By Ralff Tozatti, Marketing Director at Thomson Reuters Brasil
It is nothing new to say that investing in new technologies is essential for any company that wants to succeed. Virtually all businesses have improved their processes or gained scale with digital innovations in recent years. Even some more formal and traditional segments, such as Law, are increasingly inserted in the technological world. Proof of this is that, in 2016, 70% of the new cases entered the Judiciary electronically. In the Labor Court, the rate is even higher: 99% of all 1st degree cases were opened digitally. Only five courts in Brazil had an index below 100% for labor claims.
The numbers prove that technology in the legal environment has established itself and is a path of no return. However, this digital age does not only facilitate the opening of cases, but mainly time management, perhaps the most precious and currently missing item, is it not? Would it be possible to read all the law books that exist, the available jurisprudence, laws, doctrines and apply them to the cases to be worked on? Or do everything we plan to do? It is humanly impossible.
But how to increase efficiency in Law? The answer lies in new technologies, which reduce the volume of activities performed by people, enabling these professionals to select what really requires their focus and attention. Today, the main solutions that exist in the market allow not only to do all the legal management, but also bring access to strategic and relevant information for the business.
The automation of processes, digitization of documents, storage of history of all cases, search for mentions of the company or customers in official journals from all over the country, management of contracts, real estate assets and the centralization of information already bring great help, as they take away the advocate of manual and repetitive, time-consuming processes. This, allied to the access to relevant content, such as updating laws, articles, jurisprudence, doctrines, commented legislation and all kinds of material relevant to the performance of a company's legal department, makes the management of these processes complete: automated and intelligent.
This can all be enhanced with the use of two of the most talked about innovations in law today: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. No, these technologies will not steal the job of lawyers, as many people believe. Instead, they will further improve their performance, saving more time and resources.
It is already a reality the use of systems and programs that identify which are the jurisprudence, overviews, recent decisions and new legislation regarding the theme in which the professional is currently working. This information can even be organized and cataloged automatically, in different types of categorization, given a complete and personalized scenario. Imagine how much time is not saved in this type of process?
The technology of legal management with embedded information already brings a very competitive advantage today. But it will be indispensable in the near future, in a market that will be much more competitive. The current scenario shows an increase in the number of Law professionals year by year, combined with a tendency to decrease lawsuits. The labor reform, at first, resulted in a considerable decrease in legal cases, of more than 50%. The number of mediations is increasing. The Justice in Numbers report, released in 2016 by the National Council of Justice shows that 11% of all actions that year were decided through agreements. There are almost three million cases. If the long-awaited tax simplification happens in the coming years, the decline will be even more abrupt.
In this environment, with a much greater supply than demand, time management in the legal environment is not an option. It is a basic need to survive and stand out in the market. Are you and your company ready?
The numbers prove that technology in the legal environment has established itself and is a path of no return. However, this digital age does not only facilitate the opening of cases, but mainly time management, perhaps the most precious and currently missing item, is it not? Would it be possible to read all the law books that exist, the available jurisprudence, laws, doctrines and apply them to the cases to be worked on? Or do everything we plan to do? It is humanly impossible.
But how to increase efficiency in Law? The answer lies in new technologies, which reduce the volume of activities performed by people, enabling these professionals to select what really requires their focus and attention. Today, the main solutions that exist in the market allow not only to do all the legal management, but also bring access to strategic and relevant information for the business.
The automation of processes, digitization of documents, storage of history of all cases, search for mentions of the company or customers in official journals from all over the country, management of contracts, real estate assets and the centralization of information already bring great help, as they take away the advocate of manual and repetitive, time-consuming processes. This, allied to the access to relevant content, such as updating laws, articles, jurisprudence, doctrines, commented legislation and all kinds of material relevant to the performance of a company's legal department, makes the management of these processes complete: automated and intelligent.
This can all be enhanced with the use of two of the most talked about innovations in law today: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. No, these technologies will not steal the job of lawyers, as many people believe. Instead, they will further improve their performance, saving more time and resources.
It is already a reality the use of systems and programs that identify which are the jurisprudence, overviews, recent decisions and new legislation regarding the theme in which the professional is currently working. This information can even be organized and cataloged automatically, in different types of categorization, given a complete and personalized scenario. Imagine how much time is not saved in this type of process?
The technology of legal management with embedded information already brings a very competitive advantage today. But it will be indispensable in the near future, in a market that will be much more competitive. The current scenario shows an increase in the number of Law professionals year by year, combined with a tendency to decrease lawsuits. The labor reform, at first, resulted in a considerable decrease in legal cases, of more than 50%. The number of mediations is increasing. The Justice in Numbers report, released in 2016 by the National Council of Justice shows that 11% of all actions that year were decided through agreements. There are almost three million cases. If the long-awaited tax simplification happens in the coming years, the decline will be even more abrupt.
In this environment, with a much greater supply than demand, time management in the legal environment is not an option. It is a basic need to survive and stand out in the market. Are you and your company ready?
Disclaimer: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies
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