Technological advancement in the legal profession

“Ross, the world’s first artificially intelligent attorney, has its official law firm. Baker & Hosteltler announced that they will be employing Ross for its bankruptcy practice, currently comprised by almost 50 lawyers” Robot Intelligence

According to futurism.com, Ross, the world’s first artificially intelligent attorney built on IBM’s cognitive computer Watson, was designed to read and understand language, postulate hypotheses when asked questions, research and then generate responses (along with references and citations) to back up its conclusion. Ross also learns from experience, gaining speed and knowledge the more you interact with it.

In Nigeria, the law pavilion has commercially unveiled the first legal analytics software in Africa at the annual general conference of the NBA in Port Harcourt dubbed ‘lawpavillion prime’. In the words of Ope Olugasa Managing Director of Law Pavilion, “… Law books store legal authorities/answers but until you look close enough and often beneath the surface, a legal practitioner risks not finding the hidden authorities. All of those headaches are gone in the age of legal analytics. Legal analytics doesn’t just provide you with search results, it gives you correct answers”

Recently a bulletin signed by the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, filled several social media platforms that pursuant to the amendment of the Supreme Court Rules, by the end of this year, all communications, correspondences and notices related to matters, fresh or pending, at the Supreme Court of Nigeria shall only be via the official electronic mail, and all legal practitioners who are yet to activate their mails should do so or it will be impossible to practice at the Supreme Court.

The importance of technology to mankind cannot be over emphasized, this is due to the fact that in today’s world life without technology is difficult, tedious and meaningless. Technology is used in our every endeavor in life, from sleeping, to exercising, to eating, to entertainment e.t.c, all in a bid to make life easier for mankind. The same applies to the legal profession; technology has come to make our job as lawyers easier and better packaged.

Challenges on the use of technology for the advancement of the legal profession in Nigeria, like so many things in our country, the use of technology has been affected by the Nigerian effect {network problem, power shortages, fraud, high cost of data e.t.c}, these ‘naija effect’ hampers the efficient use of technology in the legal profession, take a look around, one would notice the scarce number of law firms that are Wireless Fidelity {WIFI} enabled.

The young lawyers predicament in the use of technology for the advancement of the legal profession happens when the law firm a young lawyer works refuses on being ICT compliant in the way the firm operates and handles its affairs, the young lawyer is then amputated firm fully utilizing the importance of technology to the legal profession.

It then behooves on the young lawyer to encourage the firm to change its modus operandi. It is not out of the ordinary for our parents to ask the younger generations for guidance on how to operate their mobile devices, the same ought to apply with the law firms. It is not out of the ordinary if a young lawyer explains to his or her principal partner the benefit of Information and Communications Technology in the firm.

Start small by creating an office email, a young wig after proper briefing and permission from the boss, can open an office email that would be handled by the young lawyer, all correspondence including court processes should carry the office email, try sending messages to clients with it, keep it functional and the firm would slowly understand its usage and benefit there from.

Technology came into existence to make life easier for all mankind, the legal profession should not be left out in benefiting from this brilliant initiatives. Let the practice of law be easy and modern, not archaic and stressful. Godspeed! Please send your comment{s}, recommendation{s} or observation{s} to danielbulusson@gmail.com or like us onwww.facebook.com/ younglawyerscolumn