Liquid Legal – Humanization and the Law

Book excerpt: “Humanization and the Law” combines two current and complementary trends in the business-to-business (B2B) market of the legal industry: digitalization and humanization. On the one hand, digital transformation in corporate legal departments and law firms continues to advance. Contract management, e-discovery, due diligence, legal operations, and forensic data analysis are just a few examples of task areas where the use of intelligent software solutions minimizes legal risks and increases compliance, enables efficiency gains and cost reductions through automation, and allows faster and more agile responses to changing market demands and client expectations. On the other hand, the increasing number of failed digitalization projects shows that technology alone is not enough to successfully transform legal departments and law firms. Software solutions must be integrated into existing work processes, be easy to use, and provide real benefits in order to be accepted by employees. People and their ability to make decisions and lead others remain the focus in an increasingly digitalized legal industry. More than 20 authors provide insights into why human aspects matter for business, what organizations can do to increase the mental well-being and motivation of their employees, and how to prevail in the upcoming war for talent in the legal industry. “The legal industry has been largely dismissive of “soft skills” and “humanizing law.” One of the paradoxes of our time is that the ascendency of automation, artificial intelligence, blockchain, Big Data, and other technological platforms has elevated, not diminished, the importance of humanity. It is not only what distinguishes us from machines but it also enables us to apply our humanity to machines. The legal function will play an important role in this process but must first take a hard look at itself.” (Mark A. Cohen, in “Foreword”)