Guest article: Matt Baldwin, Coast Communications
Legal Tech Talk is a beast. Hundreds of tech vendors scrabbling for the attention of law firms and GCs across a dozen or more stages and breakout rooms. It is without doubt a phenomenal success.
Yet for all the chatter, conversations and keynotes, the legal tech community has a communications challenge.
It seems that everyone is talking about implementation and not the future they’re trying to create.
Technology, and specifically AI, is being marketed as the answer to almost everything yet the client appears largely a spectator to these conversations.
Vendors are talking about functionality. They know their product and are great at explaining what it does, less so what it changes. Their client – here, the law firm – is expected to know the benefits it brings (as well as the risks).
Professional services firms are talking about adoption. They are quick to shout about their investment in technology but seem to struggle to articulate what it will mean for their clients.
Clients are talking about their own AI journeys that will have far-reaching impacts on their own businesses and supply chains.
Whilst the three might have met at Legal Tech Talk, they were often having different conversations.
This matters. The hype around AI investment is astonishing. Firms are racing to get ahead, but demonstrable impact and benefit feel thin on the ground.
What will be different for clients when this investment succeeds? Will lawyers be able to respond faster, with more certainty? Will costs fall? Will clients take on more everyday legal work themselves? Where is the risk and who will be left carrying the can?
Unlock attention
Journalists are flooded with press releases proclaiming ‘Firm X leads on responsible AI-first strategy’. Most fall flat. The novelty is no longer there.Â
What remains interesting, however, is impact – real, measurable, long-lasting impact on staffing, revenues and the client experience. It is here where firms will grab media attention.
Journalists – like clients – are not sitting awake at night wondering whether firms use the latest AI platform. They will, however, be thinking about commercial challenges, regulatory risks, how it will change the way law and other professional services are delivered.
The technology story becomes powerful when adoption and impact are the same.
Walking around Legal Tech Talk last week, we heard plenty of discussions around automation, implementation, onboarding and collaboration. We heard far less about the shape of tomorrow’s law firm and how that will look for clients.
The winners in the AI race will not be those firms that can best explain the technology. They will be the ones that can explain why it matters
Matt Baldwin is the joint managing director of Coast, a media relations agency.