Modern technology is continuously reshaping industries nowadays. As beneficial as implementing new tech can be, it's always quite disruptive to do so at first. Every industry needs time to properly adapt to new technologies before they actually become an asset. A perfect example of this scenario is the law industry. The fact of the matter is that no industry can avoid the changes imposed by new tech.

The legal sector is now faced with new processes and modernized workflows as a result of a digital transformation. This seems beneficial at first glance, but in reality, it's actually quite disruptive for the industry that managed to withstand the impact of technological advancements so far.

In other words, the legal sector wasn't affected as much due to their traditional way of doing things has proven to be efficient. However, modernization is no longer just an option but a necessity for such industries, which means law firms, will have to start adopting modern solutions. That being said, here are a few ways technology has an effect on the legal profession.

New market demand

Like any other industry today, the legal sector must abide by the needs of its clients. Consumer behavior is known to change due to the new technologies on the market and consumer expectations are on the rise as well. These new trends create urgency for independent lawyers and law firms to improve their operations in order to remain relevant as well as competitive on the market.

Therefore, anyone in the law profession will eventually have to opt for the right products and the right solutions that modern technology can provide. For example, the traditional use of paper in the legal sector is slowly being replaced by digital solutions, such as electronic filings and billings. Also, paper databases are being replaced by modern e-libraries.

What's more, lawyers rely on management tools and software solutions to manage their everyday tasks. Even though these new solutions are a step towards improved efficiency and performance for legal professionals, it's quite a deviation from how things used to be.

The impact of artificial intelligence (AI)

The AI technology has generated a lot of attention across various industries, the legal sector included. Although still in the early stages of development, the AI technology is already being used by numerous companies and law firms are no exception there. In addition, there a lot of talk about AIs potential and possible uses in the legal sector as well.

As an example, there's talk about AI judges and legal robots being planned for the not so distant future. However, as mentioned before, AI technology is still being developed so robot-lawyers are still just a theory, but AIs machine and deep learning capabilities, as well as its natural language recognition, are already in use today in one way or another.

For instance, many lawyers rely on a legal transcription company that leverages the power of AI to help transcribe court hearings and other related tasks. Moreover, AI can help automate and streamline various processes that otherwise require manual labor.

Negative implications

Technology's disruptiveness doesn't solely revolve on disrupting the processes and the workflow but also around the negative implications it can have on a particular sector. Today, the biggest concern for lawyers and law professionals lies in the ability of modern technological solutions to replace humans at work. It's no secret that automation alone has a potential to replace low-skilled legal jobs, such as administrative and secretarial jobs.

As a matter of fact, automation could potentially replace around 114,000 jobs in the legal sector, which is 39% of jobs in the sector. However, AIs development could also potentially replace lawyers and other legal professionals as well. As mentioned before, AI judges and robot lawyers might as well become a standard in the near future. Still, while some experts argue about technology replacing human workers, others argue that technology will create new jobs as there'll be a need for tech experts to supervise the new solutions.

Data-driven decisions

Modern technology encourages modern solutions to implemented across various industries. The legal sector is no exception when identifying potential opportunities that technology can provide. One of the major changes in the legal sector is leveraging big data to develop data-driven strategies and to ensure more strategic decision making. This innovation promises numerous benefits in the long run. Legal professionals are now able to analyze the vast quantities of legal data, in order to extract meaningful and valuable information from it.

The information obtained from such analytics can empower customer service and support, as well as enable legal professionals to improve their work-related efficiency and performance. Technological innovations, such as natural language recognition and visualization tools can make this entire process more seamless. Equipped with the right kind of information, legal professionals can provide clients with better services and ensure a competitive edge on the market.

Technology is bound to affect every industry today and the legal sector is no exception. Modern solutions might be disruptive at first but they are also a must these days. In other words, the evolution of the market itself is driving change in the industries that operate within that market.