“But to capitalise on these advantages, law practices – big and small alike – will have to rethink key components of their business models, including what services they offer, how they structure their fees, and which tasks they perform in-house versus outsourcing,” Ms Billett said.

Ms Billett noted that legal tech solutions can assist in combatting the changing business of law, which she said has become “more challenging due to more data to analyse, the demand by corporate clients for lower-cost, high-quality legal advice and more accountability from external law firms”.

“Although implementing such changes isn’t easy, law practices cannot afford to spare the effort and will need to be open to seeking expertise outside of their current talent pool to execute any potential technology change, cultural shift or product development,” she added.

In her presentation, Ms Billett also drew on a report by the Boston Consulting Group in conjunction with Bucerius Law School, How Legal Technology Will Change the Business of Law.

“The report indicated that the digitisation of legal data constitutes a megatrend that is transforming workflows and business models around the world,” said Ms Billett.

Findings from the research suggest that legal-technology solutions could perform as much as 30-50 per cent of tasks currently being carried out by junior lawyers.

The impact of this would have significant ripple effects all through the profession,” according to Ms Billett.

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In conclusion, Ms Billett said those law firms that choose to ignore the benefits of technology face the risk of being sidelined by more forward-thinking rivals — not only firms in their own industry but also legal-tech vendors themselves.

“Law firms can no longer afford to ignore legal tech. In this changing legal-advice landscape, there will be winners and losers,” she said.