Hello again everyone and welcome to another edition of “Ten Things You Need to Know as In-House Counsel.” This is one of my favorite posts of the year because every August for the past eight years (really?) I have written about “cool tech” for in-house lawyers – and this year is no exception![1] Once again, I have been scanning the (virtual) horizon for the most useful technology that will – hopefully – make you more productive, make your life easier, or may just be fun and interesting. If you have been reading my books, this blog, or my LinkedIn posts over the years, you know that I am a big fan of technology as a way to increase productivity and enhance the value of the legal department. The good news is that the technology needed to make this happen does not have to be overly complicated or expensive. In fact, I deliberately try to find low-cost – or free – solutions that are easy to adopt and use. As usual, I make no promises or warranties of any kind, implied or express (sorry, just covering my bases here – you can’t be too careful, especially with the ABA breathing down my neck about some book I’m “supposed” to be sending their way soon). I can assure you, however, that I get nothing for recommending the technology below. I just think these are all useful tools and worth checking out. So, with no further ado, this edition of “Ten Things” sets out my cool tech for in-house lawyers in 2023:
legal tech
Ten Things: Buying and Implementing Legal Tech
Last week the good folks at LawGeex released their free 2018 Legal Tech Buyer’s Guide. Jammed full of valuable information, it’s essential to any in-house department looking to purchase legal tech. If you haven’t downloaded it yet, do it now. On June 11, 2018, I’ll be speaking at the ACC Legal Operations Conference in Chicago about practical uses of Artificial Intelligence in legal departments. And, as you readers know, I am a sucker for a good gadget (watch for my 2018 “Cool Tech” blog later this summer and check out my interview with legal tech blogger Colin Levy). All of this got me thinking about the fact that I have been around for – and helped buy and implement – a lot of legal tech over the years. I was there when fax machines were cutting edge and when e-mail was new. I helped build a home-grown document management system and now I am looking at uses of artificial intelligence for my team. From typewriters to AI, yellow pads to iPads, is a pretty healthy span of technological change for any lawyer. The one thing that hasn’t changed is the process you go through when buying or implementing any type of technology. If you go about it the wrong way, you can end up with a very expensive lesson and a piece of software that no one wants or uses. Trust me, I know. So, it’s important to get it right. This edition of “Ten Things” walks through some of the lessons I have learned about buying and implementing legal tech:
Ten Things You Need to Know as In-House Counsel® 