The legal industry is embracing technology at an unprecedented pace, reshaping everything from case management to the way we interact with clients. But with innovation often outpacing regulation, how do we ensure legal technology is evolving ethically?
At the recent UNSW Leading in the Law Summit in Sydney, industry experts tackled this question, discussing and debating the ethical dilemmas that come with digital transformation. After the session, we sat down with panellist Amber Weightman, Development Manager at InfoTrack, to unpack the discussion and explore how legal technology companies can drive innovation without compromising on ethical responsibility.
While the terms “ethics” and “common decency” are often used interchangeably, they’re far from synonymous. Ethics are subjective, influenced by cultural norms and industry standards, whereas common decency tends to be universal. In the legal world, professionals operate within rigid ethical frameworks, but in technology, we’re often navigating uncharted waters, where regulations haven’t yet caught up to innovation.
Amber underscores this gap: “One of the most significant challenges in legal technology is ensuring that ethics aren’t an afterthought but woven into the fabric of development from day one. What may seem like a benign feature could have far-reaching ethical consequences in a legal context.”
Take data handling as an example: while it’s standard practice in tech to collect data, the legal sector’s ethical expectations are far stricter. What’s deemed “acceptable” in one industry can be a serious ethical misstep in another, especially when client confidentiality is at stake.
Laws serve as a baseline, but they don’t always reflect the ethical complexities we face in technology. Legal frameworks evolve at a slower pace than technological advancements, leaving legal tech companies to tackle ethical questions proactively, long before regulation catches up.
“We often find ourselves working in grey areas,” says Weightman. “That’s why having a robust internal ethical framework is crucial. It guides our decisions, ensuring that we’re not just doing what’s legally required, but what’s fit for the industry.”
A further challenge that technology companies face is ensuring that ethical responsibility permeates all levels of the organisation, from developers to leadership. While guiding principles such as promoting human, societal and environmental wellbeing, transparency and explainability, safety and fairness are easy to conjure and espouse, they’re much harder to embed in organisational culture.
“The biggest gap in our industry is the lack of an owner for ethics,” explains Weightman. “Developers focus on building, compliance teams handle regulations, and leadership focuses on strategy—but ethics need to be embedded at every level.”
There’s a common misconception that ethics stifles innovation. In reality, embedding ethical considerations into the innovation process can fuel long-term success. While market pressures tend to demand faster product releases, compromising on ethics can jeopardise the integrity and the trust of our firms and their clients.
“Ethics isn’t a roadblock to innovation; it’s a cornerstone,” says Weightman. “By integrating ethics early, we can both build better, more inclusive, products and uphold and enhance the ethical rigor the legal industry expects from us.”
“Ethical choices can impact timelines and budgets,” Weightman acknowledges, “but they also protect the business from future risks. Ethical design isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do.”
As legal technology continues to evolve, ethical considerations must remain at the forefront of our discussions about innovation. As the legal industry embraces new technologies, the true measure of success will be found not just in how advanced these tools are, but in how responsibly they are built and how well they serve both the profession and its clients.
