The darker side of digitization

Last week, New York City hosted this year's LegalWeek - an annual, multi-day congress on the digitization of the legal industry. After two years of absence due to the pandemic, many sessions revolved around the question of what impact COVID-19 has had on digital development. This question is as difficult to answer after the pandemic as the prophecies in this regard were before. I would like to share two interesting aspects from the event reports here.

First, in his article published on law.com, Rhy Dipshan argues that the demands on judges are increasing as the use of technology in the courts increases. The panel was not at all concerned with fancy understanding of the mechanisms of artificial intelligence. Rather, the focus is on ostensibly trivial mechanisms such as the questioning of witnesses via video call (zoom, etc.). Judges should pay more attention to the setting and the possibilities it offers to parties and party representatives.

Concern was caused by the thesis that the  digitization of the judiciary does not actually improve access to justice, but rather restricts it. Often, it is a matter of simple things like access to basic technology. There was mention of a family court that had entered into a cooperation with a local church, where litigants were given access to the Internet in digital kiosks in the first place. This would be a surprising symbiosis of state and church, which is worth reflecting on further - which brings us back to Lent.

Lent

A week ago, Catholics began this year's Lent. It lasts 40 days, but only because they do not count Sundays; in reality, it is 6 ½ weeks. Today, Lent is mainly equated with abstaining from alcohol, nicotine and fatty foods. In truth, however, it is a time for reflection and inner contemplation. Even if the current geopolitical situation with Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine is not suitable for finding inner peace, I would like to briefly apply the idea of renewal to the legal profession and its tools.

One mantra of legal digitization is as follows: Law firms should standardize their processes for reasons of cost reduction and quality assurance and make use of commercial tools ("LegalTech").As a result, the same texts would then be used by many law firms for frequently occurring processes, and at a lower cost accordingly.

After a bit of introspection, however, one could also say: from a third party's point of view, this may be desirable and sensible, but is it enforceable? Obviously, there are major hurdles, otherwise the numerous systems on the market would already have become more widespread. This need not come as a surprise, because which company will agree to changes that make its own market performance interchangeable without massive pressure? Certainly, it is then argued that it is not about "bespoke lawyering", but about the surrounding - but what if the surrounding earns the greater part of the rent in one or the other law firm?

One need not be surprised that the various text generators and clause managers are primarily found in the legal departments: there are similar cases there in high frequency, and the legal departments are not in competition with each other.