Canadian Lawyer

November 2022

The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers

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www.canadianlawyermag.com 5 "You need to have constant communication around what resources and tools exist in the giant data dump of a firm. It's constant education and iteration." With Google Analytics, law firms can also track marketing data. These insights include how many people visit a firm's website, what they are searching for that leads them to the site, how long they stay, and how the firm performs on social media. Data allows Stam to determine the most effective time to post articles or conduct webinars. However, she says concerns over data security continue to make lawyers reluctant to innovate. In a Meritas survey of its 187 law firms around the world, 31.2 percent ranked cyberse- curity and data protection as their firm's number-one priority. While law firms deal with sensitive infor- mation, so do hospitals, accounting firms and fertility clinics, "and they've moved on," says Stam. It is possible to secure data and insure against cyber breaches. "It shouldn't stop us from innovating just because we're scared," she says. As law firms are increasingly run more like advanced businesses, they realize that they need operations that scale, says Al Hounsell, a senior innovation lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP. "You've got larger marketing depart- ments. You've got larger operations depart- ments," he says. "Now there's a lot more scalability that's being focused on inside law firms. And the way that you inform your strategy, as a large organization, has to be based on data. "You simply can't put a finger to the wind and decide – decisions must be made on concrete data points, because the stakes are much higher as you become more consolidated and sophisticated. You grow out your operations, your data capabilities, and you become much more mature as an organization." WIDESPREAD USE OF DIGITAL TOOLS BY LAW FIRMS Practice and financial management software Document management, creation and automation software Risk management and compliance software, including cybersecurity and data protection "It shouldn't stop us from innovating just because we're scared" Lisa Stam, Spring Law 95% 74% 73% Source: 2022 Meritas Technology Survey of its 187 law firms worldwide

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