Jusletter IT

In the past, some Weblaw Forums have taken place on different topics, but never with the title «LegalTech». Choosing this topic means keeping pace with the times. LegalTech has been the «buzzword» of the legal industry for several years in the USA, and, as of late, also in Europe. Over the last year, the number of media reports on the topic has also increased in Switzerland. The discussion of numerous aspects of digitization in the legal profession by means of a conference has therefor been very well received by Swiss lawyers.

With the World Trade Center (WTC) in Zurich, which, by the way, is in direct proximity of the studio Zürich Leutschenbach of the Swiss Radio and Television (SRF), a conference venue had been chosen, that was easily and quickly accessible for many conference participants.

Upon arrival in the building’s foyer, Weblaw staff was ready to facilitate finding the premises. Having arrived in the conference room, every participant received a conference binder with the most important information on the conference as well as a conference badge. The premises had been equipped pleasantly and offered catering facilities for the breaks. Next to the seating, there was a row of tables with sponsors and partners whom the participants could talk with in the breaks and, sometimes, even try out their products (see picture below).¹

Figure 1 – Sponsors and partners of the Weblaw Forum LegalTech 2017.

The around 100 conference participants were greeted by Simone Kaiser. After introducing the speakers, the first of several appeals was made, to exchange information about the conference on Social Media, in particular on Twitter, by using the Hashtags #LegalTech and #WeblawForum. Simone Kaiser especially welcomed those participants streaming the event via Livestream, and thus partaking purely digital, not on-site.

Being the founder of an almost 20-year-old LegalTech business, Weblaw AG, Franz Kummer took over with an introduction into the topic «LegalTech – Digitization of the Legal Market». Thereby, he demonstrated the current trends in the LegalTech Community, two of which were paramount: for one thing, the continuous improvement of artificial intelligences and, on the other hand, the boom of so-called chat bots that, following the example of the British bot «Do Not Pay» (overturning of parking fines)⁴, now also advance into other fields of law, i.e. law concerning foreigners⁵.

At the end of his introduction, Franz Kummer indicated Weblaw's new webinar series in the field of LegalTech.⁶ These webinars are called Brown Bags and take place every second Wednesday afternoon (starting at 13.00). Participating is free of charge for everyone. At the time of writing this report, some Brown Bags have already been performed successfully.

Below, the professional expert's presentations are being discussed in the chronological order they have been given. Questions from the audience (see picture below) were answered before each break.

Figure 2 – Glance into the audience at the Weblaw Forum LegalTech 2017.

In his speech, Niko Härting tried to answer the question whether LegalTech is a disruptive process, a revolution or a continuous development. To discuss this question, he showed the last decades' technical development within the legal profession that he has experienced himself. Beginning with rudimental methods and typewriters, he eventually explained the current state of the art regarding IT in his law firm which has been heavily digitized, meaning it uses document automation and knowledge management systems extensively.

Gian Sandro Genna called upon the small law firms and individual lawyers to deal with the topic LegalTech likewise. He also reported about his digitized everyday life as a lawyer, similar to what Niko Härting referred to before. Gian Sandro Genna then changed the subject to making some forecasts for the future. He considers that a stronger establishment of networks as well as larger entities of legal actors will be observed in future, while at the same time, nationwide players («brands») will establish themselves.

If lawyers cannot offer highly specialised services, they will only be able to face the legal industry's digitization with innovative business models. Gian Sandro Genna demonstrated a few examples, mostly from foreign legal service providers. In particular, the offering of fixed bundles and the purely digital approach for legal advice in bulk processes, e.g. in aviation passengers rights (reimbursements for delays and cancellations of flights)⁹ were highlighted.

The co-speakers could, with regard to their presentations, report from personal experience respectively. Salvatore Iacangelo regarding companies and Raffael Büchi concerning major law firms.

The presentation with regard to LegalTech in companies was started by Salvatore Iacangelo with an illumination of the challenges for General Counsels. The cost and regulation pressure as well as growing interdisciplinary nature are paramount. While companies have sourced all legal services externally in the past, they now operate with insourcing and multi-sourcing. In the future, the Legal Operations of a company will only control quality and output by means of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and Key Risk Indicators (KRI).

Raffael Büchi, in his part of the presentation regarding LegalTech in major law firms, first talked about the drivers for the legal market's digitization and showed the IT priorities in big law firms. Then he presented an overview of specific LegalTech solutions (e.g. Riverview Law¹²), that are already in use or could be in use in major law firms.

In his speech, Philipp Roth explained the basics of knowledge first by showing the differences between implicit knowledge (practical knowledge, being subjective and analogue), and explicit knowledge (intellectual knowledge, being objective and digital).

He then dealt with the tasks and challenges of Knowledge Managers. They work with the interaction of man and technology to make sure that the compiled knowledge stays within a company and can be passed on. The explicit knowledge should hereby be edited with automatized knowledge processes (intelligent search engines and intelligent document management), while the digitization in regard to the implicit knowledge can be supportive for thinking and development processes (see graphic below). When dealing with implicit practical knowledge, the individual gets put into the spotlight by being an essential carrier of knowledge and experience.

Figure 3 – Slide 15, PowerPoint Presentation, «Die Organisation des Wissens – Vorteile und Grenzen der Digitalisierung» by Philipp Roth, Weblaw Forum LegalTech 2017.

After the lunch break, Petra Arends-Paltzer dealt with new business models in the legal industry presenting themselves in consequence of digitization. Starting with an overview of the rapid rise of LegalTech businesses, she then demonstrated how the impact of so-called Alternative Legal Service Providers (ALSP) will increase in future and affect the market of traditional law firms. Further on, Petra Arends-Paltzer invited lawyers to deal with innovative business models. Amongst other things, she highlighted «productizing», the offering of product packages (at fixed prices) as well as digital marketing. The latter will gain more and more importance in our digital world and the spreading of social media, accompanied by the offering of some free of charge products and services.

Following the presentations, two different workshops were held. Wolfgang Hugentobler addressed document automation, whilst Philipp Roth showed how lawyers can optimize their web and social media presences. The workshops took place simultaneously.

Wolfgang Hugentobler began his workshop by analysing the requirements for digital legal documents. Important keywords mentioned where transparency, collaboration and consistency. Wolfgang Hugentobler then stressed that all current document software works based on templates, and that there were no connections between those templates. This contrasts sharply with DocGenie for LegalTech, a LegalTech solution founded by Wolfgang Hugentobler's business iDPARC AG¹⁶ (see graphic below). In a live demonstration, he then showed a beta version of the cloud software based on a modular system in which existing templates can be imported.

Figure 4 – Slide 13, PowerPoint Presentation, «LegalTech aus Sicht der Dokumente» by Wolfgang Hugentobler, Weblaw Forum LegalTech 2017.

Philipp Roth, in his workshop, showed the rather young audience how to build a web and social media presence, or rather, how to improve their existing presences with simple – partially free – resources and without technical background knowledge.

He started his demonstration with building a website. This site was created live and in real time, by means of the online modular system Jimdo¹⁸. Subsequently, a blog was integrated into the website, the articles of which could be spread via a newsletter system (MailChimp¹⁹ was used in his example) and via social media to reach clients and friends. The articles took over a (content) marketing function.

In the last part of the workshop, Philipp Roth showed the participants how to distinguish themselves best in social media (a very useful checklist can be found in his PowerPoint presentation). He additionally discussed profile management with easy and practical tips like, amongst others, the recommendation to like posts twice a week. Further, he pointed to useful analysis tools that are fully developed and accessible for the users in most social media.

After the workshops and the afternoon coffee break, Nicole Platel²⁰, Ueli Studer²¹, Christian Meisser²² and Salvatore lacangelo²³ discussed under the leadership of Raffael Büchi²⁴, how LegalTech will affect businesses and how appropriate solutions can be applied.

The event was formally closed by Simone Kaiser²⁵, but not before unveiling the new LegalTech website by Weblaw (legaltech.weblaw.ch). This website serves as a central platform for parties interested in LegalTech in Switzerland. It offers a blog, an overview of LegalTech events and LegalTech actors as well as the possibility to receive legal (open) data from Weblaw for LegalTech projects.

Altogether, the Weblaw Forum LegalTech 2017 «Digitization of the Legal Market» was an utmost educational and interesting conference that had its finger firmly on the pulse of time. The issues discussed in the presentations were diversified and matched the target audience. A real benefit was brought especially by the workshops, even though a little more interaction between the respective workshop instructors and the participants would have been preferable. I do, in any case, recommend visiting a future Weblaw Forum.

Due to the grand success of this years' event and the persistent topicality of LegalTech, another Weblaw Forum with this topic will take place on Thursday, 3 May 2018.²⁶

Daniel Pfäffli studies law at the University of Berne and works in Editions & Technology at Weblaw AG. The English version was translated by Anne Helms, Editions Weblaw.