Top Issues with legal firms
According to the American Bar Association Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.1, lawyers are expected to “keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology. While not all lawyers are expected, to follow every trend in new technology, it is vital to understand the trends because they are increasingly important to handling cases and to running a law firm.
IT Investments
Establish clear budget for IT infrastructure and operations. Only 58.5 percent of law firms budgeted for technology expenses. These numbers are even lower for midsize law firms and can introduce business and compliance risks.
Security
Law firms are surprisingly weak on security, and a full 25 percent of firms have no security policy at all. Encryption is greatly underutilized. Even at large firms with resources, less than 50 percent use encryption of files.
Many firms allow a “bring your own device” (BYOD) system where employees’ personal technology is used for work.
There are concerns that law firms could be a weak link when it comes to protecting information. “The FBI has already expressed concern about law firms being a vector into a client’s most-personal information,” said Dennis Kennedy, MasterCard vice president and senior counsel.
Legal Research
While approximately over 90 percent of lawyers use some form of online research, a full 41 percent still use print products regularly as well, so paper is not dead yet. The study found the most common first stop for online research was fee-based (40 percent), but 37 percent did use free research such as Google search as their first stop. Linares pointed out that an alarming number of attorneys do not know or use Google’s advanced search features. Among fee-based sites, Westlaw was more popular than LexisNexis.
Litigation Technology
The federal courts have had electronic court filing for years, but states are beginning to use it as well. In fact, over 40 percent of jurisdictions with it have made it mandatory. While a majority of lawyers have laptops, they do not fully utilize them. Only 25 percent have used a laptop for a courtroom presentation, and 17 percent have used litigation support software.
Cloud Computing
With the cloud, software isn’t on a device, but is stored on the Internet. Use of cloud computing has increased dramatically, led mainly by solo and small firms. Ease of use and access to data from anywhere is essential.
Digital Transformation and Mobile technology
Amid rapidly changing technology, digital transformation for midsize business will define their success and competitiveness in the upcoming years. Adopting right tools, implementing mobile technology that is well integrated is essential
How Introviz Can Help?
CIOs at Introviz possess deep business and technology experience. Our founders have been corporate IT executives with startup and consulting experiences. We have managed consulting ventures since 1994 and have been navigating the ever-changing IT landscape to advice our clients.
The information technology landscape has constantly evolved, creating many costly challenges for SMBs. Most of them have retained old IT systems with gaping security risks and a lack of integration and access to data. The result is their IT is a costly function and a drag to their business!
Digital transformation is imperative for all businesses. It encourages the use of innovation and new business models and improves the experience of employees, customers, partners and stakeholders by embracing the use of technology. It is bringing together people, data and processes to create value for your customers and maintain a competitive advantage.
According to American Bar Association lawyers, are expected to keep abreast of changes in laws and its practice including the benefits and risks associated with technology
Digital transformation can improve profitability, customer satisfaction and increase speed-to-market for any business.
Large companies have the access to strategic advice and has the financial power to hire full time CIOs and strategy consultants. Our mission is to deliver the same level of access to Small and Midsize businesses (SMBs) through our unique CIO consulting services.
SMBs often have contract CFO and general counsels to assist them in the boardroom but often there is no CIO to help them on strategies for success on their initiatives. Without CIO services, businesses are guaranteed to fall to their competition.
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