelled, for whatever reason, without you being notified, you will be ok with that because you are in the comfort of your home. I personally like going to court, but it can become very daunting and overwhelming when you run on a super busy schedule, so I do welcome the Zoom hearings.
In addition, due to the pandemic, some of the legal services were qualified as essential, meaning that the court e-filing system was extended to more cases that it was before the entire world shut down. I can see this as being of very big help. However, this part of the judicial system is also not perfect and not complete. Some of the matters still cannot be e-filed and to be able to convert a paper file to an e-file can take some time.
Another big step that was achieved due to the most recent events and with the help of the technology was enforcing virtual notary, in states like New York, and e-signature "as is" and with no need for notary in states like Illinois. I found this to be of big help as well. The downside of that is that you will still need to mail the original signed copy to your notary. So, if before you were able to notarize a document at your bank, free of charge, now you will have to cover the postage fee, which sometimes can be pretty high or take too much time.
Real estate is another area where technology met the law in a very creative and I would say transformative way. With so many co-working spaces available, one doesn't need to worry about leasing an office and everything else that comes with it. It is true that this also deprives us of the feeling of pride and ownership, which we all like very much, however, the benefits that come with the virtual offices exceed the downsides. My favorite part about virtual offices is the opportunity to meet with likeminded legal entrepreneurs and not only whom you can share with the day-to day experiences you are going through. In addition, you have the benefit of working from a fancy office located in one of the most prestigious zipcodes in your area, and many others perks that come with it. However, because there is no such thing as perfection, technology did fail law in this area as well by separating more than uniting the people. The sense of the office community transformed into something I am still trying to find the right word for.
As you can see, although I find the legal industry the most stubborn and conservative in terms of transformation, technology accompanied by some of the most recent events was still able to move some of the mountains. What other transformations are you looking forward to?