In the legal technology space, there is a lot of innovation taking place across a number of areas including LPO (Legal Process Outsourcing), ELM (Enterprise Legal Management), e-Procurement and the emergence of New Law – news ways of doing traditional law. The combined effect of this wave of innovation is that the industry will experience significant leaps in efficiency for providers of legal services as well as change the way that clients select and use legal services.
Much of the innovation in legal tech is focused on law firms and very large in-house legal departments. The vast majority of companies still struggle with many complex issues around procuring out-sourced legal service providers, and it is these companies that my business, Lawcadia, is helping with solutions for their legal procurement.
The procurement of services is complex. While certain services like insurance and banking are more standard (and therefore can be compared more easily using websites such as iSelect), there is no equivalent for services such as legal services. There is also very little information generally available as to pricing and different service options because this is a complex area.
Companies, therefore, rely primarily on relationships, however, they do not necessarily know who the best person to assist on a particular matter is, or what the price should be.
We believe that legal procurement can be simplified: connecting companies with the right lawyers on a matter-by-matter basis, and then allowing law firms to provide fee proposals that can be easily compared.
Lawcadia addresses problems in the legal profession for both in-house legal departments as well as for law firms.
For companies, the primary issue that Lawcadia addresses is a lack of transparency over legal fees. In-house counsel can very quickly get visibility over which law firms are interested in their work and receive detailed proposals which can easily be compared. After engaging their chosen law firm, Lawcadia provides transparency over their legal spend for the life of the matter, and our Rating System encourages accountability for both pricing and service.
Underlying client issues: a lack of transparency over legal fees and a lack of accountability for the pricing lawyers quote and the services they provide.
For law firms, the key issue that Lawcadia helps solve is winning new business – this is the number one challenge for law firms. Essentially, Lawcadia acts as a new sales channel for law firms to access clients that they otherwise would not have the opportunity of engaging with.
Lawcadia has a network of registered and approved law firms and this is rapidly expanding. We now have many law firms, with global coverage in key markets including Singapore, Hong Kong, UK, and the USA, as well as Australia. Law firms include top-tier, mid-tier, international and quality boutique firms.
From the client-side, Lawcadia has already attracted the interest of companies and government departments. This interest is excellent validation for the underlying client issues that we are trying to address: a lack of transparency over legal fees and a lack of accountability for the pricing lawyers quote and the services they provide.
If you are interested in finding out more about legal procurement and hearing from some of the world’s leading experts in the area, please join me at the Legal Procurement Forum 2016 – Asia-Pacific’s first event dedicated to the topic of legal procurement.
