The need for new tech in legal services is higher than ever. Clients are demanding more services for less money, so firms must find solutions that can drive efficiency. 

This begs the question - Will lawyers be replaced by robots?

In short, probably not, however consultancy group Mckinsey estimates around 22-35% of jobs carried out by lawyers could be automated. Potentially freeing up nearly a 1/3 of a lawyers time.

To paraphrase what Simon Davies (President of The Law Society, and Partner at Cliffford Chance) said at the recent Legal Geek event - If your job can be done by a robot, or if you work like a robot, you probably should be replaced by a robot. My take away from this was - automate when possible it's more resource-efficient.

However there is always going to be a need for personal connection, and (for now) only people can do face to face meetings and be empathetic or understanding. Simon used an analogy of a swan when stating the need to strike a balance and mix the two to get the best result. The modern client wants a personal relationship with an individual lawyer - this is the swan above the water. But they also want to know the swan is being powered along, underneath the waterline by frantic feet, this is the mechanics of automation, AI or whatever it may be doing the leg work and supporting the lawyer to execute their role.

It is clear legal services must adapt and become more efficient if they wish to survive.

At Passle we are helping to drive efficiency in law firms around authentic content creation. In essence, our secret sauce is we've created a platform that helps busy, time-poor experts (ie Lawyers) build their individual and company brand.