Technology

To Code Or Not To Code: A Legal Skill Question

As lawyers, don’t we always want to be innovating, thinking creatively, and prepared for all eventual outcomes?

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“Do I need to learn to code?” It’s the one question I consistently get from law students and lawyers alike, usually with a dreadful grimace. It’s understandable — these are people who spent three years of their lives and hundreds of thousands of dollars learning one skill, and now they’re being told that skill is worthless without also having a completely unrelated one.

There are, of course, an unlimited number of answers and opinions on the topic, varying from company to company. So, I crowdsourced the answer in my global network.

I asked: “Do lawyers generally need to learn how to code?” I received the following results to the three choices.

  1. Yes, lawyering & coding = ❤️ 31%
  2. No need for lawyers to code! 65%
  3. I do NOT want to vote! 4%

The Enthusiastic Yeses

On the one hand, Shari E. Belitz CEO of Shari Belitz Communications, summarized it: “If you asked me in 1990 if lawyers needed to learn email, I would have said no. If you asked in 1995 if lawyers needed to know how to type rather than dictate a memo, I would have said no. If you asked me in 2019 if lawyers would need to learn how to use an online platform to mediate, I would have said no. So, do lawyers need to learn to code? Yes. Learning to code provides the added bonus of sharpening logic skills, so is not just a utilitarian function.”

Some even reassured me that learning to code for lawyers is a doable, even enjoyable, endeavor. Dina Eisenberg, a law firm leader coach, explained: “I learned HTML over a long weekend. Not only am I able to do simple coding myself, I learned about my grit and raised my confidence. Those insights help me better serve my clients.”

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The Pragmatic Noes

On the other hand, Rachita Maker, head of legal operations at Tata Communications, said: “I don’t think lawyers need to code. Lawyers need to know how to use tech to make their work more efficient. They need to learn to speak to technologists on their problem areas and how solutions should be designed.”

Similarly, MacAllistre (Alli) Henry, corporate counsel at Contentful, explained, “I believe in comparative advantage — as a tech lawyer, it’s important for me to understand issues that arise in coding — integrating open source, compatibility, etc. — but I do not need to be the coder.”

Likewise, Jack Shepherd, an associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, detailed five reasons why lawyers don’t need to code. He suggested that many lawyers “won’t do as good a job,” “lawyers add to software builds by being the voice of the lawyer, not the developer,” “coding is only one part of a software,” “coding and design are even less important than identifying business problems that need solving, and being strategic around how the effort,” and it is incorrect to assume that “things like marketing, positioning and communication are easy or less important.”

And, Other More-Measured Suggestions

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Of course, others explained that there are many answers between “Yes” and “No.” This is, of course, an expected result when one polls lawyers.

Dr. David Cowan, a lecturer at Maynooth University and editor-at-large at Global Legal Post explained: “I voted no need to code, but I would have voted for a different answer if offered: Lawyers need some introductory teaching on coding.” He continued, “From this, they will gain important insights into the relationship between law and technology, to which I would add for some law students it will be useful for them to learn coding as there will be good job prospects for them to work with law in new ways.”

And, of course, there is a thoughtful “it depends” answer. For example, Chris Weimer, a member at Pirkey Barber, said, “To give a lawyerly answer: it depends. I’ve seen some very compelling visual representations of data created by lawyers who code. But generally, I think it’s more efficient to provide ideas to developers to implement them. And then there are some specialized practices where being able to read code is crucial, but those are not the norm.”

The rich commentary that accompanied the vote suggests a difficulty in distinguishing between pragmatic specialization, say in the area of law, and pressure to be technically competent. In the current state of the industry, knowing how to code is generally a skill that will provide an advantage to individual lawyers in some specialties, but as a whole, according to the experts, is not totally necessary — yet. But why not be prepared for the future of the industry? As lawyers, don’t we always want to be innovating, thinking creatively, and prepared for all eventual outcomes?

For now, the question rests with each lawyer: while there is a general agreement that technical competence is a must for the twenty-first century where does the individual lawyer draw a line in deciding how far to go?

Olga V. Mack is the CEO of Parley Pro, a next-generation contract management company that has pioneered online negotiation technology. Olga embraces legal innovation and had dedicated her career to improving and shaping the future of law. She is convinced that the legal profession will emerge even stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive than before by embracing technology. Olga is also an award-winning general counsel, operations professional, startup advisor, public speaker, adjunct professor, and entrepreneur. She founded the Women Serve on Boards movement that advocates for women to participate on corporate boards of Fortune 500 companies. She authored Get on Board: Earning Your Ticket to a Corporate Board Seat and Fundamentals of Smart Contract Security. You can follow Olga on Twitter @olgavmack.

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