Loyalty to legacy software and processes has been standard for the legal industry but disruptive change is taking over. If you are unaware of digital transformation, it is the process of using software to automate and digitize processes that might otherwise be done by humans.

In simple terms, it is using Microsoft Word’s spell check rather than doing it yourself. On the grander scale, it is the Netflix that Blockbuster should have become. Introducing software can augment your skills for the modern era. If you want to keep up, here are 10 apps that can digitally transform your skills as a lawyer.

1. DocuSign

Contracts, affidavits, summons, motions, and everything in between are just pointless pieces of paper without signatures, yet the signature is frustratingly slow to get.

Thankfully, DocuSign alleviates the troubles. The easy-to-use software lets you email legal documents directly to clients or stakeholders and retrieve their e-signature. Recipients don’t need the software as they easily sign through the DocuSign portal. If multiple signatures are required, the app will retrieve the first before resending it to the next party and keeps going until everyone has signed.

Letters, postage, and faxing can finally be confined to the past.

2. Loio

Contract preparation and review are exceptionally resource-heavy. That is unless you use AI. Studies show that AI reviews legal documents with more accuracy in a fraction of the time it takes the best lawyers. If you need the best reviewing AI on the market, Loio.com is the tool for you.

Loio is an AI-powered extension for Microsoft Word that provides one-click suggestions for edits, broken formatting, and important terms and clauses in seconds. The days of contract reviews taking hours are over.

3. Feedly

Social media exists across nearly every generation. From TikTok, and Instagram to Twitter and LinkedIn, social media is a source of information and entertainment to most.

With the groundswell of information exchanged across social media, lawyers need to stay in touch with the social world. Feedly helps you keep up.

Feedly allows firms to disseminate their information but, more importantly, helps you to monitor hashtags and trends that may be useful to your case.

The biggest advocate for Feedly was the Capitol Riot attacks where many of the perpetrators incriminated themselves by posting on social media. Feedly makes sure you never miss a beat.

4. HotDocs

Just like Loio, HotDocs drastically reduces the time it takes to create perfect legal documents. It is automation software that helps firms create documents, contracts, wills, trusts, and more.

HotDocs standout claim is that it decreases document creation time by 94%. The staggering drop allows attorneys to repurpose their time to income-generating tasks and thus become more profitable.

5. LawPay

Checks and cash have become inconvenient payment methods. Digital billing is the present and the future and that’s exactly what LawPay provides.

LawPay allows you to get paid faster and more securely by automating time tracking, billing cycles, invoice generation right through to the payment and accounting methods. Reminder emails are even sent for outstanding invoices. Clients are happy because they have convenient methods of payment through credit or debit cards.

LawPay eradicates redundancies taking multiple tasks out of your hands.

6. Ruby

Without taking calls from new clients, your firm won’t grow but intake calls and listening to the stories take forever.

Ruby is a 24/7 virtual receptionist service that intakes clients by asking pre-set questions and scheduling appointments with personalized service. The automation tool even records calls to ensure that no information gets lost in transit. Ruby saves practices from draining administrative work and missing opportunities.

7.  MyCase

Document management systems for law firms were long overdue. MyCase is an all-in-one platform that allows firms to store and easily access files in a centralized cloud. It provides a host of additional features like eSignatures, document templates, sharing, tagging, and collaboration with unlimited storage and customizable document folders. MyCase even integrates with the likes of DropBox to reduce any barriers to use.

8. Clio

Every firm knows the importance of a practice management cloud platform since the advent of remote work. Clio is a best-in-class, all-encompassing firm management platform. Case management is made easy with a dashboard that shows the status of individual client cases. Client relations are improved by creating exclusive client portals. Intake is automated through savvy AI.

For everything that Clio doesn’t do, it offers user-friendly integrated applications that do the job you need. Compatibility with independent software is no longer a concern with Clio.

9. CaseText

Digital law libraries have become an exceptionally competitive space. Tools like ROSS Intelligence, Lexis Nexis, and Fastcase are cited as the standard-bearers but CaseText is making a name for itself for unrivaled efficiency.

CARA AI, CaseText’s pioneering software allows you to perform legal research as you prepare your strategies. The AI researches precedent, statutes, and every other source of law to provide you with the supporting evidence you need in real-time.

10. Blue J Legal

It may not be a necessity today but soon predictive AI tools will be standard.

Blue J is a prediction tool that considers your client’s case, opposition strategies, previous similar cases, and relevant case laws to make a prediction of how a trial would play out. Trialed in tax law, it has a 90% success rate.

Lawyers might think that Blue J will replace them and that argument is reasonable. However, if other lawyers start using it and you do not, they will offer faster settlements, fewer court appearances, and lower legal expenses making you uncompetitive.

Final Thoughts

The field of legal technology is changing rapidly. For those who wait to see clear ‘best tools’ emerging, it will be too late. Competitors who implement technology early eat into your market share by offering cheaper, more accurate, and more efficient services. It’s time to accept that digital transformation will be a constant rather than a one-off event.