Peer to Peer Magazine

FEATURES 46 All Eyes Are on the Technology Horizon 52 Fusion = Innovation: How To Align Your Firm's IT and Business Strategies 58 Course Correction: Teaching Tomorrow's Lawyers Legal Technology Skills 62 Rethink Your Business Model: The Hidden Potential of Transactional Law 68 The Future of Small Law Firms 70 Letter From the Future: Time Is of the Essence WWW.ILTANET.ORG 47 PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGA ZINE OF ILTA 46 FEATURES ALL EYES ARE ON THE TECHNOLOGY HORIZON Excerpted from ILTA's Legal Technology Future Horizons by Rohit Talwar About the Study A forward-looking global study exploring how advances in information technology (IT) could impact the legal profession over the next decade was undertaken during 2013 by Fast Future Research at the behest of the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA). The study used a combination of desk research, interviews, workshops and two global surveys — one explored the business applications of IT in the legal sector, and the other provided input to create an emerging technology timeline. The resulting report, Legal Technology Future Horizons, provides the critical findings and implications emerging from the study. Download the full report at www.iltanet.org/ltfh. There is a clear and growing sense that, over the next decade, potentially disruptive science and technology developments will continue to emerge and have a deep impact on every aspect of law firms and the delivery of their services. A primary focus of ILTA's Legal Technology Future Horizons study was to identify emerging technologies and related developments that could have a significant bearing on the sector. Through desk research, interviews and workshops, technologies and developments spanning 10 categories were identified: INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA The Internet and social media are rapidly establishing themselves as a backbone for business and social interaction of all kinds and are seen as an ever-present feature of the next decade. Over the next 10 to 15 years, several rule changes are anticipated that will allow for greater sophistication in how law firms embrace the online environment. However, many concerns exist over issues such as the openness of the Internet and the World Wide Web of sites that sit above it. Some argue that the Internet as an information source will come under increasing government control. There is expected to be an associated growth in opportunities for lawyers around data privacy. Those harvesting and aggregating the data are expected to hold the balance of power in society, but there might be a backlash from people who feel that their privacy is not being respected. END USER DEVICES, TOOLS AND TRENDS A proliferation of device types is expected, with a growth in both single- function tools and multi-functional devices that could succeed today's tablets and smartphones over the next decade. Delivery of content and applications to these devices is expected to have a transformative impact on the ability of professionals to be fully effective and productive anywhere and at any time. The process of convergence of device functions and the need to ensure efficient support arrangements are expected to remain as prominent challenges. Increasing emphasis will be placed on choosing the right base platforms and support systems to allow for continued evolution in devices without having to make expensive changes in the firm's underlying enabling infrastructure. 1 3 INTERFACES AND DISPLAYS Despite their use in gaming and a variety of other sectors, interface technologies such as gesture recognition, finger tracking, tactile surfaces and eye tracking are only expected among leading-edge users in the two-to-five-year timeframe. Novel display technologies are expected to take even longer to find acceptance, with six to ten years being the most frequently suggested timeframe for pioneer adoption of holographic displays, virtual retinal displays and fabric / clothing embedded screens. 2

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