8 expert opinions on
The Legal Tech
Trends of 2023
since clients will not be willing to pay for
Hi there!inefficiency any longer.
2023 just started and we’re ready to write According to the Wolters Kluwer report,
2022 down in the books and turn the page demand for tech-enabled law firms hit
forever. Except for the Little Mermaid’s newa record high in 2022 and is expected to
skin tone and Beyonce’s latest album, there continue to climb. And according to Shilpa
wasn’t much to cheer about. We rolled from Bhandarkar, CEO of CreateiQ, Linklaters, it’s
a pandemic into an economic downturn also very likely that the focus on adoption,
(is this what Adele meant by ‘rolling in training and integration will increase in the
the deep’?). It looks like 2023 will be a upcoming months.
challenging, yet exciting year.
“We are convinced that the recession will
More than ever, it will be key to prepare forseparate the nice-to-haves from
the future and use resources in smart ways. the must-haves”
And we strongly believe in the role software
has to play in doing so. And we’re not alone.Legal tech will help legal professionals
Wolters Kluwer stated in their Future and firms to prevail, both in a bear and a
Ready Lawyer survey and analysis that bull market. But there is a lot of software
“technology leaders continue to outperform available on the market, and innovations
others year after year in the legal sector.”can be hard to follow. So which software
should you place your bet on? We are
“Technology leaders continue to convinced that the recession will separate
outperform others year after year in the the nice-to-haves from the must-haves,
legal sector” and will favour the tools with a quick Return
On Investment vs. long implementation
Software is an enabler for teams to cycles.
optimize the way they work. In a survey we
conducted among our customers, access to Which tools are here to stay? We asked the
knowledge was referred to as Henchman’squestion to a bunch of legal experts in our
main benefit. And we understand why: network. We hope this report can help you
By making knowledge easily accessible,prepare and decide what’s right for your
lawyers can focus on their added valueorganisation.
instead of repetitive and redundant work
like browsing files for a precedent or clauseCheers,
they have written before. This will be key Jorn
Contents
Trine Melsether 4 Alex Herrity  12
Chief Digital Officer at Thommessen Director of Legal Solutions
at Adidas
Stefan Schicker  6 Adam Curphey  14
CEO of SKW Schwarz @ Tech GmbH Senior Manager of Innovation
at Mayer Brown
Nikki Shaver8 Joe Cohen  16
CEO & Co-Founder at Legaltech HubHead of Innovation at
Dentons
Victor Cabral Fonseca 10 Kristof Cox, Ph.D.  18
Head of ThinkFuture at TozziniFreire Partner at Deloitte
Advogados, Brazil
3Trine
Melsether
Chief Digital Officer at Thommessen
The increasing impact of technology is a with new technology, to be able to deliver
trend that has gained momentum over services that add value to clients.
the past years for both law firms and legal So, what can we expect for 2023 (and
departments across a wide range of areas. beyond)?
While the pandemic restricted most of
us to work from home, it also enabled a1. I predict that we will continue to see a
sector-wide adoption of digital processes lot of activity within the area of document
and technologies. In today’s hybrid assembly and document automation tools.
work environment, I believe that this will There are already many tools available
continue and improve even further. in this area, delivering great value when
it comes to improved performance and
“Legal technology nowefficiency. In addition, and maybe just as
often is a key factor important, it is our experience that lawyers
in law firm selection by easily get involved and quickly start using
these tools. And as everyone working with
clients”
legal technology knows - adoption is key.
Successful implementation of document
As a leading Norwegian law firm, our
automation in a law firm comes with a
experience is that legal technology now
bonus: there is the possibility to deliver this
often is a key factor in law firm selection
as a new service to clients.
by clients. It is also an important part of
our day-to-day operations and a factor to
2. I believe that project tools, used within
attract new talents. Going into 2023, we will
a broad range of different legal areas, will
certainly continue combining our lawyer’s
continue to develop and gain attention
knowledge and experience across the firm
4throughout the next year. As several law plausible that we may experience increased
firms are focusing on improving their cyber risk in the year to come. I, therefore,
project management capabilities, due believe that cyber security should be
to increased project complexity in their top of mind for 2023. This might involve
work, taking advantage of digital tools to working with IT security standards such as
improve communication and collaborationISO, preventive cybersecurity measures, or
in projects makes a lot of sense. However, investing in even better surveillance and
for a successful implementation of these encryption tools.
tools, one needs to take into account the
client’s perspective. Often clients are quite “How can we develop a
different and one solution might not fit all. unique client experience?
At the same time, using different tools mayTechnology is only part of
drive complexity and also prevent internal
the answer”
user adoption. It will be exciting to see what
2023 holds in this area.
Accelerated by the pandemic, both clients
and law firm personnel are demanding
3. In 2023, I believe that we will take even
better and more efficient digital solutions
greater advantage of existing tools and
– more flexibility, more user-friendliness
use them more efficiently. For example,
and more integrations. The possibilities are
Microsoft’s Office 365 suite, which is
endless, but it all starts with curiosity. How
used by many clients and law firms, has
can we develop a unique client experience?
untapped potential and several features
Technology is only part of the answer.
have not yet been explored. The same goes
Equally important is working with the
for other systems within legal technology.
organizational culture to develop a growth
Will we take advantage of more capabilities
mindset within the organization.
that already exist? In a time of recession,
this seems plausible.
4. Businesses across all sectors
are increasingly being targeted by
cybercriminals. This also applies to the
legal sector. With an increasing number of
technology solutions, more integrations,
and also people working from a vast
amount of locations and networks, it is
5