Friday, March 16, 2007 5:41 AM
Every year around January, there is a conversation that starts across the web around January about how much technology is impacting the legal profession. And, how this will be the year that law firms, corporate legal departments and government legal entities will move forward and finally embrace all of the new (and not so new) technologies.
For all of the hope at the new year, however, by year end things seem to finish on a sour note, as the conversation turns to the disappointment at the lack of progress and slow adoption rates. People don't give up, but certainly there is a lot of head-scratching. The main question being just when will the legal vertical will catch up to the rest of the world?
The thing is, I think the legal vertical is already catching up with the rest of the world. Slowly, quietly, perhaps skewed to the largest law firms, but also surely.
Look at this list of job titles:
.Net Web Developer
Business Process Analyst
Institutional Knowledge Administrator
Practice Support Technology Manager
Knowledge Management Application Developer
Technical Project Manager
Marketing Knowledge Coordinator
SharePoint/.Net Developer
Practice Support Manager
They look like a list taken from the jobs board at a major consulting company like Deloitte or Accenture or perhaps another global enterprise like IBM.
In fact, however, they are all current job openings at law firms across the United States today. Even more telling is what the job descriptions for these titles entail. The jobs call for skill sets in e-discovery, advanced programming, knowledge management, business process analysis, project management, technical requirements definition, etcetera (if you are curious and want to see more, take a look at the International Legal Technology Association's Job Listings).
I wonder how many of these skills sets were needed by law firms in 1995? In 2000? Even two years ago? Similarly, how many of these job descriptions even existed at law firms during the same periods? Most of these skill sets and job descriptions are a reaction to changes being wrought by technological advances. And, believe it not, law firms are responding.
No doubt, the above job listings represent but a small slice of the legal space and are currently skewed to the largest law firms. But, the trendline is forming and the momentum is building. While there will always be holdouts, the evidence (including the new job descriptions) is growing: law firms are changing with the times.