Use of Technology Tools/Resources by Lawyers Survey

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* 1. Which of the following best describes your role?

Solo Practitioner

Partner

Lawyer

Associate

Articling Student

In-House Counsel

General Counsel

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* 2. How long have you been working/practicing in the legal profession?

Less than 1 year

1 to 5 years

6 to 10 years

11 to 20 years

More than 20 years

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* 3. Which of the following best describes the type of organization you currently work in?

Legal Department of a business or corporation

Government Department

Law Firm (1-10 lawyers)

Law Firm (11-50 lawyers)

Law Firm (50+ lawyers)

Other (please specify)

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* 4. Does your office have an internal information technology (IT) employee responsible for the proper functioning of your deployed software and hardware?

Yes

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* 5. Does your office outsource some or all of your IT responsibilities to a third party including, for example, installation and maintenance, technical support, cyber security?

Yes

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* 6. What best describes your level of knowledge of IT matters such as server and network setup, installation and use of software, vetting of cloud service providers, etc.?

None

Attended webinars or 1-day seminars in the past

Attended more intensive certificate programs

Holder of degree in computer science or IT-related field

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* 7. Does your organization carry cyber insurance?

Yes

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* 8. Which of the following types of tools or resources does your firm/department have in place and/or are you currently using? (We have non-exhaustively listed a few products in each category to give an idea of each type of product)

Practice Management Software: software that support a law firm’s client and matter management as well as financial management (example Amicus Attorney, Clio, RocketMatter, Cosmolex, Prolaw, Aderant)

Time and Billing Software: legal time tracking and various billing aspects (i.e. invoicing) (example iTimekeep, Aderant, PCLaw).

Customer Relationship Management/Contact Management System: tools to assist with ongoing client contact as well as qualify potential new clients (example Microsoft Dynamics)

Document Management System: tools to help easily, organize, access, track and work with documents. (example iManage, Worldox)

Financial Management/Accounting Software: tools to oversee and govern income, expenses, assets, trust accounting, general ledger, etc. and generate income and expense statements and balance sheets, etc. (example PCLaw, Esilaw, Aderant)

Conflict Checking: software to examine lists of clients and cases to determine whether a lawyer/firm has represented parties with interests to those of a new client.

Rules-Based Docket/Calendaring

Collaboration Tools: platform that facilitates instant communications, sharing of information and editing of common documents among others within the firm/organization (example Slack, Microsoft Teams)

Legal Forms and Precedents: sample of legal documents covering a broad range of legal topics (example PracticalLaw, Lexis PracticeAdvisor)

Document Automation: software that includes a template-based system that automatically generates electronic documents based on matter-specific answers to a questionnaire (example Hotdocs, ContractExpress, clausehound)

eDiscovery: software supporting the discovery and securing of electronic data to use in legal proceedings, due diligence and other tasks (example Evichat)

Marketing/Business Development/RFP and Proposal Tools: software tools/resources that support legal service providers in communicating benefits of their legal services or in understanding the needs of current and prospective clients

Client Portal: a platform that facilitates communication and sharing of documents and information between practitioners and clients (example Fidu Legal)

Legal Compliance Solutions: software, information, data or analytics that supports organizations in complying with their legal and regulatory obligations (example OptimizeLegal)

Legal Analytics: tools that analyze legal information to support data drive decisions with new insights and predictive analysis

Knowledge Management, Intelligence Aggregators: a system to help organize, share access and update information, a strategic comprehensive client intelligence solution to help firms to sync multiple data sources to reveal key client insights and anticipate cross-sell and upsell opportunities (example Neota Logic, IntroHive)

Matter Management: software that supports management of all aspects of corporate legal matters

Drafting Solutions: case citations and/or legal proofreading software (example WordRake)

Electronic Signatures (example DocuSign)

Litigation Automation Technology

Legal Research. Software that speeds up the identification of relevant legal authorities and provides synopsis of relevant areas of law (example: Fastcase, ROSS, Tax Foresight, Employment Foresight, HR Foresight)

Transaction Management: Software designed to faciliate certain types of transactions as well as manage entities served by a law firm (Example: ClosingFolders, Athennian, MinuteBox, Diligen, DealMaker, dealcloser)

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* 9. Does your organization have a formal process for:

Conflict checking

Client identification and onboarding

Client contact

Billing

Curating knowledge and precedents

Potential client marketing

A client portal to access file records

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* 10. For those items in Question 9, please rank (from 1 to 5, 1 being the most important) what processes you believe are most critical for your organization to have. For those not ranked 1 to 5, please put n/a.

Conflict checking

Client identification and onboarding

Client contact

Billing

Curating knowledge and precedents

Potential client marketing

A client portal to access file records

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* 11. Have individuals within your organization requested the creation of a formal process for those items listed in Question 10?

Yes

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* 12. Have existing or potential clients requested the creation of a formal process for those items listed in Question 10?

Yes