Artificial intelligence will create an extraordinary market for self-service legal products; visionary law firms will lead.
TODAY: Full service all the time.
Globally, businesses and consumers find the legal profession invaluable for sticky and strategic issues, but too slow and expensive for everyday needs.
Legal technology serves the lawyer, not the client. It mostly works outside of a lawyer's core tasks of thinking, reading, and writing. Attorneys, relative to their peers in engineering, finance, medicine, and education, don't use much technology to get through their day.
As a result, law firms and general counsels offer full service all the time. Clients hire lawyers; they do not subscribe to software. People cannot go to a law firm's website and buy much of anything.
Half of the world's population have at least one legal problem every 2 years. Because of the full-service business model, only a third of those people go to lawyers for help; the majority go to friends and family.* They cannot afford anything else. Businesses face similar cost challenges.
In a world where nearly every other function and industry is doing way more with less thanks to technology, attorneys and their clients have had to wait for their Renaissance.
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Half of people globally have a legal problem every 2 years, but only a third go to lawyers for help.
"You generally cannot buy anything from a law firm online today."
In this TEDx event, Kevin Miller, CEO of LegalSifter, urges law firms to use artificial intelligence to develop self-service products to grow their practice and help resolve the long-term problem of affordable legal services.
TOMORROW: Full service and self-service.
Artificial intelligence will change the status quo, unleashing a wave of self-service legal service products. Because it does a little thinking, reading, and writing, AI will enter the heart of a lawyer's daily workflow. Attorneys will put technology in between their clients and themselves, and they will do it enthusiastically.
Winning products will include the expertise of attorneys. They know the law and their clients. Those that successfully put their "brain in a box" will dramatically expand the number of clients they serve. They will pick up new work from old and new clients alike, and the work will be additive to the full-service work they deliver today. Lawyers will learn to make money while they sleep.
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Visionary law firms who see this trend early, will win big. Those that do not, will struggle as the market shifts. While pundits say that "lawyers don't like technology" or "love the billable hour" too much to change, the market will be led by those that know better.
It's true that lawyers do not like technology ... but that's because most of it doesn't help a reading-thinking-writing professional do their job cheaper, faster, and better. Lawyers love the billable hour ... but only because other models tend to make them work more for less money.
Show attorneys a technology that helps them serve more clients with higher quality, for more money and with less effort, and they will adopt technology in earnest. They will behave exactly as other professionals have over the past 20 years.
For a model of what's to come, see what's happened in higher education globally over the last two decades. Flip through the Global NMC Horizon Report: 2017 Higher Education Edition or the local U.S. Department of Education 2018 Condition of Education Report. Online, self-service education has dramatically changed the profession for the better for students, educators, and institutions. Teachers are reaching more students than ever, of all socioeconomic backgrounds. With AI making inroads into a market that's already accepted new models of delivery, the global market for education is expected to explode to over $10,000,000,000,000 by 2030.
Combined Intelligence: a new standard of reasonable care.
Higher education has a two-decade head start on lawyers. It will not take 20 years for the legal profession to catch up. Entrepreneurs see what we see: an algorithm plus an attorney is better than either by itself. Combined Intelligence, artificial plus human, is the future of work.
In the not-too-distant future, people will not want to buy a lawyer that does not have artificial intelligence looking over her shoulder. They will expect a superhuman attorney. They will not buy from a law firm that does not allow them to access their attorney's knowledge at all hours.
Buyers expect cheaper, faster, better, and they want to be empowered. They want do-it-yourself services and software, exactly as they have received in every other area of their lives. As law firms awaken to the fact that their clients will pay them more money at higher margins, the market will hit a tipping point and move at a dizzying pace. AI will blend itself into the fabric of the profession. The lawyers that lead will serve more clients and make more money. AI will also make them better attorneys, elevating service levels to speeds impossible to achieve with full service.
Give your clients an AI version of yourself; become a Partner.
We have created a contract review program that allows you to upload your expertise to our software and offer a co-branded version of LegalSifter to your clients.
Kickoff.
Execute a Partner agreement. Identify internal program manager. Chart a path to Launch with our Partnerships team.
Setup.
Co-brand LegalSifter Review, load it with your expertise, and train your team. Build joint marketing messages, web presence, and pricing. Review internal processes, including conflicts checks, for new clients. Identify prospects and prepare initial campaign.
Launch.
Drive leads and opportunities with the support of our Growth team. Close and implement your first subscription with the help of our Sifting Services team.
Grow.
After signing a few clients, you will know enough to set strategic targets for growing your new subscription business.
The new market for AI contract review is enormous.
Less than 1% of contracts go to outside law firms for review because of cost and speed. In-house counsel may review 5-10%. The rest are negotiated without the help of a lawyer.
Our Partner Program will allow law firms to serve the pent-up demand for contract review at a speed and cost that makes sense for everyday business. We estimate the total global addressable market for automatic contract review to be an eye-popping $10,000,000,000.
New markets do not appear in the legal profession often. Law firms that start now will enjoy a disproportionately large share.
Teach your clients to sift before they sign.
LegalSifter offers a 24x7x365 version of your lawyers to your clients for self-service contract review in a minute or two.
Loyal clients
Your clients use your firm every day through LegalSifter.
Differentiate
Stand out in a sea of look-a-like law firms.
Program support
Our Partnerships team supports and trains you on every facet of your program.
Increase margins
Sign clients to high-margin, recurring revenue subscriptions.
Co-brand LegalSifter Review
Add your branding to all areas of our software and Sifters.
Serve while sleeping
Learn to grow your practice when you are not at your desk.
