Legal Services in an Electronic Environment

The knowledge-based economy and the ‘dot.com’ companies are buzzwords in Singapore’s corporate scene. There is not a single day that we do not hear any news about ‘dot.com’ companies making new waves or some new start-up creating new forms of ‘e’ or electronic services for existing brick and mortar businesses. Singapore in turn is positioning itself as the Asian Silicon Valley with electronic commerce and information and communication technology as the new pillars driving the new internet economy. The SLG recently caught up with Zaid Hamzah (ZH), a lawyer and founder of a start-up hi-tech venture called i-Knowledge. com, a venture specialising in providing electronic legal services for law related organisations in Singapore and beyond. Zaid shares with the SLG his thoughts on the big changes in technology that are going to affect the legal profession. 

SLG: What do you see as the ‘big picture’ trends that are going to fundamentally shape the nature of legal practice in the future?

ZH: There are a few significant trends that are going to affect the profession. First, the transition of our present economy into a knowledge-based economy and the emergence of an increasingly networked society. Second, the intensification of the use of the internet to provide professional services which will eventually affect the delivery of legal services. Third, the rapid pace of software developments in the area of knowledge management and office technology that will make the legal profession far more more efficient and productive than it is today. These changes will change the way lawyers do their business and the way in which the profession organises itself in the future. 

The environment in which lawyers in Singapore operate today is becoming increasingly IT-intensive. LawNet, for instance, links lawyers to a vast pool of legal resources and information, making legal research far more efficient. The technology courts, in turn, have transformed the way trials are conducted with information technology driving the whole process to make the conduct of such trials more efficient. Then, there is the Electronic Filing System which allows for the electronic filing of documents. Eventually, a paperless court system in Singapore will emerge and more hearings can and will be conducted in an electronic environment. 

The whole legal services IT infrastructure has gone through a major historical overhaul. The consumers or the clients would eventually benefit from this qualitative transformation through better and less costly legal services in the future. 

SLG: How is the role of lawyers in the networked society or the knowledge-based economy going to be any different from what it is today?

ZH: The role of lawyers and the provision of legal services in the coming years will be profoundly shaped by the nature of the highly networked Singapore society and the emergence of the knowledge-based economy in several ways. First, the legal profession must now begin to rethink their whole ‘delivery infrastructure’. The way we deliver legal services in the traditional sense will have to be adapted to this new electronic environment. With other services such as retailing, share trading, financial services and even medical information being available on the internet, it is only a matter of time when there will be a demand for online legal services. Consumers will demand greater ease and access to legal services and they will expect lower cost. The demand for online legal services will probably be forced upon the legal profession unless we take steps now to prepare for this new shift. 

Second, new practice areas have and will emerge and new legal concepts will have to evolve. Electronic commerce, for example is set on a path of business explosion. Intellectual property rights practice will gain new prominence in a knowledge-based economy. The protection of knowledge, the intellectual property rights such as patents, trademarks and copyrights will be even more important that it ever was in our whole legal history. International legal practice will also become more prevalent as transactions in a knowledge-based economy know no boundaries and more often than not are conducted across borders. Our lawyers therefore need to understand foreign laws and foreign legal culture to be effective in their work. 

SLG: What are the technologies that are going to have an impact on the legal profession?

ZH: The technology that has the capacity to evolve the nature of legal practice as we know it today into one that is even more efficient, productive and (eventually) cost-effective is already here. First, there is internet technology that now offers lawyers a new way of doing business. Second, there has been the development of a myriad of applications that makes the process of legal drafting and knowledge management increasingly easier. There are also software that help integrate the ‘front end’ work such as drafting and knowledge management with the ‘back end’ work which includes accounts management, billings system and administrative support. Eventually, we will see an integrated law suite that provides seamless integration of the range of services that a law firm would require and all these will eventually also be web-based. 

If one thinks that it is unthinkable to run a law firm today without telephone lines or a PC with word processing software, I think that in the coming years, lawyers will not be able to do business without a ‘knowledge’ server¹ in their firm which is part of a networked environment and with every lawyer being part of the ‘lawyering value chain’,² having a palmtop³ or laptop computer which is linked to the office network and the world wide web. This is a trend that will change the way lawyers operate. In my view, knowledge management software, which is part of an enterprise resource planning suite, is going to be the next ‘big thing’ for both the small and big law firms. The law office of the future is going to be quite different from what it is today. I see a highly networked environment in which all lawyers are connected to one another and the resources of the firms are linked in a seamless way whether it be the firm’s database, drafting tools, the so-called document assembly software or other aspects of the management of the law office such as accounts management and other legal practice management systems. 

The legal profession is one profession where the personal touch is still critical. We are, after all, in the service industry. IT can only do so much. It can make us better organised and more productive but the litmus test of quality legal service goes beyond a strong IT infrastructure. 

SLG: You once wrote in the Law Gazette about electronic legal services. Can you share with us your vision on this?

ZH: The corollary of electronic commerce (EC) in the legal world is what I call ELS or Electronic Legal Services. For the consumer market, the provision of electronic legal services is still a new concept. While the sourcing of legal information over the internet is prevalent,⁴ the idea of getting legal services such as advice or getting a document drafted has not caught on yet. 

In a sense, the provision of legal services electronically is not new if electronic communication includes fax or e-mail transmissions between the lawyer and the client. However, when I refer to ELS, I am referring to a radically different service concept, the thrust of which is the provision of legal services in a technology-driven operating environment, where a physical face-to-face meeting between the lawyer and the client becomes increasingly secondary and the provision of legal services electronically becomes a serious and significant alternative mode of service. 

I believe that the trend will change in the near future where consumers will expect more and more legal services to be provided over the internet. Today, one can do one’s marketing over the internet, pay one’s bills, watch movies online, trade shares online and even get medical advice online. It is only a matter of time before consumers demand that for convenience and to lower cost, legal services are also provided online. 

The rise of the class of highly educated, highly skilled public and clients who will continue to demand quality service, timeliness and convenience will mean that legal practitioners cannot afford to be complacent in embracing new technologies and implementing them in the delivery of legal services. This will be the biggest push for the legal community, that is, when our own clients begin to demand legal services at the level that they would expect in other services. 

The whole legal profession must therefore rethink their whole ‘delivery infrastructure’. Lawyers would therefore need to understand the IT infrastructure and the mechanics for the setting of online businesses. Lawyers will therefore have to be more IT literate and be familiar with the major IT tools or applications to carry out their work effectively over the internet. And law firms must begin to think now in terms of its office networking system which should eventually harmonise with and be able to ride the national and international information infrastructure. 

SLG: What’s the main difference between EC and ELS? Can you give us practical example of how ELS might work? 

ZH: There is one critical difference in the provision of ELS when compared to other types of products and services in the EC context. Unlike bouquets of flowers or books and banking transactions which are tangible and/or specific in nature, the product of legal services that can be provided electronically is quite different. Further, not all kinds of legal advice can be provided electronically without the intervention of lawyers whose input is still required. I do not see the ELS replacing lawyers. It cannot. What ELS will do is that it will create a new alternative delivery mode. It will facilitate the provision of legal services.  

Basically, there are two types of legal information that a consumer may want to obtain over the internet. First, what I call ‘passive legal information’, that is, basic or raw legal information that can be given without any input of an analytical kind from lawyers. Examples could be particular legislation, forms to be filled or copies of written judgments. The facilities to obtain this kind of information are quite common both in Singapore and overseas. Second, there is legal information that requires the intellectual input of the lawyers in the form of review and analysis. Such information is invariably in the form of written legal advice. I call this type of legal information ‘analysed legal information’. 

So let us imagine Alex, a businessman who wants to obtain advice on how to set up a company in Indonesia as part of his company’s feasibility studies before expanding into Indonesia. Alex may want a copy of a particular Indonesian regulation on foreign investment law (ie ‘passive legal information’ as defined above) and he may also want to seek legal advice on the procedure to incorporate an Indonesian company (‘analysed legal information’). 

In a future legal portal, Alex would be able to log on to a virtual law office belonging to a particular legal practice group, eg the SEAsian Legal Group. After being welcomed at the electronic reception desk, he clicks on the item of his choice; in this instance he clicks ‘Regional Practice’. Once linked to the ‘Regional Practice’ area, Alex may click on ‘Indonesia’, and on ‘Corporate Matters’. At this last level, Alex could download the firm’s memorandum on ‘How to set up a company in Indonesia’ and a copy of the Indonesian regulation on foreign investment law in a file format of his choice. 

During normal business hours, Alex may decide to make a personal call to the law firm, which he can do through what is called a ‘Call Centre’. The call centre links Alex to the partner in charge of the matter or it could link Alex to a partner on duty in the firm to attend calls from ‘virtual’ clients. Alex will pay electronically for this service depending on the charging method chosen by him. For instance, Alex can be charged on a user-pay time basis or on the number of downloaded files, the price of which would be clearly indicated. 

SLG: Why would a consumer want to obtain legal services online?

ZH: First, it is more convenient to the consumer. There is no need to fix an appointment, travel to the lawyer’s office, park one’s car and make the return trip back. By simply logging onto the internet, the client can get the information at any time convenient to him. The virtual law office is open 24 hours a day!  So, unless it is necessary to meet the lawyer face to face for privacy reasons or unless there are complex issues requiring personal attention or the matter on hand requires lengthy written legal analysis, the consumer is better off served electronically.  

Second, if services can be provided electronically, time and resources for the client are saved. With ELS, there is greater productivity on the part of the clients.  

Third, getting legal information the electronic way should eventually become cheaper. In the long term, consumers will expect that the provision of such services will be cheaper than the cost of obtaining it today in the traditional way. 

SLG: Why would a law firm consider going online and providing services through the virtual law office?

ZH: A law firm would consider providing its services online because it makes business sense. If a firm’s clients are offered the option to obtain legal information electronically, more clients would want to use that law firm because it is more convenient and productive for them. If the cost for the client is lower, even more clients will come and this will expand the firm’s business. Providing services online would also mean lower cost for the firms eventually because there would be less need for meeting rooms if online services ‘take off’ in the not too distant future. 

SLG: So what happens to the smaller law firms that do not have the resources to exploit IT to its fullest?

ZH: The beauty about the internet is that it is levelling the playing field for both the big and small law firms. With the advances made in technology and the lowering of cost, smaller law firms without resources can share them. Even if law firms or groups of law firms do not share resources to set up their own IT infrastructure, there are many IT solution companies that offer such facilities and where a major upfront cost is not required on the part of the law firms. 

SLG: In order to meet the new demands of the knowledge-based economy and the emergence of a networked society in Singapore, what then are the tasks ahead for the legal profession? How should law firms prepare themselves for this change?

ZH: First, there has to be a change in mindset. With the availability of user-friendly technology applications in the market today, getting the hardware is the easy part but having the personal readiness to learn and actually use IT is another thing. The focus must therefore be on the ‘soft’ side of the IT embrace: the training of lawyers. Law firms must be prepared to invest in IT both in the ‘hard’ aspects (hardware and software) as well as the ‘soft’ aspects. Only then will we be able to prepare the legal profession to meet the demands of the knowledge-based economy and the emergence of a networked society. 

Secondly, we need to develop a strong knowledge base for the profession in new practice areas such as e-commerce law and IT-related mediation. This can be done by way of continuing legal education for members of the community as well as preparing future lawyers through courses at universities. There also has to be greater interaction between IT players in the market with legal practitioners so that both will understand each other better. This can be done through multi-disciplinary seminars aimed at building bridges between the two industries. 

If we are to achieve the vision of making the legal profession in Singapore a vibrant legal node in the Asia Pacific region and eventually the quality trusted global hub for the provision of legal services, the whole process of change must begin first with each and every lawyer, and the beginning for that lies in the change of mindset. 

SLG: What should the role of the Law Society be?

ZH: The Law Society of Singapore could formulate strategic plans to prepare the legal profession for the challenges of providing legal services in the knowledge-based economy. The Law Society could act as the proactive engine that facilitates the management of change that the legal profession must make in order to be ready for the challenges of the new millennium.

Zaid Hamzah

Endnotes

1. A server is a computer that is dedicated to performing on a full-time basis certain functions such as storing the knowledge base of the law firm and to which other personal computers are linked to.

2. This value chain refers to the process that begins with the taking of instructions from the clients, to reviewing and researching -the law, drafting the legal documents, filing to the authorities or submitting it to the client and finally with the law firm being paid.

3. A palmtop is simply a total communication device (handphone, laptop, organiser combined into one) that fits into the palm.

4. There are voluminous sites offering free legal information with the standard disclaimer that the provider is not giving legal advice and that the reader or surfers are required to seek independent legal advice.

[Editorial Note: Zaid Hamzah is the founder of an internet start-up company called i-Knowledge.com which specialises in electronic legal services. He can be reached at elawyer@singnet.com.sg.]