ROBO-LAWYERS! ROBO-LAWYERS! - National

advanced software program that scans a
database of family law decisions to predict
how a court would carve up a divorcing
couple’s property. Australian divorce
lawyers now use SplitUp to play out
hard-hitting courtroom strategies, to see
how successful (or not) they might actually
be. The results often help the lawyer
to convince feuding clients to consider
mediation instead.
Self-Administered Legal Training
(SALT) is another innovation. Developed
by the legal technology group at Blake
Dawson Waldron, an 800-lawyer firm
based in Sydney, SALT is a legal instruction
program that the firm sells by subscription
to top corporate clients such as Kellogg,
Bayer, Chubb, Sony and JP Morgan.
Interactive modules cover a range of
legal topics, including trade practices
and privacy, anti-money laundering,
insider trading, corporate governance,
and the fundamentals of contracts. No
more “trawling through text-heavy manuals
or battling to stay alert in mid-afternoon
lectures,” clients are promised.
Instead, clients’ employees can study
online, examining real-life legal scenarios
that relate to their organization, at
their own pace.
“The idea behind SALT was to make
legal information more accessible, relevant
and cost-efficient,” says Elizabeth
Broderick, a leading e-business authority
in Australia who heads up the firm’s legal
technology group. “We’re trying to lift
the decision-making veil of corporate
Australia — to help [clients] understand
the fundamental legal principles underlying
their business, which will allow
them to make better decisions.” She estimates
there are at least 30,000 to 40,000
SALT users in Australia, and significantly
more overseas.
But if clients can answer their own
legal questions via technology supplied
by the firm, isn’t the firm risking its
own business? Yes, she agrees: “Some of
the innovations we’ve developed do
have the potential to cannibalize our
business.” But the firm’s legal technology
group was established “in recognition
of the fact that the way legal
services would be delivered in future
would be different from how they’re
delivered now.”
And while Blake Dawson focuses on
providing highly customized legal
advice, “the amount of this work available
is limited and extremely competitive,
and there’s an insufficient amount
to solely sustain the firm.”
The reaction from clients has been
In short, automation is
extending its reach
throughout the legal profession.
And every advance
by software eliminates one
more outpost of legal
services where lawyers
can claim they are
irreplaceable.
“overwhelmingly positive,” says Broderick.
“Clients are saying there are many
times when low-cost, generic advice is
good enough. In-house legal departments
feel they’re getting good value,
which they can pass on to the rest of
the organization.”
Canadian automation
By comparison, legal automation here in
Canada is in its infancy. But that likely
won’t remain the case for long.
“Financial institutions in Canada
already require lawyers to submit their
accounts electronically, so firms have to
integrate their systems with the bank’s
system,” notes Mark Tamminga, a collections
partner at Gowling Lafleur
Henderson LLP in Hamilton, Ontario.
He also cites banks’ use of “thirdparty
neutral depositories like DRN, the
Debt Recovery Network, which act as an
intermediary between the lawyer or
property manager and the bank.” The
bank gives the facts and instructions to
DRN, which feeds the information to law
firms. The firm reports back to DRN.
“This way, the bank can compare performance
among law firms.”
Tamminga says Gowlings is “very
active in the development of extranet
communities.” Clients like it when the
firm uploads to an extranet all developments,
documents and communications
on a matter — including notes of a lawyer’s
phone conversations — so that the client
can check the status of its file at any
moment, 24/7. No more phoning the
lawyer and hoping for an update.
Lawyer automation is not the preserve
of large law firms, however; in fact, smaller
firms often have greater motivation
and flexibility to adopt artificial intelligence
advances into their practices.
In collaboration with another lawyer,
Dale Doan at the five-lawyer firm
Cleveland & Doan in White Rock, B.C.
recently launched a “Secure Your Own
Sales” (SYOS) software package for small
and mid-sized business owners to secure
their receivables. Sold online for US$70,
the package allows users to prepare their
own complete set of personal property
security agreements.
The Web-based package also contains
an e-guide advising purchasers how to
register their security in the applicable
Canadian or American jurisdiction.
Normally, Doan says, this whole service
would cost from $4,000 to $5,000 if the
business consulted a lawyer.
Meanwhile, Furman & Kallio in
Saskatoon has implemented a simple
version of lawyer automation as a marketing
tool. The firm’s website incorporates
a custom-designed PCT Calendar,
so that visitors can check the deadlines
for international PCT patent applications.
“It’s a good way to give people a
reason to visit the website,” says Furman.
Still, many Canadian lawyers and
firms resist the idea of advanced automation.
“Selling document assembly to law
firms is very difficult, as they bill by the
hour,” says Mountain. “Helping clients
to generate their own legal documents is
considered a ‘disruptive innovation.’
And anything that eliminates lawyers is
not a good fit with law firms as they
operate today.”
Disintermediating lawyers
Such aversion to e-lawyering is a mistake.
Many intelligent programs are
designed to help lawyers give advice to
clients. But if lawyers aren’t careful,
these programs can easily bypass the
lawyer as service provider and be marketed
directly to consumers.
Witness Bulletproof Veil, a company
created by a Utah lawyer to help businesses
maintain their corporate veil
protections. Its software program is
based on a review of every recorded
veil-lifting case at the federal and state
level in the United States.
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18 NATIONAL
OCTOBER · NOVEMBER 2006