Q&A: Caryn Sandler, Partner, Chief Knowledge And Innovation Officer, Gilbert + Tobin

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.

Here is our interview with the Chief Knowledge And Innovation Officer and Partner at Gilbert + Tobin, Caryn Sandler.

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WHERE DO YOU SEE THE LEGAL INDUSTRY IN 5 YEARS?

Innovation and transformation offerings mainstream - It will be standard for law firms and legal service providers to have innovation and transformation offerings, but they will vary significantly in terms of capability. Legal service providers who have been early adopters of automation and disruptive technologies and new ‘ways of working’ will be efficient operators in this space, whereas those who have been more reluctant to embrace the change will find it difficult to meet client demands and expectations and change internal mindsets.

Personalised client delivery - Clients will expect a more personalised client experience with respect to workflows, engagements, and the delivery of legal advice. Increased access to, and smart use of, data will make this achievable. 

More prolific use of legal technology by in-house teams - Increasing focus by in-house teams on efficiency and delivering timely and accurate legal advice to the business will drive the adoption of technology in -house. This will grow the capacity of in-house teams to keep work in-house, further increasing the need of firms to differentiate their offering to win the work that makes its way to an external legal service provider. 

Competition for talent - Legal service providers will be competing for talent as much as they will be competing for the work. Legal service providers will need to focus on their internal policies, culture and ‘ways of working’ to win and retain talent as much as they focus on business development to win work.

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WHICH EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES ARE YOU MOST EXCITED BY AND WHY?

Improvements in natural language processing and large language models (such as GPT- 3) creates exciting opportunities to increase the range of use-cases for AI in legal.

AI-assisted document drafting and contract review can help streamline legal service delivery, including reviewing or marking up a contract against a customised playbook, and reflecting risk appetite and internal policies for legal sign-off within workflows.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is creating exciting opportunities for legal professionals to act as citizen developers within their organisations. RPA can be used to create both very simple and very complex process automations, and it is this flexibility that creates so much value for users.

There are low barriers to use and it is easy to scale depending on the size of the legal service provider / in -house team, making RPA an attractive option for legal teams of all sizes. 

Systems such as matter management and contract lifecycle management tools are transforming how in-house teams are working, rapidly increasing capacity for in-house teams to focus on high-value legal work. The integrations available within these platforms allow in-house teams to connect them with other systems already in use, allowing organisations to create seamless workflows that touch multiple parts of the business.

This transforms how the legal function is viewed within the business and increases their capacity to operate as strategic advisors.

WHAT IS CURRENTLY HOLDING LAW FIRMS BACK FROM INNOVATING?

Providing high quality legal advice remains the top priority for lawyers and finding the time and energy in between business-as usual activities to focus on continuous improvement is one of the biggest barriers to innovating. Even firms with strong capabilities in the innovation and transformation space will be hindered by a lack of capacity amongst their lawyers to help develop new tools or test and adopt new technologies or ‘ways of working’.

Effective innovation also requires creativity, and it is difficult to enter a creative mindset in the fast-paced transactional environment which is common in law firms. Providing lawyers with the time and headspace to think creatively will be critical but a challenge. 

A lack of talent in the legal innovation and transformation space also remains a barrier. As a new and emerging area, there is a shortage of people with the right skillsets and experience to help bring about innovation within law firms.

Increased training and development opportunities for individuals with an interest and natural ability in this space is required to foster talent.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LAWYER LOOK LIKE?

The future lawyer most importantly has a growth mindset (as opposed to a fixed mindset) and is open to new ‘ways of working’ and experimentation. They are aware that their competencies will be assessed against varied criteria as opposed to just their legal skills – however, it should be noted that strong legal skills will be even more important than ever as technology is capable of automating routine and more basic legal tasks.

Lawyer competency models now incorporate skills such as project management, technology, design thinking, change management, and the business of law, and future lawyers will work towards and be assessed against these competencies. Legal Design will be prominent for the future lawyer as they understand that legal systems and processes are the result of design (whether conscious or unconscious) and they will appreciate how they can use design principles to create good work products, systems, processes and experiences for everyone.

Lawyers will work alongside individuals with diverse skillsets in technology, project management etc. to deliver legal work to clients.

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