Recently I was inundated with an overwhelming amount of ‘heads-up’ from connections in social networking streams alerting me to a BBC Business News article[1] with a strikingly controversial title: “Would you let a robot lawyer defend you?”

Although I restrained myself from getting drawn in at first, ignoring the first 40 or so pokes (I kid you not), The Naked Lawyer eventually lost her rag as the pings continued. I simply HAD to respond, if only to placate The Naked Lawyer’s annoyance as she had far better things to do with her time than get involved in an ‘old-hat-same-same’ discussion all over again. Simply put, this was NOT ‘news’. Too late. I was suckered in. Typical.

After pacing my balcony like a caged cougar searching for the right tone with tempered wording, I calmly replied to my learned thoughtful friend on his LinkedIn post[2] with:

“I’m sure you may be aware I posed this very same question back in 2014 when my book “Tomorrow’s Naked Lawyer: NewTech, NewHuman, NewLaw – How to be successful 2015-2045” was published. There’s nothing of real ‘news’ or deep substance in this article imho that most of us in Law Law Land are not already aware of. Glad to see the BBC ‘News’ has caught up with us. However, call me cynical, but maybe this is simply the mainstream press now ‘gently’ dropping muse bombs to now prepare the mass public as to what will inevitably come to pass. It’s timely imho. Talking about such things 7 years ago was shocking. Talking about it now, much less so and more acceptable, obviously, due to the gradual acceptance in most areas of law. Now it’s about educating the public, raising awareness, and then achieving acceptance.”

I reckon, the itch yet to be scratched in Law Law Land is the ultimate Data Science challenge and to triumph in this realm magnanimously in the next 7 years

Yes, it may have sounded improbable and totally far-fetched 7 years ago to legal professionals (and beyond), that artificial intelligence (AI) software systems – computer programs that can update, learn and create by themselves – would increasingly be used by the legal, business and lay community today. Not surprisingly back then, the vast majority of human lawyers feared AI encroaching on their turf and determinedly blocked early-stage adoption. I can personally vouch for said behaviour.

But nowa(covid)days some (I won’t go so far as to say ‘most’ as that would be a big fat porky lie) are actively welcoming lawyer ambassadors of the Legaltech and LawTech march and are actually falling over themselves to use software / machines to quickly trawl through and sort vast quantities of data; an absolute time-saving and labour-intensive averting godsend in relation to case document work, case research, contract review and analysis etc.

Lawyers’ behaviour toward LegalTech and LawTech is EXACTLY the same as their approach to social media and social networking was 7 years prior to the 7 year LegalTech cycle. I experienced and watched this unfold having beaten both the social media drum and LegalTech drum 2007>2014 then 2014>2021 respectively. It appears there is an itch to be scratched every 7 years, perhaps? What next in the cycle, I wonder… and ponder …

Maybe, just maybe, it resides in SCIENCE. The latest buzz, hype and mantra doing the rounds in the mainstream media and across many sectors is to look to science for solutions to our problems. Whether it be the COVID crisis, climate crisis, water shortage crisis, 5G/Quantum/Crypto environmental impact and/or cyber-security crisis, safe commercial Space travel and/or future Space repatriation on the moon or Mars, we are absolutely science mad. Mad, mad, mad. Totally bonkers and raving nuts in fact.

So, I reckon, the itch yet to be scratched in Law Law Land is the ultimate Data Science challenge and to triumph in this realm magnanimously in the next 7 years. Not just in the form of Data Science surrounding AI, high performance computing and Quantum computing I hasten to point out, but in the simpler forms of Data Science appreciation alongside CRM systems, digital marketing, website performance and SEO (google algorithm mastering) combined with the human ‘touchy feely’ element of the client / customer journey and client / customer engagement process. For this will remain at the heart of GREAT lawyering. No, that’s an understatement. OUTSTANDING lawyering, actually.

we now (unequivocally) live in a full-on Data Science world where ‘the science’ permeates every walk of life, including business and law

This is where the opportunity and next frontier lies, I reckon, and the ‘Data Science Drum’ will be the one The Naked Lawyer and I will be bashing going forward, because we now (unequivocally) live in a full-on Data Science world where ‘the science’ permeates every walk of life, including business and law. Conundrums of all kinds can, and will be solved, using (data) science underpinned by a plethora of smart tech. FACT. The proof is that mankind has already achieved so much in developing support and solutions by applying Data Science to global problems; even the fight to control wildfires and flooding and find people buried in rubble from earthquakes or other man-made disasters is underpinned by AI and data science, for example.

it frustrates and pains me to continually read reports that solicitors’ firms consistently ignore the importance of the science involved in digital marketing, including website performance and search engine optimisation (SEO)

At the micro level, I pity those who are at the start of the Data Science cycle. In Law Law Land, finding the ideal legal representation, at the right time, and where the quality of those client legal services and products are fundamental to either a lay or business person – it frustrates and pains me to continually read reports that solicitors’ firms consistently ignore the importance of the science involved in digital marketing, including website performance and search engine optimisation (SEO) – algorithms working behind the scenes – in conjunction with their human-to-human relationship marketing etc.

A quick dive into the latest law firm performance reports and subsequent articles are enlightening btw. I encourage you to do a quick google search for recent material on the subject of law firm results tables and PEP etc[3]. Join the dots and you will come to realise that there is a distinct correlation between high performers / performance / results where machine / software / AI / LegalTech / LawTech and Data Science methods, processes, techniques have been deployed.

Early-adopters of LegalTech and Data Science techniques related to digital marketing are no doubt laughing their heads off right now. Instead of trousering £1m pa PEP they are now trousering £2m.[4]  Go figure. How did that happen? Err, maybe a little slap here with LegalTech. A little tickle there with LawTech. Ooh and a scratch everywhere with Data Science in website performance and SEO thrown in for good measure 😉 … One can almost envision the exotic dance of the ecstatic jubilant entrepreneurial lawyers at one end of the Data Science continuum in contrast to the limp shuffle of their less adventurous ‘penny foolish pound wise’ colleagues suffering with an inconsolable soul and moth-eaten purse at the other.

I’m going to take a wild guess and suggest that many a lawyer in private, and/or propping up the bar at their local watering hole with their Doubting Thomas colleagues will be muttering “****, why didn’t we do that sooner?”

— END OF PART ONE —

By Chrissie Lightfoot, Entrepreneurlawyer and The Naked Lawyer

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58158820

[2] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dsayce_would-you-let-a-robot-lawyer-defend-you-activity-6833027856122167296-4AVd

[3] https://legmark.com/top-200-law-firm-websites/

[4] https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/top-50-financial-results-table-updated-live/5109085.article – the Top 50 financial results table.