
The fact that lawyers may be ignored by more tech-savvy industries, leaving them out in the cold, is something that has been identified as a real threat by a legaltech expert this week.

Speaking a an online event, Rick Seabrook, (left) founder of law firm technology consultancy Panoram, said he was unsure whether the legal industry was capable of competing with financial and insurance businesses, which were more adept at attracting disruptors and avoiding using legal services in the traditional way.
Law firms need to have the courage to employ diverse and even ‘abrasive characters’ who can help disrupt the sector and ensure it does not fall behind other, major industries.
He was backed up by former government technology minister Ed Vaizey, who agreed law firms had to avoid recruiting new lawyers who looked like the existing leadership.
“Will legal be able to keep up… Or will they ultimately get designed out of the system?” Seabrook said.
law firms had to be willing to bring in disruptors, who he described as “change agents”
“Think about fintech, think about insure tech, where a lot of those new propositions, new products are actually being developed with the legal contribution already embedded into the systems.”
He said that law firms had to be willing to bring in disruptors, who he described as “change agents”, when they found the world of fintech or similar more exciting and lucrative.
“How do you encourage change agents to come into your industry? At the moment, frankly, very few of them would consider legal as a rich ground for going in and doing something exciting.
“How do we recruit them and then retain them and reward them? They are often quite abrasive people who churn things up a bit, which is what you need in the early phase [of digital transformation].”
Kathy Valentine, director of knowledge and practice innovation at global law firm Dentons in Washington DC, agreed, saying: “These are often not popular people within their organisations.”
Ed Vaizey, who was tech minister between 2010 and 2016 and previously a family law barrister, said the problem with the legal profession embracing disruption and technology was its make-up.
“It’s behind because it is led by people like me: white, middle-class, Oxbridge-educated, middle-aged men, who are not exactly at the forefront of innovation.”
Instead of simply seeking out graduates from prestigious universities who might one day become partner, law firms should have “an element of humility about it” because they would be hiring people who knew a lot more in some respects about “the digital world we now live in than many of the senior partners in that law firm”.
Mr Vaizey, who stood down at last year’s election, said the legal profession needed fresh thinking that came with diversity, but also leadership from government and the courts.
The key, he said, was “radically rethinking about how the law is done because of technology, rather than trying to shoehorn technology into an analogue system”.
Source: Legal Futures
More from LawFuel
- How Meredith Connell Brought Some ‘Human Delight’ To The WorkplaceWellbeing in the legal marketplace has become more important for law firms and Meredith Connell in New Zealand has shown the way with some innovative design features
- Australian Football League Faces Unprecedented Class Action Suit by 60 Former Players Over Head InjuriesAn unprecedented lawsuit has been taken against the AFL as 60 players take action in respect of head injuries and concussions suffered while playing AFL
- DLA Piper’s Major Lateral Hire Raid on DentonsDLA Piper scored a major patent team with a hire from Dentons in a big boost for DLA Piper and a setback for Dentons
- The Most Influential Women in New Zealand LawThe most influential women in New Zealand law revealed
- How to Boost Your Law Firm’s Online Visibility: Key Tips For Law Firm SEO in 2023Boost your law firm’s online visibility with these key tips using tactics in 2023 including great law firm content marketing tactics.
- 5 Reasons Why Every Small Business Should Hire a Business Attorney . . From A Small Business Legal ExpertSmall businesses are the backbone of the American economy, and as such, they must be …
- Lawyers in Australia Face Big Decisions: Which Firms to Join, Which to Leave in 2023?Last week, Lawyers Weekly and Momentum Intelligence released their rankings of the Top 25 Attraction …
Lawyers in Australia Face Big Decisions: Which Firms to Join, Which to Leave in 2023? Read More »