Canadian Lawyer

18 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m Technical skills New and emerging technological devel- opments and tools, combined with pres- sures to decrease legal costs, mean many law firms are trying to understand how to best introduce and integrate new tech- nologies into their practices. However, it may surprise many to hear that most lawyers and law students lack the techni- cal skills to meet the business needs of the current legal market. There are two reasons for this. First, despite the pressures faced by firms to embrace these advance- ments, there are still those comfort- able using existing — and increasingly outmoded — methods and processes. Even within firms that are willing to intro- duce new technologies, convincing law- yers to use them has proved challenging. This resistance is known as the problem of adoption. For many lawyers, the problem of adoption stems from a culture that nur- tures the image of the "ingenious lawyer who triumphs by intellect rather than by procedural discipline." To overcome this image, lawyers need to understand that there is still room for unique judgment, analysis and creativity when using tech- nological systems. In fact, using technol- ogy for many of the more rote aspects of a file can free lawyers up to apply these higher-level skills to any issue. The other obstacle to technology adoption is the misconception that young, new lawyers are familiar with and proficient in the use of the latest technologies. These "digital natives," tethered to their smartphones and using apps such as Uber for order- ing a ride, Tinder for dating or Snapchat for social media engagement, are seen as easily able to understand and engage with legal technology. While not unreasonable, this assump- tion holds little truth; age does not appear to be a strong factor contributing to the problem of adoption. Young lawyers are not always open or motivated to train themselves on the use of legal technology applications or even basic applications such as MS Word or Excel. And while mobile apps such as Uber, Tinder and Snapchat have simple interfaces and fea- tures designed to be intuitive, legal tech- nology applications and productivity soft- ware have interactivity capabilities that are much greater and far more complicated. However, few students ever truly learn how to engage with the full functionality of these applications and software. Their understanding and use of these technolo- gies is often simplistic and fails to leverage tools and functionality for real-time sav- ings as part of their legal practice. Second, even though almost all of the work lawyers perform today involves digital tools, few law schools (with the notable exceptions of Osgoode Hall Law School, the University of Calgary and Thomson Rivers University) offer any @MonicaNGoyal L E G A L I N N O VAT I O N N O W O P I N I O N s technology is increasingly used within law practices to streamline legal processes and more efficiently deliver services to clients, two important questions have come up for lawyers and law schools. Do lawyers and law students have the technical skills to meet the business needs for the cur- rent legal market? And with technology now highly integrated into the practice, is there then an ethical imperative for lawyers to be techni- cally competent? Tech competence a must Law schools and regulators are beginning to accept that lawyers need much better training and knowledge in how to use technology \ By Monica Goyal A

• Cover