The future of legal practice belongs to those who adapt
As service providers, law firms must provide accurate and commercial advice in a highly competitive landscape. As AI reveals more of its incredible potential across industries and geographies, law firms – too – will need to adapt to retain competitive advantages.
The future of legal practice belongs to those who adapt
As service providers, law firms must provide accurate and commercial advice in a highly competitive landscape. As AI reveals more of its incredible potential across industries and geographies, law firms – too – will need to adapt to retain competitive advantages.
Lihi Elimelech-Bechor, Partner and Chief Business & Development Officer,
Epstein Rosenblum Maoz (ERM) Law Firm
elimelech@erm-law.com
Credit: Nicky Westphal
Law firms worldwide face a dual dilemma. First, how to integrate AI while maintaining the high professional and ethical standards of the profession. Second, adopting a client-centric policy, which has become commonplace and essential in the business world as a service standard (known as ‘customer experience’), even for traditional law firms.
For a firm optimally to manage client experience, it must first understand the real needs of each customer, map the customer journey, think about peak moments in the journey, personalise the experience, and then provide harmonious solutions, all whilst offering professional and creative legal solutions.
Customer experience is the combination of the objective experience — a brilliant legal solution; and the subjective experience — the positive and empathetic feeling the firm provides to its customer. In recent years, customer experience has become the centre of discussion and competition among companies.
Everyone is fighting for the customer's positive attention. According to Dr Liraz Margalit, a world-leader in social psychology specialising in behavioural design and decision making, this is the new trade currency. Addressing these challenges can strengthen firms that choose to enhance the added value given to the customer and improve customer experience.
Until some of the (currently) more developed legal-tech tools like Harvey become widely accessible to all firms and lawyers, it is essential to acclimatise ourselves to using AI tools in our daily and professional conduct.
AI has existed for decades but recent advancements, especially by companies such as OpenAI, have made it more accessible with generative AI. Despite concerns about AI integration into our lives - a concern which extends beyond our roles as lawyers - we cannot ignore its revolutionary capabilities to shorten timeframes, streamline processes, and enhance services across sectors.
Before giving in to the tendency of traditional businesses to say "no," this article encourages us to consider where we can say "yes", how AI can help us increase our firm's profitability, and to ensure our clients receive more.
The fear of change
It seems the fears of integrating innovation in law firms have always existed. "…It's more suited for high-tech, not a law firm…"; "…Do you know any other firm that has done this?..."; "…We don't have to be the first...". Regarding AI, the fears are even greater and are related to the difficulty of changing the economic model and work culture in the firm. Common fears include:
- The cost of acquiring and integrating new systems, including training staff.
- A reduction in traditional billable hours (and therefore revenues) arising from automation.
- Lack of trust in AI – with results that still cannot be relied upon for total accuracy, especially in non-English speaking countries.
- Alarms raised about the potential undermining of attorney-client privilege, the infringement of intellectual property rights, and the invasion of privacy.
We should, however, flip the script. The same technology that raises such concerns also allows firms to offer added value to clients and streamline existing processes. Emphasising AI is meant to support, not replace lawyers, can help address these fears. AI can make work more efficient and accurate, allowing lawyers to focus on complex tasks requiring human judgement.
Customer experience (CX)
As mentioned, law firms must ‘catch up’ when it comes to customer experience, learn to use the methods practiced in parallel markets with the necessary adjustments while maintaining professionalism as a supreme value. To improve CX, investment in the relationship between the client and firm should be treated as a core value, ensuring speed and continuity of service across departments, partners, and branches.
Average client waiting times have significantly shortened thanks to various technologies and attention to CX. Consumers are willing to wait for an Uber for a maximum of five minutes, plan a trip abroad with ChatGPT in just a few seconds, and receive the new episode of their favourite series on demand.
These habits also affect client expectations when it comes to legal services. In the face of rising client expectations, lawyers must strive to deliver consistently superior outcomes, characterised by speed, customisation, and unwavering adherence to the principles of legal professionalism.
The greatest source of client frustration lies in a fragmented experience, characterised by a lack of continuity between interactions. Studies show successfully creating a seamless 'client journey' can significantly boost client satisfaction, even without necessarily reducing service level agreement handling times.
Therefore, to address this frustration and achieve a seamless client journey, the firm must prioritise creating a uniform service standard across partners, fields, and departments. This includes investing in consistent and clear communication, both internally and with clients, as well as regularly reviewing and optimising processes to ensure transparency. Implementing these changes may be more challenging in firms with multiple branches across diverse regions, but it remains a crucial step towards achieving client satisfaction in today's experience-driven world.
“The key to success lies in balancing technological innovation with maintaining the professional and human values of the legal profession. By intelligently using AI, law firms can not only improve operational efficiency but also provide clients with comprehensive, personalised, and significantly valuable service.”
Utilising AI to enhance the customer experience
A successful law firm must operate not only as a legal advisor but also as a business consultant who understands the full range of the client's considerations. This has always been true. This approach requires in-depth knowledge of the client and data-driven market research. For example, artificial intelligence can be used to collect and analyse information about clients, competitors, and market trends, including financial report analysis and media interviews.
This data provides deep insights into client needs and helps the firm identify business opportunities alongside tailored legal solutions. These insights can support the firm in promoting cross-selling interests and offering additional legal services that anticipate future needs, beyond the initial reason for the client's contact with the firm.
All these tools existed even before AI was accessible, but today they can be utilised while saving valuable time and achieving optimal analysis.
"Personalisation is the key to cutting through the noise and making a meaningful connection with customers." - Angela Ahrendts, Former SVP of Retail at Apple
To provide an optimal customer experience, personalisation must be implemented for every customer journey. It can be said that every legal service undergoes a built-in personalisation process. However, if we break down the touchpoints with the client, we can see it is not continuous. There are differences between partners, departments, and branches.
The personalisation motif is also related to choosing the method of communication with the client and how to present the legal information from the marketing stage to the end of the matter management. The ability to analyse a critical mass of digital data quickly and in real-time allows for rapid key decision-making, increasing ROI, and establishing the firm's reputation. Such a move will make it easier for the marketing department to open new markets and ensure the firm's growth.
AI can contribute to the personalisation process even during client onboarding (and unfortunately also in their departure). Additionally, it can improve the feedback mechanism, serving as a central tool for problem-solving and improving work processes.
Using AI to identify patterns and trends in feedback results allows for immediate problem-solving at an early stage and reduces the likelihood of future errors. Moreover, the essence of feedback is in active listening and creating the necessary empathy to foster a positive client experience. A personalised approach can not only enhance client satisfaction throughout the journey, but also help the firm create and refine an efficient AI-based tool that will improve service for all clients.
Listening to client needs - even on the firm website
Can the traditional presentation of the firm be changed even on its website? To listen to the ‘client tone of voice,' we at Epstein Rosenblum Maoz (ERM) challenged ourselves to think about how we can listen to the client in every interface they have with the firm.
We decided to start by personalising the website. In the coming months, we will launch a new site that will present an option to learn about the firm in a way specifically tailored to the client’s interests. The client will be able to indicate their areas of interest, such as energy, mergers and acquisitions, and international transactions.
Instead of navigating the site from practice to practice, the client will receive precise information tailored to them. They will essentially build their own ERM. The system will present the firm profile, set out our professional knowledge, introduce the legal team that can assist them, and display the articles we have recently published. The discourse becomes client-centred and not solely around the firm.
Implementing AI in CRM: a force multiplier
Using AI technologies in CRM systems is an advanced strategic tool in legal consulting and law firm management. The combination of automation and data analysis in these systems allows firms to focus their resources more efficiently on legal and strategic processes. For example, CRM systems using AI can track interactions with existing clients and help the firm understand the state of relationships and maintain continuous service. An AI-based system can identify potential clients interested in additional legal services (cross-selling) and alert the firm about clients at risk of leaving. Additionally, personalised emails and 24/7 chatbots can improve communication with clients.
"Get closer than ever to your customers. So close, in fact, that you tell them what they need well before they realise it themselves." - Steve Jobs
Implementing AI in a law firm
Better early than late: Implementing AI technologies in a law firm is a strategic step requiring commitment and adoption of advanced capabilities offered by leading global brands. Although in the legal field and complex legal analyses, AI systems do not yet replace human lawyers, they are rapidly evolving.
Therefore, it’s essential to start getting accustomed to them and to train the legal teams in using similar systems so, that when the technology is mature and ready, the firm will be prepared to lead the market. Early preparation also includes adapting the client and employee experience to the new world.
Gradual Implementation: To improve the client experience, one must first outline the desired client journeys and then consider which tools can help streamline processes and enhance the experience.
AI Requires Team Training: It’s crucial to develop a comprehensive training for employees at all levels to use AI tools. The training should include the use of various systems, prompting, and understanding the potential inherent in these technologies. Concurrently, it’s important to continuously monitor new technologies in the market and assess their relevance to the firm, the systems intended for the legal community, and systems intended for parallel markets.
Adapting the Business Model: Integrating AI technologies requires re-evaluating the firm's pricing and business models. Technology can change the way services are offered and can lead to new methods for determining pricing and service proposals, transitioning from an hourly model to a project-based model.
Conclusion
Law firms seeking solutions to create a significant advantage over competitors must enhance the client experience in their interactions. Implementing AI in law firms offers a substantial opportunity to improve client experience and work efficiency in a unique way that fits the firm's DNA and preserves its uniqueness.
Despite the challenges involved, firms that wisely and ethically adopt these technologies will enjoy attractiveness in a rapidly changing market and enhance employee experience and learning capabilities. It is worth mentioning employee experience leads to a greater engagement with their workplace - but that is a topic for a whole separate article!
In a world where technology continues to evolve rapidly, adaptation and innovation are not just options but necessities. The key to success, however, lies in balancing technological innovation with maintaining the professional and human values of the legal profession. By intelligently using AI, law firms can not only improve operational efficiency but also provide their clients with comprehensive, personalised, and significantly valuable service.
The future of legal practice belongs to those who can adapt to this changing landscape.
Adv Lihi Elimelech-Bechor, serves as a partner and the chief marketing and business development officer at Epstein Rosenblum Maoz (ERM), an Israeli law firm. She has close to two decades of legal experience specialising in intellectual property and providing companies with strategic consulting in this field, alongside extensive expertise in marketing and business development for law firms. Lihi has also served as an external director in dual public companies.