LawSoc launches a push for new technology
The Law Society of Singapore (LawSoc) launched a push to encourage local legal firms to adopt new technology yesterday.
The SmartLaw Guild will allow practices that have adopted technology solutions, such as practice management or accounting software, to display a "SmartLaw" logo on their website and marketing material.
At the launch event held at the InterContinental Singapore, Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran urged Singapore's legal fraternity to integrate technology solutions to help them stay relevant and competitive.
Said Mr Iswaran: "A trusted ecosystem is key to the development of Singapore's digital economy and the legal fraternity has an important role in the evolution of a regulatory architecture and the creation of legal solutions."
Despite over 80 per cent of law practices agreeing in a 2018 LawSoc survey that technology helps the delivery of legal services, only 12 per cent or 115 practices have adopted such solutions to date.
"We want to broaden the use of technology among law practices," said Mr Iswaran.
The Ministry of Law, LawSoc, Enterprise Singapore and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) launched the Tech-celerate for Law programme earlier this month, under which $3.68 million has been set aside to provide legal practices with up to 70 per cent funding support for adopting technology solutions.
Mr Iswaran also encouraged practising lawyers to take advantage of the skills training provided by the IMDA's Techskills Accelerator initiative in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, cyber security and data analytics.
Local law firm OTP Law Corporation is currently using a cloud-based practice management system called CoreMatter, which allows its four lawyers to manage information like case files and financial invoices on their cell phones.
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