'Sink or Swim' — Legal technology now a defining choice for Scotland's smaller firms

The importance of technology for the future success of smaller legal firms was the message loud and clear at the Law Society of Scotland's recent conference.

Technology experts and smaller firm owners outlined the potential for technology to improve efficiencies and client interactions while reducing costs.
In the closing keynote address at the annual Legal Tech Conference, Nick Dale, a Vice President with IT and consulting firm CGI, said that technology must be viewed as part of a bigger picture: “Tech is 30% of the problem. The issue is the change. Day one of implementation isn’t the end, it is the start.”

Discussing technology and smaller firms in Edinburgh on Tuesday, 24 June, Glasgow Law Practice Managing Director Ross Yuill said: “As soon as there is a younger set of partners or people come in, things start to change. I think we’ll be dragged along because if not, it’s going to be a sink or swim situation for people.

“I’ve done a High Court trial as a Solicitor Advocate with an iPad and no paper. That would have seemed mental 10 years ago but we do it. It has saved us money on storage and has made a big difference in our business.

“We used to think that we would have clients that might not have technology but everybody does now. I think the days of that are now gone. We send text reminders to clients instead of letters for their Court appearances. Small things like that have made a difference.”

A fellow panel member, Ergo Law Director Emma Reid, highlighted the importance of experimenting: “There’s nothing we have used that we have thought, ‘That doesn’t work at all’. If you don’t reach and grab those new opportunities that is also failing.”

In closing the conference, Co-Chair and LawscotTech Advisory Board member Aleks Tomczyk said that supporting smaller firms is one of four key priority areas for the board.

He said: “Legal technology is for every practitioner in whichever sphere you are in. Legal technology is here and it is not going anywhere. There is the opportunity for it to add a whole lot of value across everything we do.”