I want to see legal tech companies do well. I genuinely believe that introducing technology to replace boring, tedious and inefficient tasks is going to make being a lawyer a more satisfying career path. Which is why I get frustrated when I meet in-house counsels who aren’t as up to date on legal tech as I would like them to be. Last week at the Apttus Accelerate conference in San Francisco, I had such an encounter. But, if you’re hoping for a rant about how the legal industry is behind the times, stop reading because I will only disappoint you. In fact, my big take away from the conference was that corporate legal is ready to embrace new software and technology.
While I was at the conference, Jason Smith, Apttus‘ Senior Director and Legal Counsel, who you may remember from this conversation, introduced me to several Apttus customers who are in-house counsels, presumably so they could, you know, tell me how much they loved Apttus.
And they did not disappoint.
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One lawyer, an in-house counsel at a multi-billion dollar global company, was so ebullient in her praise of Apttus that I made Jason walk away so I could be sure he wasn’t influencing her answers. She explained to me how Apttus was completely overhauling her company’s contract formation. Instead of an endless process of lawyers and sales/procurement teams trading drafts back and forth by email — a process that tends to drag out — Apttus was allowing the company’s sales and legal team to collaborate in one place. According to this in-house counsel, Apttus had become her second job. Given her enthusiasm, I assumed she must be utilizing other new software, so I asked her what other legal tech her company was using.
To which she shrugged.
It would be easy to fall back on the popular meme that lawyers are fuddy-duddy Luddites, fearful of new technology, but this person had described her firm’s integration of software as her second job. She, like many of the lawyers who email me every week, are interested in knowing about new technology. The more in-house counsels I meet, the more I see an appetite to learn about new, useful technology that cuts down on their bill. Plus, I have advised companies in the past on why they should be marketing to in-house counsels. Even if Biglaw firms are the actual buyer, the in-house counsel should be the one asking, “Why did the bill come out to $1.4M? Aren’t you using [INSERT NAME OF SOFTWARE]?” The in-house counsel can only ask that question if start-ups have done an effective job of telling them their story.
The appetite and the need is there for both start-ups and corporate legal departments, the question now is how to reduce frictions?
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Conferences like the one last week are part of the solution, plus I should note the work of Evolve Law, started by Mary Juetten and Jules Miller, whose stated mission is to accelerate the adoption of new technology in the legal profession. They create content, put on events and have an excellent job board where you can find out which legal tech companies are hiring. But it’s going to take more than just Evolve Law to create a system that better educates and empowers corporate legal departments.
What, exactly is that “more”? I don’t have any great answers yet, I’m merely asking the question and trying to start the conversation. Got ideas? Hit me up on Twitter or LinkedIn or shoot me an email.
[Disclosure: Last week I was a guest of Apttus, who covered my travel costs to San Franscisco]
Zach Abramowitz is a former Biglaw associate and currently CEO and co-founder of ReplyAll. You can follow Zach on Twitter (@zachabramowitz) or reach him by email at [email protected].