LegalTech: Powering Digital Transformation in the Legal Sector

In recent years, more and more law firms and legal departments have shifted from manual to digital processes to reduce costs and get work done faster. LegalTech or legal technology refers to all the digital technologies that have been powering the digital transformation of the legal sector.

What processes can be optimized with the help of LegalTech?

Legal technology has been driving the digital transformation of law firms by optimizing time-consuming processes, such as:

• Case management: By automating case management, lawyers can reduce human errors, improve consistency, and boost efficiency. Digital case management tools enable lawyers to automate data entry, document creation, and task assignment. They also allow for better collaboration, increased visibility, and superior data security.
• Time-tracking & billing: Legal billing software is a game changer for law firms. It allows legal professionals to track billable hours, send out invoices automatically, and receive online payments, thus meeting their unique billing needs.
• KYC verification: Lawyers must conduct a KYC verification before entering into a business relationship with a client. However, traditional Know Your Customer processes can take a very long time to complete. By relying on KYC software, legal professionals can securely collect all the necessary documents, carry out guided risk assessments, and automatically retrieve client and beneficial owner information.
• Calendaring: Legal calendaring tools help lawyers stay on top of their deadlines. Besides making it easier to schedule meetings and appointments, legal calendaring solutions can automatically calculate and update deadlines based on specific rules.
• Document management & digital signing: Cloud-based digital signing solutions enable lawyers to sign, store, organize, and easily access documents digitally. But that’s not all. Digital signing software also provides rule-based document routing and digital signatures, which save valuable time and improve the client experience.
• Client management: With legal software, legal professionals can manage all client information in one place — from contact details and case details to relevant documents and tasks. Plus, you can send emails to clients directly from the platform.

What are the benefits of LegalTech?

LegalTech has positively impacted the legal sector, helping lawyers work more efficiently and provide frictionless experiences to their clients. Some of the main benefits of LegalTech are listed below.

More time to advise clients

Legal technology eliminates many of the manual tasks that lawyers have to perform on a regular basis, thus allowing them to spend more time providing legal advice to their clients.

Enhanced accuracy and consistency

With human errors out of the way, lawyers can be sure that the data they hold is accurate and up to date. Plus, all processes are carried out consistently thanks to the automation capabilities of digital solutions.

Better data protection

LegalTech providers take all the necessary measures to keep your data secure. By employing security controls such as encryption, access control, multi-factor authentication, and regular backups, digital technologies protect data against unauthorized access and loss.

Improved flexibility

Most legal systems are cloud-based, meaning that lawyers can access documents and work on their tasks even when they are out of the office. Similarly, clients can sign documents digitally, no matter where they are or what device they use.

Increased scalability

Manual processes often can’t keep up with a growing client base. Even if the law firm hires more people and spends more money, there is no guarantee that it will be able to deal with a large number of customers. Legal technologies, however, are built with scalability in mind. Therefore, they can handle significantly more clients at no extra cost.

How can Penneo support digital transformation in the legal sector?

Many European law firms are turning to Penneo to automate their signing processes and accelerate their digital transformation.

Penneo is a cloud-based platform for digital signing and data collection, designed specifically to meet the needs of legal professionals. Say goodbye to back-and-forth emails and face-to-face meetings — Penneo makes document signing convenient, fast, and efficient.

Law firms use Penneo to:

• Automatically route documents to multiple signatories in a specific order based on their roles
• Schedule automated reminders to ensure documents are signed on time
• Send documents for signature directly from their core legal software using the open API or predefined integrations (e.g., Instaclause, Advisor, Unik Advosys)
• Provide a more convenient experience to clients by enabling them to sign documents digitally using their electronic ID or passport
• Get multiple documents signed in one go
• Store the signed documents in compliance with the GDPR

To stay competitive and thrive in today’s digital world, law firms and legal departments need to embrace digital transformation and take advantage of the opportunities that LegalTech provides.