As one of the most hated professions by public opinion, lawyers, nonetheless, have also become one of the most sought after. Especially in these raging rise of the economic atmosphere in Southeast Asia, by 2025, law firms’ capability of handling clients will become much more significant. To top it off, the market is ridiculously huge, resulting in tight competition in the legal sector. How come? Well, there are at least 7500 law firms in Malaysia alone. Not only that, Singapore, as a key regional hub also houses over 130 foreign law firms (not including the national level ones), making it clear how critical the situation is.
Not to mention, with the advancement of legaltech especially in Singapore and Indonesia. It can be said that the legal profession will undergo a major transitional phase. For example, with Artificial Intelligence (AI), we can auto-task many administrative workloads. Such as combing through a huge amount of legal documents. As well as highlighting keywords when this job used to be given to junior attorneys.
Well, that is not the only thing AI can do. Have you ever heard about ROSS, a robotic attorney powered by IBM? Ross surprisingly can cope with normal English conversations while also providing specific, yet analytical, answers. Furthermore, you can’t be more overwhelmed with the fact that AI can also predict how lawyers will hold up in court. It’s the era when a chatbot can become your lawyer. That’s why live chat apps for lawyers sound promising. Moreover, according to PwC’s 2015 Annual Law Firms’ Survey, 95% of law firms are planning to invest in developing their technology further in 2016 and beyond. Thus, the market will become tougher if one doesn’t have the intention to catch up with the trends.
Not only from the market, the governments themselves, at least in Singapore. Are also starting to respond and encourage the adoption of this brand new technology. Singapore’s Senior Minister of State, Indranee Rajah, said in her Keynote by SMS to Gregory Vijayendran. That “People are starting to use Chatbots for simple legal services, and lawyers who are able to innovate, adapt and adopt technology will win the future”. She said that the technology will not replace the role of a lawyer. But will replace many of the tasks that lawyers used to do. The plan is already executed as Singapore’s Ministry of Law presents a funding program and a platform for law firms to encourage lawyers to develop their services and products by embracing technology.
Although there is not as much encouragement from the government in Indonesia, Irzan Raditya from YesBoss, an Indonesian startup specialising in SMS-based virtual assistance, thinks that the direction of AI development in this country is also promising. He believes that Indonesia can do the same in the near future. It is because of the gargantuan market Indonesia has that it has inevitably and rapidly developed information technology in every sector in this country. Be it for e-commerce, the financial industry, and even for governance itself. There are tons of opportunities to become the best chat app in Singapore, Indonesia and in many countries within this region.
Also read: “The New World: Digitized“
Besides, the fact that the Internet now is easily accessible to many. Even from rural areas, stimulates the need for legal information to be available for everyone. The benefits will outweigh the costs. As we can see in the case of LawGuide Singapore’s, which has launched its own chatbot on Facebook Messenger. Amazingly, it can gather up to 10,000 monthly website visitors. However, this is not surprising considering how AI has significantly changed the way industries carry out their processes and systems. While delivering results in a faster and more accurate way than humans can.
With all that being said, law firms and lawyers should move to adapt and embrace this new reality. Technology is always advancing, and if one does not keep up. Then like it or not, he or she will be left behind and lose his or her chance. All the more for those in the business sector who are always facing demands to improve.
Surely, it will be a challenge to implement this new technology in an already existing system. However, Qiscus is able to customize chat solutions for law firms and partnering lawyers to reach and engage more customers. Feel free to drop us a note at www.qiscus.com or e-mail [email protected] and we can do a free consultation session over video call – right from your mobile phones.