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39
The Evolving Role of
Voice-Based Technologies
in the Legal Industry
B Y S E R E N A W E L L E N
T
he use of voice-enabled devices
such as smartphones and digital
assistants has forced change in
all markets – most prominently finance and
healthcare. This trend is poised to impact
the legal industry, primarily because of the
sheer volume of voice assistant usage. Juniper
Research reported this year that the use
of voice assistants will triple over the next
few years – reaching 8 billion digital voice
assistants in 2023. That's one digital voice
assistant for every person on planet Earth. At
the end of 2018, there were only 2.5 billion.
Connecting voice technolo to
networked home appliances and devices
such as lights, doorbells, thermostats, and
refrigerators has brought ease, speed, and
comfort to modern life. For the legal world,
voice assistants present several benefits,
risks, and challenges.
Benefits Include:
Hands-free everything. Voice assistants
eliminate the need for many "manual"
processes such as scheduling appointments
and meetings, making lists, searching for
information, reading texts and emails,
or even dialing your phone. This level of
automation brings incredible freedom and
flexibility and improves efficiency and
connectivity. Right now, voice assistants
are only connected to the personal and
enterprise apps on your phone such as
email and calendars. But in the future, voice
technologies will connect to legal research,
analytics, time-keeping, and CRM platforms
that are just starting to find their way onto
mobile devices – bringing similar levels of
convenience and efficiency.
