Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m O C T O B E R 2 0 1 5 29 The next step down is "skilled work." This is highly profes- sional work and is what can be taught over time to our rising associates. Jeff Carr, formerly of FMC Technologies, describes four buckets of legal services: advocacy, counselling, content, and processes. This skilled work is in the advocacy and coun- selling realm of interpreting and applying the law within the complex business environments of our clients, but it has been standardized enough that the work can be passed on to other professionals. Next is "rote work," which is where the skilled work becomes more standardized and systematized over time. Lawyers here are often looking for ways to outsource this type of work — whether to junior lawyers, librarians, paralegals, litigation support staff, or even to full legal process outsourc- ing companies. It is still very much legal work, however, and needs educated professionals to carry it out. The work is likely to become more and more systematized over time, however, and is focused on Carr's content and processes realm of legal services. The final step in the curve is "robotic work." Here Neu- meier is not just talking about robots. He makes the point that full automation of a process or output is simply more likely as it travels down the waterfall curve, getting more and more standardized and systematized over time. Firms are looking at various automation "point" solutions like e-discovery or client dashboards, as well as looking at full case and matter management platforms that can automate some of our current manual processes. This creates an oppor- tunity for us to step back and view automation as just one end of the value chain in process improvement, aiming to ensure the right work is being done by the right resource at the right time. We're identifying value and unlocking new opportuni- ties for both client and firm. And where work should be more standardized and systematized, we are looking to push that work down the Robot Curve toward the most cost-efficient resource — including technology. As Neumeier makes clear, however, this is a two-way curve. As we push work down, we simultaneously free up lawyers for new and higher-value work. We create new and innovative opportunities right up and down the curve for our firms and offer an optimistic future ahead for legal. In legal so far, the processes and workflows that have turned from skilled work into computer code are still mostly around our document-based processes and outputs. Our industry doesn't yet have a Google driverless-car equivalent or those big impressive robot arms we see building the cars on a factory floor. Instead, we have document automation tools and algo- rithms that help us fill out standardized forms more quickly or create client self-service document production wizards on our web sites. We have software that can scan through hun- dreds of documents looking for specific provisions and pro- duce report checklists ready for our analysis. We have clever algorithms that can trawl through thousands of documents in a second to pinpoint a specific set of documents (think e-discovery, legal research, and big data solutions). Just buying these automation solutions for one part of your legal services is a lost opportunity, however. Automation is just a form of process improvement (as the Robot Curve clearly shows). We have an opportunity when looking to buy technology to use these LPI tools and techniques and look at the full value of the services we provide our clients. Step- ping back and seeing our services in this Robot Curve light can showcase our creative and skilled work, as well as reveal where we might standardize or systematize other parts to achieve deep benefits. We know buying IT solutions just because they prom- ise to simplify or remove the manual work in a workflow doesn't always deliver as expected. More technology can lead to increased complexity for our spaghetti architectures and make change even harder. But if we see the technology solu- tion is just one of the outcomes of our process improvement initiatives, we can approach the centralizing and automating of workflows as a richer program of transformation. So, as we focus on the new opportunities that can be uncovered by moving work downhill, I believe lawyers will continue to cultivate creativity and find the innovative solu- tions for clients by swimming uphill on the Robot Curve. Kate Simpson is national director of knowledge management at Bennett Jones LLP, and is responsible for developing the firm's KM strategy and initiatives. The opinions expressed in this article are her own. A DAILY BLOG OF CANADIAN LEGAL NEWS VISIT LEGALFEEDS.CA FEEDS LEGAL POWERED BY V O T E D BEST NEWS BLOG CLAWBIES 2015 Untitled-2 1 2015-04-20 9:08 AM

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