What Types of Software Should Law Firms Use?
In today’s digital age, adopting legal technology has become an integral step toward optimizing attorney productivity and ensuring long-term success for law firms. But adopting firmwide legal technology involves myriad considerations beyond just cost: the use of legal tech tools can impact a firm’s organizational goals and security requirements.
As the importance of technology in law increases rapidly, more legal teams are closely examining their options for law firm software. Read on to learn more about the types of productivity-boosting legal software for law firms, and for tips on evaluating the best tech for lawyers practicing in law firms today.
What is legal software?
Legal software for law firms, also called legal operations technology, covers a range of technologies that are designed to enhance legal services and workflows, including some technology powered by artificial intelligence. Some law firm software is designed specifically for legal professionals, while other tools are general technologies that are used more widely across various industries.
Today, technological competence is vital for lawyers to effectively represent their clients and comply with legal ethics rules.
American Bar Association
Model Rule 1.1, Comment 8
How can law firms use technology to improve productivity?
According to our Legal Ops and Tech Survey law firm respondents, their main legal operations priorities are financial. Their top goals are:
- Increased profitability (50%)
- Business development (30%)
- Increased revenue (30%)
Clients are pressuring law firms not only to cut costs but also to change the value proposition for delivering legal services. They want more productivity for their dollars and actionable intelligence that differentiates a firm from the competition – and that’s where technology comes in.
An attorney’s efficiency, productivity, and profitability are directly tied to being able to access resources that guide and inform them and make the whole process look effortless with their clients.
The ability to easily and cost-effectively access expert guidance across multiple disciplines and for varying levels of legal sophistication has never been more important. The manner, method, and solution with which you obtain this critical content can have an undeniable impact on a firm’s bottom line.
Ed Brandwein
Head Librarian, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler
Tools for more precise legal research
By using legal technology that employs advanced AI techniques, attorneys can gather insights from large sets of data and focus on the information that matters most, enabling them to be more efficient and strategic, and offer more value to their clients.
Bloomberg Law offers time-saving AI-powered legal research tools such as:
- Points of Law: Enables attorneys to quickly find language critical to a court’s reasoning to support their legal arguments
- Docket Key: Helps attorneys find an on-point brief, sample motion, or precedent material with only a few clicks
- Brief Analyzer: Drastically reduces the time spent analyzing a legal brief, identifying relevant authorities, and preparing a credible response
- Smart Code: Searches state and federal codes, rules, and regulations using a virtual annotated code that applies machine learning to quickly identify the strongest and most useful case extracts
Senior Associate
Robinson & Cole LLP
Improve efficiency in transactional law
Draft Analyzer is Bloomberg Law’s proprietary tool that uses AI to improve the process of drafting, reviewing, and negotiating merger agreements by:
- Speeding up document navigation and review
- Comparing your text to market-standard language
- Delivering practice tools and relevant expert guidance at the attorney’s point of need
What types of software do law firms use?
Today’s legal professionals can increase their billable productivity by leveraging legal technology to help them work more efficiently on repetitive or time-consuming tasks. The most common tasks that law firms need legal tools to address are:
- Legal research
- Timekeeping
- Billing
- E-signatures
- Case and matter management
- Document and contract lifecycle management
- Collaboration tools
Automation and AI
Automation is quickly becoming an invaluable tool to boost law firm productivity. Such tools may include components powered by AI to help legal professionals complete time-consuming research and analytical tasks – such as case law research, contract review, or drafting legal briefs – in minutes as opposed to hours.
For example, Bloomberg Law’s Brief Analyzer uses AI to quickly analyze briefs and link to additional relevant case law and other legal documents, helping users to spot holes in their argument, review citations for accuracy, find or check authority, and jump-start their response. Clause Adviser – a feature of our Draft Analyzer tool – allows users to quickly evaluate clause favorability and modify contract language simply by moving a slider to adapt to what’s best for their client.
Legal project management software
In general, legal project management software is popular among law firms for its ability to help attorneys streamline time-consuming daily tasks. Specifically, popular tools used by lawyers are those that help them achieve optimal workflow efficiency by tracking tasks and deadlines, collaborating with colleagues, and managing documents.
What’s the best software for law firms?
The best software for law firms is one that is trustworthy and secure, helps meet the firm’s operational needs, and enables more productive and efficient legal work.
In some situations, an organization may want legal technology to address a specific issue, such as time tracking or contract management. By contrast, some organizations may wish to implement legal technology to address objectives that are more performance-based such as increasing productivity or improving work product.
Regardless of the objective, organizations should put time and effort into determining exactly which aspects of their practice they would like legal technology to address or improve. Doing so will help to guide the procurement process, as organizations will have a clearer idea of what needs to be emphasized when evaluating legal technologies.
The procurement process may require seeking input from internal stakeholders – including leadership or staff who will regularly use the new technology – to confirm which tools are best for your firm.
Save valuable time with law firm solutions from Bloomberg Law
Although legal software for law firms can’t replace the analytical skills and deep thinking needed by lawyers, it can provide critical support for law firms that want to enhance productivity while delivering the same high-quality service to their clients. Download our Legal Ops and Tech Survey to learn more about how legal technology tools contribute to daily operations and reduce costs for law firms and in-house teams.
Bloomberg Law’s all-in-one legal research and workflow software offers unlimited access to innovative, AI-powered legal tech to totally transform your workday and execute a winning legal strategy.
Request a demo to see how Bloomberg Law can help your law firm work more effectively to serve your clients.