EY Article Highlights Need for Innovation and Adoption of Technology in Legal Departments
Last year EY published an article titled Why the legal function must be reimagined for the digital age. The article presents the results of a survey of 1,058 senior legal practitioners from businesses around the world. The findings highlight the need for innovation and adoption of legal technology as legal departments across the world are planning to reduce headcount and budget while demand for legal services continue to increase.
Here are some highlights from the data presented in the article:
82% of companies plan to reduce legal function costs over the next 24 months
87% of respondents reported that their legal function had undergone either a large or moderate increase in demand for management information over the past five years
The largest cost reductions are planned by legal functions in North America and with headcount of more than 1000
Two-thirds of general counsels believe the legal function has not benefited from innovation as much as other functions
28% of respondents cited “lack of management skill/interest” as a barrier to implementing innovation
Legal function leaders must put change on the agenda
The results of the survey make it clear that the trend for the legal function is to do more with fewer people. Legal departments are cost centers and are some of the first to get squeezed when its time to cut costs. We at Modern Contract believe that legal department leaders who employ smart applications of legal automation technology to assist their staff with the heavy workload will come out on top and under budget.
“Using contract review artificial intelligence solutions, contract reviewers are less likely to miss key risks while reducing review times by up to 80% and reducing sales and procurement cycles by four days on average.”
One example of technology innovation benefiting the average legal department is artificial intelligence for contract review. Routine contracts can bog down highly educated and specialized staff members. Instead of working on strategic initiatives, these staff members are deployed on review, red-lining, and negotiating work, as well as general contract management. These tasks, while potentially risky, are often time consuming and cumbersome. In short, contracts drain legal department resources and the ROI is difficult to track. A smart application of artificial intelligence to assist with contract review can remedy problems facing corporate legal departments by increasing efficiency and accuracy of contract reviews. Using contract review artificial intelligence solutions, contract reviewers are less likely to miss key risks while reducing review times by up to 80% and reducing sales or procurement cycles by four days on average.
Modern Contract specializes in this technology. We have the expertise and background to implement contract artificial intelligence solutions for companies of all sizes. We focus on solutions that help our clients mitigate contractual risk quickly and accurately. Simply put, our clients do more with less.
Contact Modern Contract for a no pressure discussion to see how our artificial intelligence and automation solutions can help you meet your goals.