This Week In Legal Tech: Solos/Smalls, The Legal Tech Vanguard!
Lawyers have long been ahead of the curve in adopting new technology -- especially solo and small-firm lawyers.
There are many clichés about lawyers, but one that even lawyers buy into is that we are slow to adopt new technology. It may be heresy for me to say this, but I do not believe it is true. Yes, the behemoth that is the profession as a whole is slow to adopt change of any kind – tech, business, and otherwise. But the behemoth is a creature of the lowest common denominator. It does not define us all.
The fact is that lawyers have long been ahead of the curve in adopting new technology. And my belief is that the lawyers who have most commonly been at the vanguard of tech adoption are not those in large sophisticated firms or experimental boutiques, but rank-and-file lawyers in solo and small firms.
As for the general cliché that lawyers are slow to adopt new technology, consider just this one historical tidbit. The very first web browser developed to work in Microsoft Windows came from the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School. Tom Bruce, the LII’s director, released the Cello browser in 1993.
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And why did the LII create a browser? Because lawyers were demanding a way to access the then-nascent World Wide Web. While lawyers worked on PCs, the few pre-Cello browsers worked only on Unix machines. So the first Windows web browser was intended for lawyers.
Absorb that for a moment. In the earliest days of the web, when few people other than some nerdy scientists even knew what the web was, the first profession to begin to see its potential and to clamor for easier access was the legal profession. There, at the leading edge of this emerging technology, were the very folks who are so notoriously associated with its trailing edge.
One of the advantages of age is having been able to see things with my own eyes. For each new technology I’ve seen come out, I’ve watched as lawyers have consistently been among the earliest adopters. From personal computers and mobile phones to the internet and email, lawyers grabbed onto these technologies and ran with them.
And as I said at the outset, the segment of the legal profession most eager to employ new technology has been solo and small-firm lawyers. In some cases, in fact, it has been solo and small-firm lawyers in the least likely places – in smaller towns, in more rural areas that are about as far as you can get from a technology hub.
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This was particularly true of internet adoption. In the early days of the internet, many of the lawyers most likely to be found there were ones who used online connections and resources to help make up for the lack of physical connections and resources in the locations where they practiced. On the internet, they connected with their peers, found legal resources and research services, and even began to pioneer internet marketing.
Solos and smalls were also among the earliest to recognize and exploit the power of the PC. Why? Because it leveled the playing field. Back in 1995, I wrote a magazine article about technology’s impact on the legal profession, both positive and negative, in which I discussed how technology empowered solo and small-firm lawyers. In the article, I quoted Barry Bayer, a Chicago lawyer and longtime technology columnist:
Technology has allowed the small guy to compete. Twenty years ago, if the small guy got involved in a case against a big firm, they would bury you with paper – motions, memoranda, etc. But give me a PC and a laser printer, and I’ll swing right back at them. If they want to get 10 motions out from their forms, I’ll have 10 responses. And I’ll get on Lexis and Westlaw and do the same research.
I fully acknowledge that there are many, many lawyers who remain died-in-the-wool luddites, including a great many small-firm lawyers. And I fully recognize that the profession as a whole is slow to change – and even resistant to change. But it cannot be denied that the legal profession, as compared against other professions and industries, has consistently been among the first to recognize and employ the power of new technologies.
This remains true today. The legal profession was among the first to apply machine-learning technology and artificial intelligence in practical ways, initially in developing technology-assisted review for e-discovery and then in legal research, contract review, and other applications. If lawyers aren’t ahead of the curve on AI, they’re certainly near the leading edge of it.
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Many people whose opinions I respect hold the position that lawyers are slow to adopt new technology. Last year, Carolyn Elefant addressed this issue, concluding that lawyers are slow to adopt new technology “because it often sucks.” She was responding to a post by Mary Juetten that kicked off her five-part series on the slow pace of legal tech adoption.
Both Carolyn and Mary are right that many obstacles slow the pace of lawyers’ adoption of new technology, from products that suck to outmoded ethical rules to labyrinthine law firm purchasing processes.
But to paint lawyers with a broad brush as slow tech adopters is to ignore the reality of what has happened within the legal profession over the last 20 years. Lawyers have been leaders in adopting new technologies and in pushing their development even further. Often, solo and small-firm lawyers have been at the vanguard of that charge.
Robert Ambrogi is a Massachusetts lawyer and journalist who has been covering legal technology and the web for more than 20 years, primarily through his blog LawSites.com. Former editor-in-chief of several legal newspapers, he is a fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and an inaugural Fastcase 50 honoree. He can be reached by email at [email protected], and you can follow him on Twitter (@BobAmbrogi).
