Ever wonder where your tech abilities sit in relation to other lawyers? Find out what your legal tech type is and then increase your tech-knowledge-y (see what we did there?) with some tailored tech homework.

Verity White, Legal Counsel & Automation Coach at Telstra, will be presenting at the upcoming Legal Innovation & Tech Fest in June. Here, she outlines four legal tech types and details which skills you need to build in order to become a legal tech champion.

For the TECH OSTRICHES

According to the ACC’s 2017 benchmarking report, the top 3 technologies used by in house lawyers were:

• Electronic legal libraries
• Electronic document repositories / virtual data rooms; and
• Document management software

Those are great places to start if you don’t want to be left behind.

Read this great article (Technology – Help or hindrance) by ACC member Catherine James for a balanced approach to technology opportunities and practical action steps for the technologically reluctant.

For the TECH CAUTIOUS

Test out the ACC’s SmartDocs Confidentiality Agreement builder

Read (or listen via audiobook!) Richard Susskind and Daniel Susskind, The Future of the Professions

For the TECH RECEPTIVE

Read over this great presentation from Lexvoco at a 2017 ACC member event, Simplifying legals, identifying and reducing inefficiency in legal processes using lean theory. Consider the seven areas of waste and critically consider the work your legal team does in a different ways.

If you just love hearing about developments in tech, read over these ACC presentations on Drone Laws or Doing Business in a Digital Era: where is the law up to?

For the TECH CHAMPIONS

You might be a leader with tech in your team, can you go further? Perhaps it’s time for you to contribute your love of tech to social enterprises or not for profit organisations.

Try this basic automated letter-building tool, developed to help people seek a formal warning instead of an infringement in Victoria. Perhaps you could build something similar in an area you’re passionate about.

Key Tech Takeaways

1. Make friends with tech | Your legal team can start seeing tech as a teammate, not the competition.
2. Pick a pain point to patch | If you or your company have pain points at work, it’s likely there are tech solutions to help. Pick a problem you are passionate about solving to keep motivated during the legal tech learning curve.
3. Tailor the way you tackle tech | Not all legal tech is perfect for all legal teams or business. Check the Legal Tech Type table to see suggestions on tech for you to try and some key tech skills to practice.

About the Author

Verity White is one of Telstra’s brightest legal innovators. Currently in the Retail, Media, and Marketing team at Telstra, Verity White is an enthusiastic member of Telstra’s Legal Innovation Forum getting involved with the Automation and Visual Contracting streams.

Verity was a top-rated presenter at Legal Innovation & Tech Fest where she presented her Legal Innovation Framework. You can download her free Legal Innovation Framework eBook here.