Use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for the legal industry has been empowering companies of all sizes to significantly change the way they work through the use of this intelligent technology.
Structuring huge amounts of data, enhancing focus on end-users and thus significantly improving customer satisfaction, or even more complex processes like drafting contracts or incorporating startups, are among the key roles that bots can play in law firms. Customer service is a critical attribute of competitive companies, and hence its improvement is the centrepiece argument for upholding RPA in the legal industry.
At the end of the day, robotic process automation can help you reclaim up to 40% of your time for higher-value work – so you can save money while your team can focus on more strategic initiatives.
Technology is one of the main sources of innovation in the industries of the 21st century, irrespective of the kind of industry. RPA and Artificial Intelligence (AI) provide a perfect illustration of this claim. In what follows, we look at the contribution that software robots (RPA) have had to the modernisation of the legal industry. Edge Tech’s experience with law firms has proven that RPA can be an extremely useful tool in the industry and can assist law firms in a number of ways, not just in finance.
The main function of automation in the legal industry is to release high-value staff (lawyers and associated staff) from the mundane tasks of handling paperwork, timesheets, interaction with Law AI applications, etc. so that they concentrate on the tasks that matter more for their customers and reduce non-billable time. Law staff assisted by bots can indeed focus more on the critical components of cases, improve services with their clients and provide accuracy in a number of areas such as contract law.
How to leverage robotic process automation in the legal industry?
“Doing more with less” is one way in which RPA can increase efficiencies. It can be operationalised in terms of an improved proportion between the cost and the value of the large number of bureaucratic processes that are inherently involved in law. With outcomes of this kind, automation is likely to become a ‘must’ and not merely a ‘nice to have’ option for an efficient legal industry of the future.
As you may know, RPA is generally applicable to rule-based, repetitive processes/tasks that are as uniform as possible, for example, activities or tasks that have few exceptions. Processes with these traits are amenable to automation, irrespective of industry sector or company size.
Edge Tech emphasises that processes in the law area like those mentioned above together with support functions in the legal industry, such as finance or HR, for example, can greatly assist law firms of all sizes.
Here are 4 ways RPA can benefit the legal industry:
1. Robot assistants can be used to structure huge amounts of data, which can consequently be accessed with a lot less effort from the part of rational human minds. Particularly in the law system here in the United Kingdom, searching through huge databases of files & cases and coming up with relevant analogues is crucial. But this is also extremely time-consuming, very tedious and hence error-prone.
In the case of a legal firm based in London which Edge Tech worked with, they used RPA to automate their database migration to the cloud. Please get in touch if you would like more information on this case study to find out how much money and time was saved – info@edgetechheadhunters.io or 0203 633 6203
Software robots can speed up the work and improve the accuracy of the findings. According to UiPath, a bots’ role is that of “super-smart consultants”, while the RPA platform is an effective e-discovery instrument. This has at least two other important positive consequences that we list next.
2. The human capital of law firms, (the law clerks’ bright critical minds) are freed up to focus on what they can do…reason well! Job satisfaction is thus greatly improved. According to social scientists, this boosts the performance of human services workers. So this boosts the cost/value ratio of implementing robotic process automation in the legal industry providing a real ROI that you can measure immediately just by speaking to your employees.
3. RPA has an enhanced focus on end-users, significantly improving their satisfaction. Since software robots can work more for less, the long term benefit is that the price of legal services can decrease by automation of wisely chosen processes. As a consequence, these processes become more affordable for customers.
In this sense, the use of robots in the legal industry can be seen as a form of prosocial innovation. Robotic Process Automation lends legal counselling more accessible, which, in the long run, increases its sustainability in the legal industry.
4. One of the vital gains of automated processes is their flexibility and corresponding scalability. To prove the present relevance of this benefit for the legal industry, here is an excerpt from a recent issue of Law Times: “Law firms of all sizes are waking up to the value of law clerks, spurring a spike in demand for their services, according to industry observers.” Software robots would be of great help in reacting to this increase in demand for legal services, without the extra cost of additional hiring.
Robotic Process Automation can also go beyond support functions. Even complex processes like drafting contracts or incorporating start-ups can be digitised when they fulfil the criteria of being driven by rules and having few exceptions.
In summary
The points we have listed above are just the tip of the iceberg in demonstrating the benefits of using Robotic Process Automation in the legal industry. As RPA is revolutionising the way law firms work today we expect that the use of RPA in law to soon become the norm. So why not get ahead of the curve and find out how Edge Tech can help you get started on your journey?
Please get in touch for more information about how we can assist and speak to one of our experts today:
Email us on: info@edgetechheadhunters.io
Call us on: 0203 633 6203