Posts in category: Digitalization

Strengthen the law firm's relationship with its clients? What options does he have? Business development is by far the most relevant area of ​​work.

Business development is a fairly recent term in the world of lawyers. Coming from the Anglo-Saxon business world, the term designates marketing, communication and partnership actions which are carried out with the objective of developing the economic activity of the firm.

Concretely, this involves deploying the firm's strategy in targeted communications actions on qualified contacts of partners or the firm, in order to win new cases within the firm's clients or to win new clients.

1. Business Development begins with defining its strategy 

What is the added value of the firm? What is its strategic positioning? This question is the keystone of the Business Development strategy. If you want to develop your VSE/SME clientele, it is not the same approach as a clientele of individuals or large accounts.

Data protection relies on IT security. Stéphane Lataste, a partner at the law firm Chatain & Associés , assisted by Ariane Dérobert , published an article in Lextenso and the Gazette du Palais , on the topic: "The professional civil liability of lawyers due to computer intrusions".

Data protection is put to the test

 » New risks linked to cybercrime increase the risks to IT systems. (…) The lawyer must be particularly careful in this matter. (…). »

Furthermore, article 34 of law no. 78-17 of 6 January 1978 requires "taking all necessary precautions (...) to preserve the security of data".

We have carefully read the column published Thursday September 7 in Le Monde du Droit et le Village de la Justice and entitled: “Legaltechs and Lawyers: behind the scenes”. We understand that legaltechs which connect lawyers and clients should be subject to a label issued by the Bar Association.

Do legaltechs legally need to be regulated?

This question raises many thorny points:

• What is legaltech? Jarvis Legal is a legaltech, like Clio or MyCase in the United States. Doctrine.fr is also a legaltech. Should we be regulated by the Bar Association?
• How to distinguish start-ups bringing business to lawyers? Between those considered “just” and those “unjust”?
• Is the Order competent to regulate this activity? Many companies sell legal document templates without being lawyers. Will they also be banned?

If this idea were to continue, we would be very interested in participating in the reflections and decisions that would be taken.

Should legaltechs morally be managed by lawyers?

The question posed here is interesting: do you have to be a lawyer to respect ethics? And do you even have to be a lawyer to behave ethically in business?

It seems to us that the answer in both cases is: no.

Some lawyers do not respect professional ethics; indeed, it is the role of the bar association to verify this. Some entrepreneurs do not respect the law: it is the role of the courts to put an end to these practices.

Thus, from our point of view, the vast majority of lawyers and entrepreneurs respect the law, professional conduct and ethics, or in any case strive to do so.

Are lawyers also more legitimate on technological matters? In any case no more than engineers or any other profession. 

Legaltechs bring much more value than they destroy

For our part, we have written several articles attempting to explain how #legaltechs bring value to lawyers, not against them. For example, we challenge the term "uberization of law" in [link to article] . In concrete terms, we believe that #legaltechs, regardless of their positioning, primarily work for lawyers, not against them. In any case, none of them claim to replace lawyers.

Thus, if we look at the situation in the United States, we see that the future of the profession in France is optimistic. The increase in the number of lawyers and their average income occurs in parallel with the increase in investment in technology and a rapprochement between colleagues.

This is why, beyond the anxieties raised by these changes in the market, the most difficult and most contested revolution remains the cultural revolution: moving from the artisan lawyer to the entrepreneurial lawyer. And for this, #legaltechs, whether they are signatories to this forum or not, bring a lot of value!

Changes in the legal market are transforming the ways in which law firms are valued. Lawyers are increasingly becoming entrepreneurs and less and less independent professionals. Differences in organization, revenue management, and corporate culture development are impacting the profitability and economic growth of firms.

Valuation of the firm, analysis of the situation

The new publication from the firm Jurimanagement, "Lawyers: Valuing, selling, acquiring your business", focuses on the subject of firm valuation (you can order the book here ).

The article "Do you know how to promote your legal practice and your firm?" published on September 4th in Village de la Justice summarizes the main issues:

The ACE Congress will be held on October 5 & 6, 2017 in Strasbourg and will bring together more than 250 lawyers specializing in business consulting.

The work will begin with an introductory speech under the theme of Openings by Mr. Denis Raynal, president of the ACE. This is followed by two days of conferences and workshops around themes, in particular, collaboration, internationalization, interprofessionality.

The ACE association and the ACE Congress

Created in 1992, the Association of Corporate Counsel Lawyers represents the entire French business bar , bringing together corporate consulting firms of all sizes, both French and international.

With its technical commissions operating in all areas of law, its international section and its young lawyers section (ACE-JA), the ACE has elected representatives in all institutions and technical organizations representative of the profession (Conseil national bars, orders, CARPA, etc.).

She was thus able to promote her innovative ideas, effectively contributing to forging the modern legal profession.

Discover the latest e-journal put online by the association. 

Each year, its Congress brings together its members around a large number of qualified legal personalities. A specific day is dedicated to the management of the association and governance activities.

Jarvis Legal and Corporate Lawyers

Jarvis Legal works with a large number of law firms (more than 6.000 users worldwide), including corporate consulting. Market developments and deregulation of the profession are opening the doors to transformation wide. Indeed, on a cultural, digital and managerial level, law firms must open up to develop.

We have been supporting them in this process for more than 4 years. As such, we are very happy to participate in the 25th ACE Congress in Strasbourg and thus further strengthen our ties. Find us on the themes of digital transformation and collaboration with clients and colleagues.

Everyone knows that Houston, Texas is experiencing massive flooding due to Hurricane Harvey. What's less well known, however, is that Houston is home to the headquarters of Jarvis Legal USA, our American subsidiary. Find more news about our American subsidiary here and here .

Located on the 22nd floor, our offices are, of course, completely dry. The parking lot, road access, and elevators, however, are completely out of service. Fortunately, there are no casualties or injuries, and the entire team is safe. Of course, vigilance is advised, as mentioned in this tweet from the U.S. Coast Guard.

To report a #harvey emergency you must call numbers below or 911 for assistance. If busy keep trying. Do not report distress on social media pic.twitter.com/2YROOVWwDk

— US Coast Guard (@USCG) August 28, 2017

The picture below is a few blocks from our building. A height of 4 to 6m of water is reported by the American media.

Jarvis Legal USA works perfectly despite flooding

However, thanks to our SaaS tools and the mobility of our teams, everyone works remotely, from other American cities not affected by the tragedy (Atlanta in particular).

Our applications (web and mobile apps) are hosted in various US data centers and have experienced no interruptions. Our support and technical teams work using portable software and equipment. As a result, our US clients, who continue to use our Jarvis Legal application daily, have not experienced any difficulties or inconveniences.

The situation is not going to improve in the short term unfortunately. In fact, the hurricane moves very slowly (around 4 km/h) and dumps more than 50 cm of water per day. The peak is scheduled for August 30 and September 1.

1001startups recently published an article asking the question of the “Uberization of law” (see article below). This is indeed a question that many lawyers and legal professionals in general ask themselves.

http://1001startups.fr/legaltech-doit-on-reellement-parler-duberisation-du-droit/

There is no uberization of law

The term uberization was created by Maurice Levy, boss of Publicis a few years ago. It designates a process of replacing a profession and its rules by a new actor who frees himself from them. From this point of view, we can state very clearly that there is no Uberization of law, neither in France nor even in the United States.

While platforms like Doctrine, Predictice, and Mon-avocat are mentioned, none pose a threat to lawyers. They all offer relevant solutions to improve their work. Jarvis Legal also positions itself as a provider of added value for lawyers, allowing them to focus on their expertise and client relationships rather than the administrative and accounting management of their practice.

Even players like Rocket Lawyer, Captain Contract or Legalstart are not threats. Although they offer end customers the opportunity to purchase documents and contracts online, for a price often lower than those of lawyers, these sites do not offer a service WITHOUT a lawyer. It is a kind of inexpensive access to a first level of legal services, which needs to be supplemented by the expertise and interpretation of a lawyer. They are ultimately more business providers than legal services.

Conversely, the deregulation of legal professions is changing the economic model of the various players, particularly lawyers. The legal market is also evolving, with the client (company, individual) gaining power and the lawyer becoming a "price maker".

This diagnosis is echoed by Kami Haeri and Richard Susskind, among others. David Wilkins and Rohit Talwar also highlight the opportunities that these transformations create.

The good and the bad #Legaltechs

No #Legaltech is bad, all provide useful services to lawyers. The American market, 6-7 years ahead of the French market, sheds light on the possible future of the French market:

• acceleration of growth in lawyers' turnover,
• increase in the number of lawyers
• distribution of avocado prices on a broader scale
• increase in the specialization of lawyers
• optimization of costs and organization of practices

So what’s the difference between good and bad legaltech? It's about as clear as the difference between the good and bad hunter in the famous Unknowns sketch. 

Seeking to “moralize” #legaltechs between good and bad is actually a bad fight!

Happy Holidays to all !

More and more law firms are equipping themselves with Apple computers rather than PCs. Reliability, ergonomics, and the aesthetics of the product are arguments that resonate with lawyers. In the United States, Macs held over 60% of the market share among lawyers in 2013. While not as high in France, the proportion has grown significantly. Apple's market share can be estimated at around 40%. This raises the question of which software is best for lawyers using a Mac.

How to choose your lawyer software on Mac?

This equipment change requires choosing management software for Mac. Not all of them are compatible, far from it!

First, it's important to consider organizational and process issues. Here are the 5 questions to ask yourself when choosing legal software.

But Mac-compatible lawyer software limits the choice. In fact, only solutions hosted in the cloud are now compatible. The various software publishers have all stopped their specific Mac developments. They no longer maintain them on new MacOS versions, forcing their customers to no longer update their machines!

Which hosted management solution for lawyers to choose?

Among the hosted solutions, it is important to distinguish between those that are truly Mac compatible and those that are only partially compatible. Indeed, some tools require an emulator (a Virtual Box or Parallel Desktop) to make their software functional. This software needs to install .exe format files on the machines, a format only compatible with Windows.

You must therefore realize that this implies no longer using your operating system at all and installing Windows on your Mac! 

From our point of view, this is nonsense. What is the point of buying Apple hardware if you have to buy a Windows license, an antivirus and all its software? and use a large part of its machine resources to run this emulator? In this case, it is better to sell your Mac and buy a PC.

However, there are 100% hosted solutions that are perfectly compatible with your Apple device. These Mac-based lawyer software programs are, of course, the preferred option. Jarvis Legal is certainly one of them, since our 100% cloud-based technology guarantees not only accessibility from any computer (PC, Mac, Linux, tablets, smartphones), but also complete security thanks to our dedicated cloud infrastructure.

Jarvis Legal has been present in Houston since 2014 via its American subsidiary. Anthony, VP North America for Jarvis Legal US, leads our teams and clients there.

During one of the events organized by the French community in Houston, he received the support of Thomas Pesquet, a French astronaut who recently returned from the International Space Station.

Jarvis Legal US and NASA are in Houston

It was because NASA and Jarvis Legal are both located in Houston, Texas, that Thomas and Anthony were able to meet. Jarvis Legal's American subsidiary has been operating since 2014 and is considered one of Houston's up-and-coming startups.

It was an opportunity for us to show another technological face of the country, although less publicized than Thomas :o) It is indeed to put French #legaltech into orbit that we work every day! 

Although incomparable, the innovations of the ESA (European Space Agency) and those of French startups contribute to the same effort: inventing the world of tomorrow.

So thank you Thomas for your support. Let's keep our feet on the ground and our heads in the stars!

The magazine Décideurs published its ranking of software publishers and digital companies in its 2017 edition entitled "Innovation, Technologies & Intellectual Property". In the category "Digital Solutions and Software for Lawyers", Jarvis Legal is recognized in the "Essential" category.

Download the ranking here, page 66 of the magazine: [download id=”620″]

Evaluation criteria for each lawyer software