Upcoming Expertise Developments in Litigation Assist | US Authorized Assist

Litigation technology is changing into more and more essential for litigation assist providers. Companies and authorized professionals are utilizing rising authorized expertise regardless of the misperception that our career might be caught in its methods and reluctant to alter.¹ Quite the opposite, American authorized assist’s 2024 survey shine a lightweight on the expertise traits which can be administration innovation within the subject of legislation.

Beneath, we talk about the highest insights we uncovered relating to legislation corporations’ authorized expertise funding, synthetic intelligence (AI) adoption, cybersecurity points, and the usage of distant deposition expertise.

Funding in authorized expertise and instruments

Seeking to 2025, 32.40% of legislation corporations anticipate investments in authorized expertise to extend, which is sort of similar to final 12 months’s consequence (32.21%). Nevertheless, extra corporations anticipate investments to stay the identical (33.56% versus 27.12% in 2023), and solely 5.61% of corporations anticipate to scale back their investments in expertise, in comparison with 9.33% in 2023. About Companies usually anticipate to take care of or enhance their use of applied sciences resembling time monitoring, invoicing, analysis and data administration instruments.

By way of new expertise to undertake, firms’ high priorities for digital transformation are:

• Knowledge administration and retention – 59.67%
• eDiscovery and doc assessment – 42.55%
• Enterprise administration software program – 40.14%
• eBilling/price restoration software program – 36.56%

These figures have been additionally nearly similar to their 2023 counterparts. Total, legislation corporations’ outlook for expertise funding in 2025 seems to be similar to 2024.

One crucial space more likely to drive will increase in expertise funding is company progress use of legal AI tools sooner or later. The share of firms that foresee higher use of AI in 2025 is 31.72%, which could be very near the variety of corporations that foresee higher technological funding (32.21%).

This means that a big proportion of legislation corporations’ expertise investments in 2025 may very well be AI-related.

Rising AI adoption in authorized follow

Some of the attention-grabbing insights from our survey was the rise in legislation corporations already utilizing AI expertise together with generative AI (genAI) tools. In 2023, 21.25% of respondents used AI for authorized analysis, doc administration and predictive analytics. In 2024, that share rose to 25.92%, a rise of 21.98% year-on-year (YoY).

Context for AI adoption in legislation and different fields

One essential caveat to our findings is that measures of AI adoption within the business range broadly. One examine claims to have discovered {that a} overwhelming majority of legislation corporations (79%) are actually utilizing AI expertise.² Nevertheless, a better take a look at his findings exhibits that solely 8% have in full (“universally”) adopted it, and solely 17% even “broadly” adopted it. The figures for “minimal” and “partial” adoption (ie for some duties or provisional) sit at 34% and 21%, respectively.

This may be extra in keeping with what nationwide polling has discovered relating to AI adoption throughout varied fields. In keeping with a bipartisan Coverage Heart survey, listed below are a number of the high industries adopting AI³:

• Data service corporations – 18.1% AI adoption
• Skilled or technical providers corporations – 12% AI adoption
• Instructional providers corporations – 9.1% AI adoption

After accounting for extremes, each high-end outcomes and average outcomes (resembling ours) present that legislation agency AI adoption is considerably greater within the authorized career than in different industries.

Collectively, these findings counsel that the authorized career is forward of the curve in the case of integrating this revolutionary expertise—and reaping the advantages that include it.

Cyber ​​Safety in Litigation Assist

It is very important take into account what legislation corporations are doing to make sure safety throughout their info expertise (IT) infrastructure. To that finish, almost 73% of companies had a safety coverage in place in 2024.

Nevertheless, roughly the identical variety of corporations have been focused by a cyber assault within the final two years (20.92% in 2024 vs. 19.85% in 2023). Regulation corporations might want to decide to securing their programs, particularly with higher funding in expertise.

One other attention-grabbing takeaway right here pertains to the intersection of AI adoption and cybersecurity.

A joint fee led by the Nationwide Safety Company (NSA) issued a public discover on the dangers of speedy AI deployment, as the brand new and rising expertise is vulnerable to a higher quantity and variety of assaults in comparison with legacy programs .⁴ Of the corporations we surveyed, these defending towards AI threats tended to make use of coaching and schooling (22.63%) and human supervision (19.83%) to take action. Better adoption of AI will probably require extra sturdy protections.

Knowledge privateness and authorized assist providers

One other key perception associated to legislation corporations’ cybersecurity issues is the function that data privacy play in vendor choice. Privateness is a key ingredient of cybersecurity, and making certain that delicate info will not be compromised is without doubt one of the essential targets of a agency’s cyber protection.

This was mirrored in our outcomes, as privateness and safety considerations are the most important components thought-about when legislation corporations examine authorized expertise suppliers and litigation assist suppliers:

• Vendor knowledge privateness insurance policies are a high precedence for 70.86% of corporations
• HIPAA compliance audits are a high precedence for 51.14% of companies
• Finish-to-end file encryption is a high precedence for 45.54% of corporations
• Vendor cyber legal responsibility protection is a high precedence for 25.81% of companies

Put one other manner, these considerations cowl varied points of knowledge privateness and safety: administration, controls, insurance coverage within the occasion of a breach, and compliance with laws such because the Well being Insurance coverage Portability and Accessibility Act (HIPAA). They’re all crucial to a agency’s total safety posture.

Potential penalties of knowledge privateness lapses

Regulation corporations should take cybersecurity and knowledge privateness significantly. Failure to take action can lead to important monetary and reputational harm to the agency and its professionals.

Compliance is without doubt one of the most essential – and difficult – parts of knowledge privateness. HIPAA audits are so excessive on firms’ priorities for expertise distributors as a result of their guidelines might be obscure, apply and observe. Authorized professionals could assume that their very own units fall exterior HIPAA protections, however its guidelines apply to each lined entities inside healthcare and its enterprise associates. Any particular person or follow that comes into contact with protected well being info (PHI), resembling medical therapy and cost data, should defend them.

Failure to conform HIPAA compliance can lead to direct financial fines and felony fees towards people. The Division of Well being and Human Companies (HHS), the Division of Justice (DOJ), and native governments all work collectively to implement HIPAA. One latest case involving a New York agency resulted in a $200,000 wonderful to the state legal professional basic.⁵ As well as, corporations that violate HIPAA guidelines should work to regain the belief of the general public, companions, and clients.

Distant deposits and digital instruments

Our survey indicated that legislation corporations’ use of remote deposition technology is more likely to proceed to extend in 2025 and past. Distant depositions have grow to be a crucial element of litigation due to their many benefits, together with flexibility, price financial savings, and effectivity. They’re right here to remain and can solely proceed to enhance.

Particularly, 30.95% of respondents in 2023 anticipated their use of distant deposits to extend after 2024. This 12 months, that determine elevated to 34.31% of firms.

Listed below are the advantages and options that corporations search for of their distant deposit options:

• Ease of use (69.56%)
• Performance (58.58%)
• Affordability (37.76%)
• Safety (30.65%)

It has remained roughly the identical year-on-year, with slight bumps in affordability and safety.

As well as, and in parallel with total expertise funding, extra corporations now consider the usage of distant deposits will stay the identical going ahead (44.96% in 2023 vs. 47.80% in 2024), and foresee much less much less used (17.15% in 2023 vs. 12.24% in 2024). Which means remote depositslike different authorized expertise instruments, usually tend to keep the identical or enhance in use. Practices that undertake expertise are finest positioned to reach 2025 and past, as they’ll be capable of optimize prices and enhance effectivity.

Keep forward of technological traits within the authorized career

Our 2023 and 2024 surveys point out will increase in expertise adoption within the authorized career. Corporations are extra dedicated to sustaining or rising expertise investments, AI is changing into extra widespread, cybersecurity is more and more crucial, and distant deployments are being employed by increasingly more forward-thinking professionals.

American Authorized Assist helps corporations keep forward of the curve by strategically leveraging the most recent expertise to optimize effectivity and safety whereas lowering prices. Our full vary of litigation support services consists of distant deposition platforms, digital exhibit storage and sharing, AI doc translations, and extra.

To study extra about how we will help you, make contact at this time!

Sources:

1. ALM (legislation.com). Dispel the myths of authorized expertise adoption. https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2023/10/24/debunking-the-myths-of-legal-technology-adoption/
2. Authorized web sites. AI adoption by authorized professionals jumps from 19% to 79% in a single 12 months, Clio examine finds. https://www.lawnext.com/2024/10/ai-adoption-by-legal-professionals-jumps-from-19-to-79-in-one-year-clio-study-finds.html
3. Bipartisan Coverage Heart. Survey of AI Adoption within the US Financial system. https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/taking-stock-of-ai-adoption-across-the-us-economy/
4. Nationwide Safety Company. Deploy AI programs securely. https://media.defense.gov/2024/Apr/15/2003439257/-1/-1/0/CSI-DEPLOYING-AI-SYSTEMS-SECURELY.PDF
5. The HIPAA Journal. New York Regulation Agency Pays State AG $200,000 to Resolve HIPAA Violations. https://www.hipaajournal.com/new-york-law-firm-200000-settlement-new-york-hipaa/
6. US Division of Well being and Human Companies. Enterprise associates. https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance/business-associates/index.html