Q&A: Giles Thompson, Head of Growth at Avvoka

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 Head of Growth at Avvoka, Giles Thompson.

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE LEGAL INDUSTRY IN 5 YEARS?

The legal industry will have passed an inflexion point, with most private practitioners, in-house legal functions and alternative legal services providers deep into their digital transformation process. The signs of digital transformation will be most pronounced with in-house legal functions due to their pronounced trend of being demanded to do "ever more with less". The key technologies that will be being used to augment legal services will be contract and process automation tools and ever more advanced contract review/drafting and e-discovery tools powered by machine learning.

WHICH EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES ARE YOU MOST EXCITED BY AND WHY?

Artificial intelligence (AI): AI tools, particularly in drafting assistants powered by machine learning based recommendation engines, which will empower lawyers to respond to counterparty amendments faster and in a highly data-informed way. This is hugely exciting as junior lawyers will be empowered to manage high-value negotiations much earlier in their careers, with the benefit of these tools.

Structured contractual data protocols: More effective data analysis of structured contract portfolios will enable organisations to improve their deal completion efficiency by spotting the common negotiation bottlenecks within standard documents that cause the negotiation friction that kills or delays deals so that these can be removed. In addition, by capturing and analysing data about document negotiations, lawyers can intelligently alter existing standard processes to strategically playbook and smoothen their negotiations and stock responses going forward.

WHAT IS CURRENTLY HOLDING LAW FIRMS BACK FROM INNOVATING?

A key thing holding firms back is the idea that if legal processes are automated, junior lawyers won't learn. However, we argue that the process of automating contracts can enhance understanding. You can’t automate what you don’t fully understand.

Another key objection is time. We often hear: "We don’t have the time to learn a coding language or build an  expert team". However, nowadays, many legal technologies are entirely no code, so a dedicated team isn't necessary, and a shallow learning curve means that lawyers can be technological disrupters themselves; it doesn't need to be outsourced.

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WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LAWYER LOOK LIKE?

A future lawyer combines the existing prerequisites of excellent client service, knowledge of the legal mechanics in their area of focus and attention to detail with technological understanding. However, the fundamental role of a lawyer will never change.

A lawyer will always be an empathiser who anticipates client wants and needs and presents complex information to clients in a concise, relevant and clear way.

To achieve this, future lawyers will need to be technology literate and embrace it in their day to day work, whether it be automating contracts or streamlining their contract management process.The legal industry is open to and enthusiastically adopting legal tech.

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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