By Doug Striker,
Allow me to share a quote as I launch into this blog entry:
“I genuinely believe that the legal industry is at a great inflection point. Our jobs will not look the same ten years from now. Technology advancements for legal services are ripe, and attorneys need to pay attention.”
Now, given my proclivity for celebrating (and driving) the tech-training bandwagon, you’d think I might be quoting myself or a tech guru or an LTC4 source or some other tech professional who is as bananas as I am about technology advancements in the legal industry.
But nooooooo. This source is a lawyer. (Wait! A lawyer who embraces technology?!) And she’s not just any lawyer. She’s Lucy Bassli, assistant general counsel at Microsoft. Ms. Bassli has signed on to teach a course at Suffolk University School of Law’s new certificate program in legal innovation and technology.
This first-of-its-kind online certificate program at Suffolk is exactly what every law school in America should be offering their current students and alumni. Without proper technology understanding, lawyers will be unable to compete in today’s legal marketplace… let alone tomorrow’s.
It is no longer enough to graduate lawyers who have great legal knowledge and prowess. Today’s lawyers need to know how to deliver their thought-products to clients efficiently, securely and error-free. In order to do this, they need a fundamental understanding of today’s legal technologies, combined with the ability to adapt to changes in those technologies as they invariably come along.
Technology skills are no longer a “nice-to-have” for lawyers. They are a must-have.
Tech Skills Impact Your Bottom Line
Bassli goes on to state that the legal field is going through a great “unbundling” – an approach that calls on legal providers to explain exactly how they are pricing each individual service they are offering, making it simpler for clients to shop around for quicker, cheaper solutions.
When you have to compete for clients who can compare your specific cost-per-service to another firm’s, you’d better squeeze as much value as you can out of each dollar you make. And the best way to do that is through efficiencies delivered by technology.
“I want to empower my colleagues with some fundamentals of what legal operations can mean for the delivery of legal services,” says Bassli.
In announcing its new certificate program, Suffolk Law’s Professor Gabriel Teninbaum, director of both the certificate program and Suffolk’s Institute on Legal Innovation and Technology, stated that the adoption of new legal methods and technologies has become a necessity for legal professionals who want to remain competitive.
I think this proves that the demand for strong technology skills in the legal industry is only going to increase with time. Are you prepared?
Doug Striker is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Savvy Training & Consulting, a provider of legal software training solutions. As a former Chief Operating Officer of a prominent law firm, he specializes in helping firms acquire the software platforms they need, training staff for maximum workflow efficiency, and enhancing continuity and bottom-line results. He can be reached at Doug@SavvyTraining.com, 303-800-5408.
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