“The Missing Piece”

Abstract

Too often, digital transformation of legal work comes across as a quest to cure imperfection, as a technocratic pursuit of effectiveness and efficiency aiming to eradicate wasted effort and deficiencies. While leaders and their visions certainly phrase it differently—centering around “better service for the client”, “more focus on high value work”, or “higher impact of the legal department”—their companions on the team do feel uneasy, because the underlying message still seems to be to “fix something”. And where there is something to fix, something must be broken. And if technology or digital means are the fix—well, it is probably then the human part that must be “broken” or “deficient”?!

Strange enough, no modern leader in legal services will sign off on the above—including myself! We all genuinely believe that our digital transformation agenda will help both, the team, as well as the client, to benefit from the new opportunities that legal technology and new methodologies bring about. Yes, of course this is our goal—yet, let’s face it: If we read the fine print of our strategies, if we listen to the tone of our presentations and the stories on our vision (specifically the version for executive management), we will find that they are mainly about getting more done with less, about improving the ROI of the legal department, and about broadening and accelerating the delivery of the legal services. More, better, faster!

So, what are we missing? A simple test reveals the missing piece: it is the human factor, or even more boldly, the focus on the human being. How would our story change if we purposely refocused and rephrased our vision and strategy so that it is truly humanistic and centers around the human being and the specific needs as represented by each key stakeholder (the client, executive management, the team as a whole, and the individual on the team)? We will also establish that there is no trade-off in the sense that humanism comes at the expense of optimizing the economics or the impact of a legal team. To the contrary, they are complementary and mutually supportive.

We will then put our findings into the context of current trends around professional work relations in high-skill markets such as the legal market: Relationships between employers and workers change radically; talent becomes an ever scarcer resource; and the strain of an increased density and variety of work demands (combined with the effects of the pandemic) take their toll on the human being. Inevitably the question arises: Can we—even economically—afford to “miss a piece”, i.e., the human factor?

Data—the famous new oil—drives businesses in the digital age. Yet, it also drives business functions and enables informed decision making. For lawyers, is digitalization then the choice between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?—We will lay out that data literacy is fundamental and that a humanistic approach to data is crucial. Data and metrics are not a goal in themselves. We must keep focus on what we are ultimately aiming for, and, even more importantly, we must lead on our data journey with clear values.

Finally, we will turn to the question which methodologies are predestined to support a humanistic approach to the digital transformation of legal work. We need a strong culture, based on trust and transparency. This is why Agile practices, supported by a “digital-first” agenda, and embedded in the principles of DevOps offer a perfect basis for modern legal teams.

Dierk Schindler is Co-founder and co-CEO of the Liquid Legal Institute e.V., Vice President Corporate Legal Services, Mobility Solutions, Supply Chain and Logistics at Robert BOSCH GmbH.