INTRODUCTION
Technological advancement has changed the scenario of the whole world through the use of modern techniques and developments in the 21st century. Imagine a situation where the world was hit by a pandemic like Covid-19 and there existed no technology. All thanks to the digital world which brought everyone so closer and easily accessible at a single click of mobiles that each one of us was able to survive. The foremost question that needs to be answered is ‘what is digital lawyering ’.The word digital itself explains everything. Gone are those times when justice was not ensured for everyone due to hardships faced by people in accessing all the sources regarding the law. Technology has revolutionized every sphere of life be it scientific, legal, or economic. There has been a quantum leap in the legal profession and justice system. Digital technologies have modernized the legal system by leaps and bounds. While defining digital lawyering it would be proper to quote the following definition : It includes all the methods that a lawyer may use to practice law services, from the delivery of legal services online, collaborating and communicating, providing legal advice, and dispute resolution online, including interviewing and investigating.
UNDERSTANDING DIGITAL LAWYERING
Digital Lawyering certainly more or less has to be adapted within the legal profession. The changing need of the hour demands that we adopt it sooner or later. In simpler terms, the concept can be understood by educating the children in the law school itself. The curriculum consists of topics relating to the concept of blockchain technology, and how to use digital evidence in the courts, supported by contemporary case studies and integrated and interactive activities. Many foreign law schools provide training as per the advancements in technology so that the lawyers do not face many hurdles in dealing with clients. The Legal Services Act 2007 has brought a major change by liberalizing the legal market through alternative delivery of legal services. This helps to bring a lawyer-client relationship to a closer step[1].
Being a law student and a prospective legal professional, it is not necessary to have knowledge about coding or an in-depth understanding of the working of computers but what should be known is that one must be aware of understanding the role and impact of technology in the legal sector.
SCOPE OF DIGITAL LAWYERING
What we need to understand is how this is made applicable in our day-to-day legal activities. The scope can be as wide as ranging from law firms using online management systems to the creation of new departments for tech law innovation. The spur in the growth of technology has brought a major change in the field of law. The use of technology at a large scale in every field demands legal advice to be given relating to issues like intellectual property protection, privacy laws, and cyber security. This may also include the creation of online portals where clients can have easy access to judgments delivered by respective courts. The rise of the self-service delivery model where clients no longer wait for a lawyer’s advice but get answers to many of their basic legal queries through Google fiction. Every client has access to a separate and secure platform for easy and hassle-free delivery of legal services. Every information ranging from billing to case status, documents, and files can be accessed at a click of a mobile.
DIGITAL EVIDENCE AND ITS ADMISSIBILITY IN COURTROOM
The changing nature of the use of technology in our day-to-day lives has put the privacy of individuals at stake. A new concept of admissibility of digital evidence in India has been brought into the picture. The need to introduce new legislation in the existing law arose to cater to the tampering of cyberspace data at a large scale. The existing documents can be changed and digital signatures can be forged. So as far as the law is concerned to Indian law, Indian Evidence Act 1862, Section 3[2] provides for the definition of evidence that includes not only oral and documentary evidence but electronic evidence too. While elaborating e-evidence shall consist of emails, browsing history, memory cards, printouts, and audio and video recordings. So digital evidence was made admissible under Section 65B of The Indian Evidence Act 1862.[3]
USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO AUGMENT THE DELIVERY OF LEGAL SERVICES
Artificial Intelligence has shown a predominant mark in the legal profession. This is because a majority of individuals and small businesses do not have access to legal representation due to high recurring costs. The use of artificial intelligence technology can be understood from an underlying case study. An online robot DoNotPay has successfully challenged 160,000 parking tickets in New York City and London—for free and with a 64% success rate[4]. It works using AI technology. An automated service (bot) usually asks s series of questions to the users visiting the company website. Upon completion of the exchange of information between the two, the bot takes the user information and creates a document on its own that can be used to challenge the tickets. However, similar services if were to be provided by the lawyer would have consumed much more energy, time, and money. However, this does not mean that lawyers would be replaced by technology but AI tends to make legal advice easily available and affordable by reducing legal costs.
DIGITAL LAWYERING SKILLS
The question that needs to be answered is what skills should a newcomer lawyer or even the existing one possesses to be efficient in a tech-driven world. A lawyer must be capable to perform the following tasks [5]
- Ability to solve tasks using modern digital technologies and their application in professional activities;
- Acquiring the digital skills to cater to the needs of global digitalization;
- Navigation of new software products, being a digital literate lawyer with the ability to process and apply the information obtained;
- Report technologies and knowledge about the analytical software that can cater to the needs of the future legal world;
- Conducting business communication in a digital environment ;
- Professional tasks (with colleagues, partners, clients, organizations, etc.), as well as skills in working with law firms by providing electronic services;
- Submitting judicial work, drafting litigations using electronic devices such as laptops and computers, and no more dependent on old-fashioned activities like typewriting;
- Having updated knowledge about certain segments of the digital world for example AI technology, blockchain technology, and crowdfunding;
A digitally literate lawyer is likely to survive more in the tech-driven world. The sooner the lawyer adapts to technology, the faster he becomes a successful one.
CONCLUSION
It would not be wrong to say that technological advancements in the legal profession as of today are basically ‘New developments in an old profession’. The focus to shift the online delivery of legal services by many legal firms is a new step towards the modernization of the legal field. Hence becoming a digital lawyer is necessary for success within the legal profession. However, there is still a lot to be done in this field. It would be right to quote here “miles to go before I sleep” as this field still needs a lot of developments, innovations, and most important tech awareness among the legal fraternity. As a result, such steps would bring a much-needed revolution in the legal industry and provide hassle-free, reduced time and cost delivery of legal services[6].
Author(s) Name: Amandeep Kaur (Punjab University, Chandigarh)
[1] Emma Jones, et. al, Digital Lawyering: Technology and Legal Practice in 21st century (1st Edition, Routlegde 2021)
[2] Indian Evidence Act 1862, s 3
[3] Indian Evidence Act 1862, s 65B
[4]Samuel Gibbs, ‘Chatbot lawyer overturns 160,000 parking tickets in London and New York’ (The Guardian, 28 June 2016) <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/28/chatbot-ai-lawyer-donotpay-parking-tickets-london-new-york> assessed 04 February 2023
[5]‘How has your legal service delivery model changed as we look forward to post pandemic life?’ (Thomson Reuters, 03 June 2022) <https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/blog/how-has-your-legal-service-delivery-model-changed-as-we-look-forward-to-post-pandemic-life/> assessed 04 February 2023
[6] Elena Kuznetcova, ‘Basic digital skills of newcomer lawyer’ (2021) 7 Laplage em Revista
<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354086279_Basic_digital_skills_of_a_ne> accessed 04 February 2023
