Today's Tech: How The State Bar Of Michigan Is Embracing Technology
This is how one state bar association is supporting it members and helping them practice law more effectively in the 21st century.
Oftentimes lawyers and legal technology journalists lament the failure of bar associations of all levels for failing to embrace 21st century legal technologies and provide adequate support for their members who are seeking to incorporate cutting edge legal technology tools into their law firms. Fortunately, not all bar associations are stuck in 1995, and some are quite forward-thinking and focused on encouraging lawyers to become more efficient and effective by making the right legal technology choices for their needs.
A great example of this type of bar association is the State Bar of Michigan. According to Janet Welch, the Executive Director of the State Bar of Michigan, supporting legal technology innovation for its members is an ongoing focus for the Bar: “Our bar leaders and many of our members recognized several years back that many ‘old school’ methods were becoming uncompetitive and began asking what the Bar could do to help make members more comfortable with the tech tools that streamline costs and make lawyers more efficient. That spurred greater attention on our part to providing practice management help for our members in the use of technology.”
To that end, the Bar established a “21st Century Task Force” with 5 enumerated goals: 1) increase transparency in the legal marketplace, 2) provide better practical skills training for lawyers, 3) use technology to decrease the complexity of legal processes, 4) modernize the rules of professional responsibility, and 5) reduce law firms’ cultural resistance to innovation.
Law Firms Now Have A Choice In Their Document Comparison Software
One way that the Task Force is accomplishing these goals is by establishing recommendations on steps that the Bar can take to help its members use technology in their firms more effectively. As she explains, “We have just finished a year-long deep dive into the role of the state Bar in helping our members negotiate the turbulence of the legal market today, and more importantly, help the profession become more effective at serving the public in the years ahead by using the new tools that technology offers to deliver legal services more cost-effectively. We’re now working through the Task Force’s recommendations.”
According to Janet, one motivating factor behind this move to encourage lawyers to embrace technology is because doing so benefits legal clients. “The failure to understand technology exposes lawyers and clients to ethical dangers such as breaches of client confidentiality,” she says. “In addition, understanding and using technology intelligently offers better value to clients. And finally, non-lawyers are now using the internet to reach around the musty old regulatory structure to snatch away clients who in many cases would be much better served by access to a lawyer.”
Most 21st century lawyers understand that technology offers all of these benefits. But according to Janet, the problem often encountered is that lawyers feel overwhelmed by the vast assortment of legal technology choices. For those attorneys, she offers the following advice: “Lawyers need to realize that no two practices are alike. Technology that might be a good fit for one firm and for its lawyers may not be a good fit for another. Also, they need to educate themselves in what is available and not make fragmented purchases. A lawyer needs a full technology blueprint before signing on the dotted line. Less is best, and training is a necessity.”
Janet’s top 3 tips for lawyers seeking to incorporate new legal technology tools into their practices are:
Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
How Transactional Lawyers Can Better Serve (And Maintain) Their Clients
Generative AI In Legal Work — What’s Fact And What’s Fiction?
Generative AI In Legal Work — What’s Fact And What’s Fiction?
- Focus on technology professionals who know and understand lawyers and law firms.
- Be realistic about your technology capabilities and budget and anticipate your future goals and needs.
- While cost is an important factor, decisions should be based upon the effectiveness of the technology.
So that’s how one state bar association is supporting it members and helping them practice law more effectively in the 21st century. As always, if you know of a lawyer or bar association who is embracing legal technology, drop me an email at niki.black@mycase.com. I’m always looking for new attorneys, law professors, bar associations, or judges to feature in this column.
Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and the Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase, web-based law practice management software. She’s been blogging since 2005, has written a weekly column for the Daily Record since 2007, is the author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York. She’s easily distracted by the potential of bright and shiny tech gadgets, along with good food and wine. You can follow her on Twitter at@nikiblack and she can be reached at niki.black@mycase.com.
Sponsored
Law Firms Now Have A Choice In Their Document Comparison Software
AI’s Impact On Law Firms Of Every Size
