Q&A: Brian Tang, Founding Executive Director, Law, Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship Lab, The University Of Hong Kong

The way that legal services are delivered is fast changing due to advances in technology and business model innovation. This is resulting in a gradual shift towards affordable, standardised services and efficiencies in how law firms deliver services. We interviewed thought leaders on the changing legal industry, emerging technologies impacting the sector, factors holding law firms back and what the future lawyer looks like.

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Here is our interview with the Founding Executive Director, Law, Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship Lab at The University Of Hong Kong, Brian Tang.

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE LEGAL INDUSTRY IN 5 YEARS?

In the coming years, I see various providers of legal services continuing to advance in their respective lawtech journeys at different paces. Amongst law firms, some will introduce differentiated tech-based product offerings aiming to provide client stickiness in a way that does not cannibalise their existing service offerings. Others will focus more on behind-the-scenes productivity tools that allow for better output of their fee earners.

Amongst legal and compliance departments, many more will be embracing more lawtech tools to “do more with less” as their own internal clients become more tech savvy after their work-from-home experiences during COVID-19. This in turn should impact law firm service offerings.

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WHICH EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES ARE YOU MOST EXCITED BY AND WHY?

I am actually most excited by the rise of no code/low code technologies that assist with document automation and workflow process. These technologies are already being used in many other corporate and commercial contexts, and in the case of legal services, puts more of the power in the hands of lawyers (private practice and in-house) and even law students.

Legal professionals are much more comfortable using logic and rules-based systems to apply their domain knowledge to aspects of legal services that can be automated for efficiency and access, leaving critical thinking and judgment calls to the human legal professionals. In this case, lawyers do not really need to code (unless the definition of “coding” is broadened).

The ease of use should allow for inclusive creation of lawtech tools by non-legal professionals (with the guidance of licensed legal professionals) that can be audited for accuracy. More importantly, more creators means that such no code/low code tools can also assist with access to justice for those who are not otherwise be well served by the legal and justice system.

At LITE Lab@HKU, we are already actively engaging with this approach with our law and other students co-designing and creating proof-of-concepts for real-world problem statements and pain points with legal departments, law firms, NGOs and startups, and are honoured to be the only university initiative nominated for the inaugural FT Innovative Lawyer’s Collaborative Innovation Award.

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WHAT IS CURRENTLY HOLDING LAW FIRMS BACK FROM INNOVATING?

Legal futurist Richard Suskind says it well: “It is tough to tell a room  of millionaires that their business model does not work.”

In jurisdictions where regulation of the provision of legal services is  being liberalised, newer business models, higher investment levels and increased competition should drive more law firm innovation. In other more traditionally regulated jurisdictions, market forces should gradually change practices as more legal department clients seek changes in legal service delivery, especially for the multinational clients who have experienced alternative legal service offerings in the more liberal jurisdictions, and learn what is possible.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LAWYER LOOK LIKE?

Our LITE Lab@HKU is part of an emerging pedagogical approach of creating law school technology-orientated “learning by doing” experiential labs, and LITE Lab is an acronym for Law, Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship at The University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law. Law labs have a variety of approaches and emphasis,  and we are increasing working together to create global communities of practice through our Law Lab Collab to better future-proof our legal professionals and inclusively grow legal service delivery.

While there are a few models on being a successful 21st century legal professional, I believe that, like other knowledge-based professionals such as doctors, legal professionals essentially need to three mindsets and skillsets to succeed in the technology age:

(1) Client-centric mindset to improve the lawyer’s value proposition;

(2) Process-conscious mindset to improve operational efficiency; and

(3) Technology-friendly mindset to improve domain expertise.

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To this end, ACMI and LITE Lab@HKU organised Hong Kong’s first lawtech and regtech hackathons to give legal practitioners first-hand and often first-time experience with these mindsets and skillsets, and have plans for more in the future when COVID-19 concerns subside.

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To find out what 14 other thought leaders had to say on the future of legal services, download the full 21st Century Lawyer report at www.newlawacademy.com/report