In 2023, and soon-to-be 2024, it is critical for most employees to have a basic level of technological competency. Lawyers and law students are no different. When I began my law school journey 2.5 years ago, I was mainly concerned with whether I would grasp easily onto black-letter law. Contracts, Property, Constitutional Law…
But I’ve realized through networking, internships, and hearing working attorneys’ stories isthat there is so much more to the legal profession than just the law itself.
Yes, the law may be the foundation upon which the profession operates but without business acumen, communication skills, emotional intelligence, and now: technological competency, this profession would be infinitely harder. Even from my very limited perspective as a just-graduated law student, it has become clear the emphasis that is now placed on technological know-how.
But when it comes to technological competency, what does that even mean?
At what point does one know that they are in fact ‘competent’?
Do you have to be a computer scientist or adept at coding to reach this ambiguous threshold?
On that last question: no — if that were the case, they more-than-likely would not have handed me a diploma last month. At the end of the day, the job of the lawyer is to interpret the law. But since society now largely operates within a digitized system — digital calendars, filing systems, conference calls, etc. — without technology know-how, I would likely be left with little to no clients and way behind on any workload assigned to me.
Legal research is now conducted online via LexisNexis and WestLaw, not libraries. AI will be the next legal research librarian, poised and ready to assist frantic first-year associates.
Clients are becoming acquainted with their potential lawyers via Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
The post What the [Heck] is Legal Tech?. In 2023, and soon-to-be 2024, it is… | by KimberMarie Faircloth | Jan, 2024 first appeared on a new day for immigration.