Legal technology continues to advance. No longer a nice to have, legal tech is now a necessity across the industry – from large law firms through to solo practitioners.

Practice Management, Document and Process Management, Discovery, Contract Management, and other systems such as Artificial Intelligence, Video Conferencing and other niche products continue to drive efficiency - streamlining business and delivering a better outcome to customers.

COVID-19 Technology Adoption

The last two years have escalated technology adoption across the industry, with the legal industry increasing usage of technology platforms and products to support changed working conditions. COVID-19 has forced the adoption and acceptance of technology - not only for lawyers, law firms and the courts, but also by their clients. Necessity has helped brush aside previous objections or hesitancy, and now electronic signing and sharing of documents is business as usual. We saw the courts pivot relatively quickly to video conference formats. We’ve seen law firms switch to work-from-home models, with online collaboration amongst colleagues a requirement.

The Global Legal Technology Report (GLTR) 21/22 recently launched by the Australian Legal Technology Association (ALTA) and its project partners iManage, The Law Society, Alpha Creates and Toro Digital, is the world’s first and most comprehensive study into the legal tech industry and the people behind the businesses. The report indicated that COVID-19 had a net positive impact on revenue and client retention, demonstrating that many legal technology businesses thrived throughout the last two years. In an increasingly digital environment, the demand for the benefits that technical products yield has soared. This in turn has seen an increase in collaboration between legal tech offerings, with integration a clear priority for vendors and customers alike. The Thomson Reuters Tech and the Law 2022 Report states that nearly half of the corporate counsel surveyed noted that lack of platform integration was a major issue. Integration is one of the hot topics I’m hearing being discussed in the ALTA member group at present and 60% of the GLTR respondents identify as providing integrated solutions.

In the interest of full disclosure, as the CEO of the ALTA, I am committed to supporting our membership by shouting out loud and proud about the offerings that our members have developed locally here in Australia. Austrade reports that technology is our fourth-largest export sector, creating 65,000 additional jobs during the pandemic, on top of the 861,000 people already employed. Australia is seen as a world leader in the development of legal technology.

Home Grown Advancement

So why should “home grown” legal technology be top of the list for those firms and practitioners looking to invest in their business? There is a huge range of local products here in Australia, developed specifically to address challenges in our local market. These products have clearly demonstrated successful deployment and ‘fit for purpose’ for Australian lawyers and firms, with many of our home-grown businesses proven to perform competitively on the global stage as well.

We have a full suite of locally produced products to meet the needs of Australian legal businesses. In most cases, there is no need to look anywhere else. Selecting Australian legal technology allows for a level of local support and engagement directly as a consumer, and for many businesses this enables direct input into future development plans through user groups and personal relationships with the technology provider. This is an important position to occupy as a consumer – the ability to feed your needs (and frustrations) with a product directly to the decision-making team and to be heard is invaluable in ensuring that the technology that you have chosen continues to evolve to meet your changing needs. With integration being a key opportunity/issue identified by providers and customers alike, the close-knit community of legal technology providers in Australia enables partnership and collaboration, leading to enhanced speed to market for integration.

Importantly, Australian legal technology companies are leading the way in the diversity stakes. The Global Legal Tech Report (GLTR) latest findings show that 50% of Australian legal tech companies are female-founded. The launch of Women of Australian Legal Technology (WALTA), a committee under the umbrella of ALTA, furthers support for female founders through empowering and inspiring women in legal technology.
At its most basic level, supporting Australian business is great for the Australian economy. As we move into a new world order, as a result of the many influences playing out in the geo-political global stage, the ability to support local business and to have certainty over supply chain and access to customer support when needed is increasingly important.

Think Global, Invest Local

How can you ensure that you have Australian products top of mind when selecting where to invest in legal technology? There is a plethora of online resources to help with legal technology selection, including great advice on technology selection from the Centre for Legal Innovation.

The ALTA website provides an overview of Australian member products across the range of technologies available to the legal market, with the ability to view product demos and regular updates from our members to ensure that you are informed about upcoming advances. The first port of call when assessing Australian Legal Tech!

I’m a firm believer in the high calibre of our “home-grown” Australian Legal Technology community. These products have been proven within our local market, and in many instances on the global stage. The level of innovation and quality in legal tech in Australia continues to develop and evolve. I encourage you to include Australian legal technology products as a priority when assessing options to support your business, your employees, and your customers. We have a fantastic legal technology ecosystem in Australia. Something to be proud of, and to support!