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The role of principals in steering tech conversations
Having spent nearly three decades running a boutique law firm, tech founder Kathy Constan understands the extent to which such professionals can and should be involved in driving new needed technologies for legal service delivery.
Jerome Doraisamy
In a recent conversation with Lawyers Weekly, Kathy Constan – who is the founder and principal of Melbourne-based boutique Hercules Constan Lawyers and is also the founder of e-conveyancing platform LodgeX – discussed how her observations of the advent of legal technology inspired her to make a difference in the lives of firm owners such as herself.
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Given her position as a firm-principal-turned-tech-founder, Ms Constan was asked if she feels that leaders of boutique firms are “uniquely placed” to steer the conversation on needed legal technologies in an ever-changing marketplace.
“Yes and no,” she said.
They are well placed to drive such dialogue, she noted, because “firm principals may be uniquely positioned to understand where a process is lacking efficiency and thus determine a deficiency that could be better addressed by tech”.
“Firm principals are also better placed to trial new tech and provide feedback as to its actual suitability in practice,” she posited.
On the other hand, Ms Constan conceded, firm principals are busy, time-poor and have exigent demands on their time.
“For them to steer the conversation, they need to take the time to think about their firm processes, what they may need, whether those needs can be actualised and if so, how that process will be affected,” she outlined.
“Generally, they are busy being firm principals and managing departments, delivering client outcomes and meeting budgets. To consider legal technologies also requires understanding what technologies are currently out there, what they may be capable of and how they can improve current processes.
“Building tech for tech’s sake, or implementing tech just to be on board, isn’t a solution and often creates poorer outcomes.”
Ultimately, Ms Contan surmised, firm principals should “definitely” be part of the process for legal tech – but in order to be most effective, they should possess a clear understanding of their firm processes so that they are open to how legal tech can be introduced and implemented.
“If they fail to do this, then tech implementation will not be as successful as they envision as they would not be tech-ready,” she concluded.
Ms Constan appeared on the most recent episode of LawTech Talks, which you can listen to here.
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