Australian Corporate Lawyer - Autumn 2017

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PERSPECTIVES – JON DOWNES
The impact of technological change for in-house counsel
When it comes to accepting change,
lawyers are often described as slow,
or perhaps more politely, cautious
to change. Yet when we consider the impact
of technological change on the practice of
law, recent history has revealed an incredible
amount of change and we can no doubt
expect that to continue into the foreseeable
future. Regrettably for some, if lawyers don’t
change and adapt, there is a strong case for
arguing that in the words of Richard Susskind,
from “The End of Lawyers,” we will “struggle
to survive.”
Over just the last few years, significant
“lawtech” developments have included the
rise of predictive analytics, predictive coding
and machine learning. The English High Court,
just last year for the first time, approved the
use of predictive coding in the large scale
Pyrrho discovery case. An interesting example
of Artificial Intelligence is IBM’s Watson,
developed for medical prognosis based on
data analysis and now being considered for
legal applications. It’s not quite “Judgment
Day” yet, but it seems the robots are coming.
What does this all mean for in-house lawyers?
Well, if we are to demonstrate value as a sector
and to our individual employers, we must
embrace technological change.
In accepting technology as the new norm and
leveraging it for our profession, I’d like to touch
on three areas that I believe are key. First, in
keeping external costs down, it’s important
to understand how external legal service
providers are using technology to become
more efficient. That understanding should
be a catalyst for us realising similar efficiency
benefits by partnering with those service
providers. Law firms can and do provide
significant value, yet technology has given
rise to new and different ways of deriving that
value. We are no longer solely reliant on the
traditional legal model. Emerging disruptive
legal technology providers are offering
new and compelling options. We have to
understand the changes and manage that
value to take advantage.
Secondly, with an inward focus, just as law
firms are using technology more and more in
respect of low value high volume work, so too
should in-house legal teams. In my experience,
the key to the success of an in-house legal
team includes ensuring appropriate customer
focus is maintained, eliminating unnecessary
work and using the right tools. Increasingly,
in-house teams are using metrics to measure
performance in order to maximise efficiency.
One “New Law” business I’ve seen has recently
introduced an app to facilitate this. “Lean
six sigma” methodology is being used to
help ensure the legal team’s focus is more
on the high value strategic work. Contract
management software solutions are providing
high quality and effective document creation,
management and retention functionality
at relatively low cost. There have also been
technological advances in tracking external
legal spend for large global legal teams.
Furthermore, in-house lawyers are working
more as a “community,” sharing resources
through technology as a way to work
more efficiently. Maintaining ACC Australia
membership and utilising the ACC’s global
resources is one example, as lawyers have
access to templates, legal advice and a broad
range of other legal work output that has
been shared within the corporate lawyers’
community. Technology is a key part of the
solution for “doing more with less.”
Thirdly, technological advancement means
the businesses we work for are increasingly
exposed to cyber security issues. As lawyers,
we need to understand these issues to be able
to advise our boards and C-suites on legal
risk mitigation. We must be able to advise on
matters such as insurance, business continuity
and ensuring there is an adequate control
framework. For example, what to do in the
event of a data breach to mitigate the risk of
reputational harm and litigation.
As technology and the law changes, as
in-house lawyers, we too must change in
order to continue to earn our place as trusted
legal advisers.
Jon Downes
With over 20 years’ experience in the financial
and services industry, gained across both major
law firms and the corporate environment,
Jon is a trusted advisor to businesses with a
commercial and strategic focus.
In his current role as the General Counsel and
Company Secretary at Willis Towers Watson,
Jon provides advice and support on a range of
issues including managing legal and regulatory
risk. Jon’s expertise includes managing legal
and regulatory risk, insurance law, corporate
governance, company secretarial and
government relations.
Jon is the President of the NSW Division
of ACC Australia.
Each month ACC Australia invites our in-house industry
leaders to share their experiences and perspectives on the
theme of the current issue of Australian Corporate Lawyer.
VOLUME 27, ISSUE 1 – AUTUMN 2017
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