Is it time for a digital legal marketplace?
January 19, 2017
general counsel legal technology legal innovation legal services artificial intelligence leadership legal futures
This is another great article by Mark Cohen.
There are many reasons why we have seen an unbundling of legal services over the last 10 years; price, technology, the drive for greater efficiency to name a few.
However, 10 years on from the start of the unbundling process, we are now firmly in the next stage of our development and this stage involves the creation of a digital legal marketplace. We are of course seeing greater AI, including more contract automation systems, but a digital legal marketplace means increased access to legal services and lawyers. Companies such as LegalZoom or Lexoo (the latter enables lawyers to bid on projects posted via their site), provide corporations and individuals greater access to legal services at a much more effective price.
It is a few steps away from the Amazon model Mark has mentioned, but a considerable step closer to where we were 10 years ago.
GE’s internal digitized marketplace pairing its buyers with ‘preferred’ sellers indicates that a far larger marketplace could be created. Such a marketplace could be divided up into many different segments each one catering to a particular market segment or geography, for example. Digital marketplaces would ease the access to justice crisis, permit sellers to better differentiate themselves through direct, data-driven comparisons to competitors, and enable legal consumers—retail and corporate—to acquire legal services and products with greater ease, efficiency, choice, transparency and due diligence—at a lower cost. And if this sounds far-fetched, consider Amazon.
http://legalmosaic.com/2017/01/12/its-time-for-a-digital-legal-..
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