Canadian Lawyer

18 F e b r u A r y 2 0 1 5 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m t e C h s u p p o rt @k8simpson o p I N I o N It seems to me this is legal IT's new normal as the changes in technology con- tinue apace. We'll need better strategic tools if we're to fi nd the balance between these competing pressures and resolve the tensions in our fi rms. Tension 1: Security v. ease-of-use and effi ciency Where do we fi nd the balance on this spec- trum? Encryption and full security audits force changes to our systems that o en impact ease-of-use and effi ciency of work- fl ow particularly in e-mail and document management. Changes like this then force lawyers and assistants to follow protracted journeys in order to simply send or fi le an e-mail or document. Dropbox is an interesting example of where a solution arises that off ers some- thing that should be really simple to do — send, save, or share a large document or set of documents quickly and easily. e fact this particular app was always fully inte- grated into the iPhone, iPad, and desktop made it the most obvious tool of choice. But then the deep and worrying security concerns with the service were revealed that required IT teams to fi nd alternatives and train lawyers on the more secure op- tions. When it takes just a right-click to save a document to Dropbox, any alter- native system just seems slower and not as simple. And it has taken some time for these more secure, enterprise-robust alter- natives to deliver the ease-of-use and sim- plicity that are the primary features of the consumer fi le-transfer systems. Humans like to make stuff easier, follow the path of least resistance, and abide by the principle of least eff ort. When trying to bal- ance security and ease-of-use we need to be conscious that we make our lives harder by just focusing on one end of this spec- trum. e requirements for security and ease-of-use become of equal importance when meeting standards and managing the change and adoption of our systems. Tension 2: Governance standards v. fl exibility and freedom of choice is scale of two contrasting requirements s it just me or have the last couple of years heralded ever-increasing pressures on le- gal technology in our fi rms, whether large or small? And they don't seem to be any cute, simple pressures either — they're a bunch of competing tensions that constantly threaten to throw us off -track. Imagine them as being two ends of a spectrum, like the political spectrum, for example — there are few of us who would place ourselves way out on the extremes. More like, "somewhere in the middle," or "just le of centre," etc. I've seen three such tensions in recent legal technology publications, all of which seem to be keeping the business of law professionals up at night as we try to maintain some kind of magical balance. ey have been borne of changes in technology: going mobile, advances in consumer IT, big data — and the resulting market/user expectations (UX, fl exibility, privacy, and security). By Kate Simpson Balancing the tensions of legal technology I CLIeNt the client is the priority re-engineer processes Innovative to differentiate Leverage lawyers teChNoLogy kNoWLeDge INterNAL security governance transformative ease-of-use Flexibility operations susskind's grid — modified with ILtA's 4 core themes plus the circles of tension in Legal It.

• Cover