Legal Tech Goes Boom: What Does That Mean for Lawyers?
Most practicing lawyers are immersed in legal technology, without following the news about legal technology. I understand that: I use Microsoft Office everyday; but, I don’t follow the news about Microsoft’s larger machinations. Of course, legal technology is a smaller subset of technology; and, many states have now added Comment 8 to Rule 1.1 of their lawyers’ rules of professional conduct, which suggest s that a lawyer’s general competency is tied to her competency respecting the use of law firm technology. And, even if that doesn’t set up a requirement for lawyers to follow legal technology news, those same lawyers should at least understand that that news affects them in some significant ways. In the first instance, funding for legal technology companies means changes to the technology you already use. But, funding for legal technology also means that there will be new technologies coming to the fore of which you should al...