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Technology is central to the performance of the legal sector and crucial to service providers’ success.
The 2024 Changing Legal Landscape by ALPMA/Dye & Durham states that 64% of those in the Australian legal industry would be unable to work without tech.
It also reveals that usage of core technology platforms among law firms remains strong, with well over three quarters using a practice management system and document management software.
E-signing technology has also increased from 2023 to 2024, as predicted, with 70% of firms embracing this. Only sole practitioners were significantly less likely to use a practice management system (57%) and were equally likely to use document management software. In contrast, they have taken up e-signing technology at equal or greater rates than larger firms.
Microsoft published a paper on generative AI for lawyers in Australia and New Zealand, and its analysis found:
10% of a solicitor’s tasks could be automated
32% augmented by generative AI
Clayton Noble, head of legal at Microsoft Australia and New Zealand, says, “The ability to generate content – including client correspondence, contract terms, pleadings, legal advice memos and other documentation – represents an incredible opportunity for the legal profession to safely, securely and responsibly speed up routine legal work.”
There is also a growing enthusiasm for AI and large language models in Australia and New Zealand’s legal sector, evident in ALPMA/Dye & Durham’s survey, which shows these tools are among the most likely to be adopted by their firms within the next 12 months, with anticipated benefits. Only sole practitioners remain reluctant despite supporting other time-saving tools such as precedent generation and client portals.
Microsoft’s analysis shows that for lawyers, including in-house, there are opportunities to automate legal work through AI that can range from addressing administrative burdens to assisting on substantive legal work. Examples include evaluating information to determine compliance with legal, regulatory and corporate standards; automating scheduling meetings; estimating time to complete legal work based on past experiences; and transcribing and summarising the content of both in-person and virtual meetings.
The study also states, “No matter what the future holds, advanced human capabilities, empathy and insight will continue to be needed in the legal profession. But viewing the AI revolution from the sidelines is not a viable option.”
Between Australia and New Zealand, there are differences in what services are embraced.
Usage of anti-money laundering tools remains low among Australian firms (6%) but widely used by New Zealand firms (69%). However, a change in Australia will likely be seen when legislation and regulatory changes are introduced in the future. Usage for this technology is higher amongst relevant practice areas, such as conveyancing, finance and civil litigation.
Responding to these demands, the winners of Australasian Lawyer/NZ Lawyer Service Providers Awards of 2024 have created innovative and efficient solutions, but not all related to tech.
Enlisting the services of external companies who can lighten the burden and streamline operations. Whether it’s automating their documentation, accessing a database of cases that aids them in litigation or outsourcing recruitment to specialists, law firms are reaping the benefits of these top service providers.
The winning providers are delivering transformative legal solutions across areas such as:
ADR and mediation chamber
Legal technology
Litigation support and consulting
Recruiting, staffing and outsourcing
The company delivers, identifies and protects intellectual property along the full life cycle of the innovation process.
Fovea IP was created in 2018 by the merger of two global intellectual property data suppliers – Lighthouse IP (Amsterdam) and IP Sensus (Brussels). Its Australia and New Zealand branch opened in early 2023, where it partnered with more than 80 regional clients and onboarded over 300 active users in its first year.
Providing global IP services to legal and brand professionals, its offering extends to:
supplying the most complete global collection of intellectual property data, including trademarks, patents and designs
providing online search tools that offer research capabilities on one platform across all IP rights
conducting worldwide searching and watching services by analysts on behalf of clients
Fovea IP’s search and watch platform harnesses state-of-the-art technology that allows clients to conduct research with efficiency, speed and relevance.
“When there’s a new trademark, design or patent that an owner is going to apply for, they need to have done preliminary research to see what’s already in the market and to ensure it doesn't infringe on IP that’s already there,” says director of business development – Australia and New Zealand Amanda Good.
“Once it’s on the trademark side, we monitor worldwide trademark gazettes to check that there’s nothing that's too close. We report to owners about trademarks if they may want to oppose one that’s similar coming into their jurisdiction.”
Fovea IP leverages technologies developed in-house, streamlining and enhancing processes to significantly reduce the time and resources needed for comprehensive brand analyses.
Good says, “We’ve been able to build algorithms and utilise AI in our search systems, so it is user-friendly, intuitive and has a modern interface.
“Our team is utilising AI and similarity search algorithms to help them with producing the reports and data to deliver to our clients.”
Repeating its success of also being crowned a winner in 2023, Altitude Recruitment is testament to its influence across the legal space.
Founder and managing director Louise Hall-Strutt, who launched the company in 2021, has established herself as one of the leading recruiters in New Zealand. Building that personal brand is important to Hall-Strutt’s solo operation, as she enjoyed a successful last 12 months, despite a difficult market with supply not meeting demand.
“The problem in New Zealand is because we’re so small, we’ve always had a talent shortage, but since COVID, people have had itchy feet. We’ve lost a lot of good lawyers to Australia and London, doing their overseas experience and there’s been a bit of a brain drain,” she says.
“With that, firms want to ensure they find the right fit to grow their business, rather than putting bums on seats.”
Focusing on building and maintaining relationships is integral to Altitude’s growth.
Hall-Strutt says, “I’ve probably placed a lot of senior roles and partnership roles, so I’m getting more repeat business from people. I’ve got a good reputation in the market, so doubling down on focusing on my network and those relationships has helped.
“I’m not focused on using technology; I’m more relationship driven.”
Successfully combining technology, people and processes with a focus on passionate individuals delivering industry-leading technology through robust practices.
Founded in 2011 in the UK, Virtuoso’s core foundations remain central to its operations.
The company has grown beyond its technical origins, placing people at the heart of its business and fostering a vibrant team committed to managed and professional services.
As a Microsoft Advanced Cloud Solutions Partner, Virtuoso is a managed service provider working with several industries, including legal practices.
Its suite of services, OnTrack, enhances business outcomes with technology support and alignment through four key pillars:
tech support – team of dedicated IT professionals on standby to assist with any technology issue that customers encounter
centralised services – proactive device, data and security management handled by a dedicated team whose sole focus is to reduce the number of reactive customer tickets received
standards and alignment – an assessment, every 90 days, against current best practice standards. A detailed report provides commentary on alignment against standards and potential remediation activities. Drives continual improvement and alignment against current best practices
technology success manager – strategic engagement with a TSM to drive technology adoption and solve business problems. Review of technology adoption to ensure value derived from technology investments
“We don’t sell ingredients; we sell a chocolate cake,” says managing director (NZ) Roman Paljk. “We don't just sell support, security,or technology guidance; we combine all of those things.”
Since inception in New Zealand in 2021, the company has grown to boast a portfolio of over 20 customers in the professional services space and support more than 1,500 end users.
In a three-month span in 2024, it increased monthly recurring revenue by over 25%, driven by the onboarding of new clients.
“Most of our competitors focus on fixing technical issues. If something’s broken, they’ll fix it, whereas we are proactive in advising them ahead of time to update their hardware and software,” says Paljk.
Established in 2016, LawHawk is a legal operations expert helping firms automate their processes, such as document automation. It was founded by former lawyers Gene Turner and Allen Li, who saw the need for automation to improve speed and efficiency and lessen workload for lawyers.
LawHawk uses market-leading products such as HotDocs and Microsoft 365 to aid firms in drafting complex legal documents, for example, loan and security documents.
“Both of us worked in big law firms doing banking transactions and other paperwork, and it takes a lot of time putting all the documents together,” shares managing director Turner.
“In New Zealand, document automation wasn’t really a thing. What we noticed was that while automation could save three to four hours, it was taking days with people sending documents back and forth, so we’ve helped firms overhaul the overall process.”
LawHawk has expanded into broader process automation, helping in-house legal teams and the businesses it supports to deliver legal compliance and best practices directly into their core business processes.
Turner says, “We’ve increased our offering in 2024, with new solutions for drafting wills, power of attorney and family law. We've got the type of content now where we can push harder into the future.”
The innovative legal tech company provides strategic solutions that empower, support and amplify in-house teams.
Lawcadia has its own native email and document management system suitable for in-house teams of up to 20 and also provides:
document automation
e-billing
spend management
collaboration project management
Founded by former corporate lawyer Warwick Walsh and marketing consultant Sacha Kirk in 2015, the vision was to create a more efficient and transparent legal market via performance, communication and project management.
Another of Lawcadia’s advantages is integration with platform iManage, seamlessly interacting with the best-of-breed document management solution.
“The integration has been excellent because we were able to meet the requirements of some more sophisticated needs,” says chief marketing officer Kirk.
Specialising in providing service for in-house teams has proven fruitful.
Kirk says, “There are other platforms and tools that are primarily designed for law firms, who have different needs and ways of working than in-house legal departments.
“When they’re seeking to buy technology, they are looking for solutions that are fit for purpose, and we built our solutions with that in mind.”
“We place a massive emphasis on building trust because we’re not reacting to any market pressures or any client needs; it's about when the lawyer is ready,” says founder Sam Lindsay.
The up-and-coming boutique legal search firm connects talented lawyers with active and off-market opportunities, prioritising career success and job fulfilment. During that first year of operation in 2023, the company successfully placed 12 lawyers with seven different clients.
At the start of 2024, Sarah Wilson was added as a business partner, and in the first half of the year, the company placed a further 12 lawyers with 11 clients, matching its 2023 performance in 50% of time however the overriding goal of the firm is to achieve "meaningful placements” by prioritising long-term relationships and supporting candidates at every career stage.
Rather than working on a retained or exclusive basis with firms, Chisholm Clarke recognised a gap where lawyers were slipping through that wider process.
Lindsay says, "It's an ebb and flow market; it's constantly evolving. It is about staying informed with what the wider economy is doing and coupling that with the upcoming demand for practice areas."
That candidate-centred focus continues after they have been hired.
“We have close relationships with candidates. When I place someone Monday, I check in on their first day, just to make sure that that match is good,” says Wilson.
“There haven’t been any issues with placements we've made because we are more proactive in terms of getting to know the candidates before we would even consider representing them.”
As a leading provider of legal, government and corporate information solutions, LexisNexis New Zealand offers legal professionals access to an extensive database of searchable documents and records, encompassing legal, news and business information from over 45,000 sources worldwide.
Its flagship product, Lexis Advance, is designed to streamline legal research processes, allowing users to quickly and accurately search through vast databases of case law and court records.
Then in July 2024, it launched Lexis+, powered by extractive AI, which helps users complete research 10% faster and save over an hour a day.
“It extracts information from millions of documents to provide the answers you need based on what you're searching,” says head of marketing Merv Giam.
The organisation launched its own generative AI program in Australia in 2023, Lexis+ AI. The UK arm of the company conducted research and found it saves lawyers who work 50 hours in a week, eight hours and will be rolled out in New Zealand in the future.
“It used to take hours to pull up a document from decades ago and compare the changes to today’s legislation. You would have to put two documents side by side, but now Lexis+ does it in minutes, showing you the changes,” says Giam. “Lexis+ AI only uncovers reputable data, as all searched content is in the LexisNexis database.
“It’s not searching for cases and content outside in the free world like ChatGPT does. It’s ring fenced, so it’s trustworthy.”
In July 2024, Australasian Lawyer and NZ Lawyer opened the window to nominations for their third annual Service Provider Awards, inviting service providers across Australia and New Zealand to put forward their companies for consideration.
The awards spotlight the providers that are delivering the most effective and transformative legal solutions across areas such as legal tech; litigation support and consulting; recruiting, staffing and outsourcing; and ADR and mediation.
The editorial and research teams across both publications reviewed the vendors’ submissions, and nominees were evaluated mainly on the strength and process of their service delivery, with the most important factor being how these providers made legal professionals’ lives more efficient through their products and services. The judges also considered the providers’ innovativeness and R&D commitment.
A total of 19 providers stood out based on these criteria, becoming the 2024 winners of the Australasian Lawyer and NZ Lawyer Service Provider Awards.
