Are law firms doing anything truly innovative with technology?

Over the past couple of months the same question has arisen a few times – whether law firms are really innovative with technology. Innovation conjures visions of exciting technology or change which inspires. But are law firms really innovating, or are we all now following similar paths? Has the pace of technological advance changed us so much that any new systems or technology are seen as evolutions rather than innovations?

Looking back 15 years or so, there was real innovation in law firms as technology was developing quickly and firms were investing in systems that differentiated them, impressed clients and made them more efficient.

At the time, firms were starting to introduce the first versions of Microsoft Office with Word 6 (a significant change from the mainstream Wordperfect systems), document management systems were becoming commonplace and the Y2K bug was just starting to be considered. At the time, these were thought to be innovative as they were different, utilising the newest technology.

But what happens now, and are any law firms really doing anything truly innovative with technology? The legal IT community has a strong network and there are various groups and events at which we share thoughts and ideas, often discussing quite openly the technology projects we are working on.

In most cases, the conversations are the same: we all use the same document management systems, the same practice management systems and the same technology in our backend infrastructure, as well as on the desktop. The choices are limited, but this is not necessarily a bad thing.

These systems have evolved over a number of years and now most of them are advanced but intuitive, and this has come about through extensive use throughout the industry. This technological evolution or natural selection has left us with systems that are now considered best of breed.

That is not to say that innovation does not take place. In the past couple of years, one mid-tier firm completed the first design and implementation of a document management system utilising the Microsoft SharePoint platform. It was quite an undertaking for a firm of that size and, since then, a number of other firms have followed the same path. We have also witnessed bespoke systems or portals offering specific services for certain clients or industry sectors.

I also question whether technology is a differentiator for clients, as the expectation is that all firms are using the appropriate technology and systems to ensure they are providing an efficient and effective service. While pitches often enquire whether a firm offers an extranet or video conferencing technology, these will rarely be a reason why a firm wins or loses a pitch, as most firms now utilise these technologies and they will likely score low on the overall pitch scorecard.

I believe innovation is becoming less common in legal IT. We are now evolving technology and adapting it for our use and we should not be ashamed of embracing this approach.