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18 www.canadianlawyermag.com READERS' CHOICE 2022 Niche products are catching on Despite the challenges, vendors are making headway in convincing law firms to adopt new technology that will make them more efficient. One vendor, eState Planner, has been making strides with wills and estate planning software that about 400 law firms are using in Ontario. It is one of the Readers' Choice award winners in the practice-specific software category for wills, estates and trusts. "If you think of it, how wills have been drawn up hasn't really changed in centu- ries," says Jordan Atin, a wills and estates lawyer at Hull & Hull who created eState Planner with colleague Ian Hull. "What we're doing is trying to change all that." As a lawyer who works in the practice area, Atin says he knows the pressure points that his colleagues face regarding wills. eState Planner digitizes the process where a lawyer meets with a client, collects data on their family and assets, devises a plan and prepares documents. The tool also serves as a "second set of eyes," showing the client and lawyer the impact of certain decisions by constantly analyzing the data and producing reminders, such as planning opportunities and tax ramifications. It then generates wills, powers of attorney and reporting letters based on the data entered into the software. Another Readers' Choice award winner, in the public record searches and filing category, is Lormit Legal Support Solutions, formerly Lormit Personal Services. Based in Calgary and with franchise offices nationwide, the firm was established in 1979, offering services such as process serving, remote or mobile signing, court filings and services, private investigations and occupancy checks. While this type of vendor has long been in place, Lormit president Patrick Romaniuk says his company has upped its game by one employee in an innovation function. But even the decision-makers surveyed felt the adoption and implementation of inno- vation efforts, Bowyer says, and getting the necessary internal support for such initia- tives was problematic. According to the survey, among practice areas benefiting most from innovation, the top-ranked were corporate and commer- cial, followed by litigation and real estate. Tax, labour and employment and regulation ranked lowest. In the case of small and medium-sized firms, one of the issues, says Bowyer, is finding a product at a price point that makes sense for them to use. "For example, a big document management system company would say, 'you know, we need X number of lawyers in place for it to be worth it for us to sell a subscription to a firm that would make financial sense.'" "If you think of it, how wills have been drawn up hasn't really changed in centuries. What we're doing is trying to change all that" Jordan Atin, eState Planner WHAT ARE THE KEY CHALLENGES YOUR LAW FIRM FACES IN IMPLEMENTING INNOVATION INITIATIVES? (0 = least challenging, 9 = most challenging) Source: Canadian Legal Innovation Forum Survey 2022 Adoption Implementation Technology/service providers delivering on their promise Selecting the right technology Measuring ROI Internal support for innovation initiatives/no burning platform Training Keeping initiatives up to date/relevant/competitive Client adoption (where applicable) 0 1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8 9 SPECIAL REPORT