Legal tech- trend which improves the market | Law Office Aleksov & Memishi

Legal tech- trend which improves the market

Definition

Legal Tech refers to the application of technology and software to lawyers and law firms in order to help them in practice of law, management and governance, archiving documents, research, accounting, etc.

Since 2011, this branch of technology in the world has evolved into the emergence of a growing number of startups, which in addition to offering B2B (lawyers and lawyers) services, find solutions that are offered directly to other companies or individuals who cover a certain hole in market.

Online software products are created that make the connection with lawyers easier, and in some cases, for certain problems in certain aspects they reduce or completely exclude the need for a lawyer. In the United States and the EU, there has been a significant increase in the number of startups in this area, which are experiencing great growth and development. This branch of technology is slowly becoming the “next big thing”.

In the field of education, special programs are developed that are at the intersection between law, technology and innovation, cross-section between lawyers and entrepreneurs.

Legal tech – areas in which products are developed

E-research: this area refers to the research of electronic data related to case law, (judgments, decisions) laws, by-laws, etc. Startups that develop products in these areas build digital tools to ease the process of investigation for lawyers.

Management software: startups develop products, tools that facilitate the calculation of tariffs, time spent to do a certain job, and managing contracts related to lawyer services.

Data and analysis: products are developed that facilitate the analysis of extensive contracts and legal audits.

Archiving and storing: Offices that have a large amount of cases and data and have problems searching the documents in certain cases are able to ease their job with online software that archives and stores items and makes it easy to search.

Automation of acts: certain contracts, requests, or submissions are automated by making software that generates an act, thus saving on unnecessary waste of time.

Startups also appear in other areas that aim to automate the processes and procedures where it is feasible. Namely, through applications and software, significant part of the formal procedures and documents that have a certain pattern are simplified to be understandable to everyone.

Examples of legal – tech startups

Notarize – An online platform that allows you to connect with a competent Notary through a computer or mobile phone and make a verification of your document from home.

Legal Sifter – makes it easier to understand contracts, summarize, sort and easily search through them.

Rocket Lawyer – With most fundraising in the United States ($ 54.3M), Rocket Lawyer allows you to create a variety of types of contracts (and other types of legal documents), get them checked by a lawyer, get legal advice, etc.

ViewABill – Tariffs for lawyers, hours worked and billing for certain lawyer services collected in a transparent and interactive web platform.

TMTKO – Provides search through trademarks, comparison, analysis and percentage of similarity, assessment and preparation for complaints on published trademarks.

Legal Tech in Republic of Macedonia

At the moment, this we can conclude that this area is still at the beginning. There are several companies that have products – mentoring software or online data storage and archiving that are offered to lawyers and law firms, but they have poor feedback from the market. That means that these products are not massively accepted and used.

What should be taken into account in developing such a product is not to be in conflict with the Criminal Code and the provision for issuing a false certificate, which prescribes a fine or imprisonment of up to one year, and if developed by lawyers, it should not be characterized as unfair competition.

However, there is a big extent in which products of startups can be developed that will not be subject to any of the above limitations and will not present obstacles so therefore, they will fill the holes in the market.