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Redundancy in and/or for Legal Business Processes

Recently, new clients having Intellectual Property (IP) needs (and who are aware of corresponding laws in various jurisdictions and software used), have started to ask for information related various  IP Software Systems employed by a law firm during initial stages of pitching. Among other questions, the following are of deep interest and value:
  1. Which system(s) do you use for IP management?
  2. If you have more than one system, what is the purpose of each of the system?
  3. Have you ever used any specific tools to communicate with your client except email?
  4. What kind of tools do you use for IP docketing (deadline management)?
A careful look at the questions implied that client was interested in knowing how a firm can eliminate chances of missing critical information and alleviate chances of taking action on critical milestones before it is too late. In another words, how redundancy is being applied to business processes, especially the ones employed in law firms or legal department, as whole.
Redundancy is very common in engineering disciplines and is typically employed in form of fail-safe loops or backup systems. Software redundancy is relatively new and is either related to employing techniques in design process of software to reduce errors or to employing duplicate applications. However, the whole point of using software solutions is to eliminate redundancy in business processes. On the contrary, law firm and legal departments strive to have redundancy so as not to miss any milestone, critical or otherwise, at any time. How can this paradox be solved? The answer to this question essentially answers the client question too.
Every law firm or legal department (hereinafter referred to as legal divisions) has at least two software systems or solutions installed to manage various tasks including project progress, billing, and importantly timelines/deadline management. The solutions include excel tools, email, docketing solution, DMS, IP management system, and workflow management. Often DMS and workflow management systems are integrated with IP management systems to provide a comprehensive solution. The key to impart redundancy lies in interconnecting these solutions such that redundancy is achieved without any duplication in effort.
Emails are the primary mode of communication in legal divisions. However, a probability of missing out on an important email is very high if the email is marked to a single person. To counter this problem, legal divisions often create a group mail id and get every email communication marked to the group mail id in addition to marking concerned person. This reduces the probability of missing a mail marked to a single person to a large extent; however, not everyone in the group is working on same project. Hence, there exists a probability of not taking any action on the email correspondence ‘before it’s too late’ or a probability of firefighting is still relatively high. Hence, the question Have you ever used any specific tools to communicate with your client except email?
A brief research popped up some email management solutions that are targeted towards managing one’s own inbox but may not be effective in solving above problem as manual intervention is required. Likewise, IP Management Systems allow uploading of emails along with other documents to keep track of emails and associated time lines. But then they work independently of emails. Some other Workflow based Systems allow sending of communication through in-built email feature but they also work independently from emails.
As indicated earlier, every legal division will have at least two systems such as excel and IP Management system; and excel, IP Management system, and DMS. However, these systems are very independent of each other, even if access rights are same. For example, DMS can be accessed directly or through the IP Management system. But still redundancy is not provided by having these systems. Having two systems performing same work is also not ideal as it involves duplicity of human efforts for data entry and yet legal divisions cannot afford to miss deadlines. Hence the questions which system(s) do you use for IP management? If you have more than one system, what is the purpose of each of the system? What kind of tools do you use for IP docketing (deadline management)?
To tackle these problems, artificial intelligence (AI) is an ideal candidate. In fact, AI has already arrived on the scene with IBM Watson and ROSS. Globally, AI is being used by firms to swift through thousands of searches results/documents. Berwin Leighton Paisner1 (BLP) of London has already invested in AI and proved to a leader in accepting AI by taking home ‘Best use of Technology’ prize at the British Legal Awards in 20152. BLP’s Real Estate department uses computer software company RAVN Software’s Applied Cognitive Engine system to automate large volumes of (noncharged) work previously undertaken by junior lawyers.
Another example is Pinsent Masons2, whose in-house developed TermFrame system emulates the decision-making process of a human by guiding lawyers through different types of work while connecting them to relevant templates, documents and precedents at the right moments.
Closer home in India, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM)3, one of the leading law firms, has entered into an agreement with Kira Systems, a Canada based technology company, for using the Kira machine-learning software for greater automation of its due diligence and transactional practices. CAM believes the application of AI will usher in a new era of efficiency and accuracy for the benefit of their clients.
As put forth by James Parker4, who leads the Legal Software Solutions (LSS) team at LexisNexis Pacific, the goal of AI isn’t to change the nature of legal work or replace human lawyers, but to enable lawyers to concentrate on more cognitive tasks such as developing legal arguments, instead of spending long periods of time on routine duties like drafting and reviewing documents, extensive research of case files and other un-billable tasks. The same is more or less concurred by law practitioners, professions, and entrepreneurs during panel discussion organized by Queen’s Law Report5.
Moving beyond the automation and crawling at high speeds through hundreds of documents, the AI may well be used for handling problems as mentioned above. One solution can be to connect the email (for example) with IP management systems and use AI to eliminate probability of missing emails. Each incoming and outgoing email will be analyzed and appropriate tags can be assigned and necessary flags can be raised. Tata Consultancy Services6 has already published a white paper on use of Natural Language Processing, Computational Linguistics and Machine Learning to reduce email clutter and increase productivity. A similar approach can be used to track each email and each task/action mentioned in the email.
Similarly, AI can be incorporated to provide the much needed redundancy without duplicating human effort. IP Management System can provide a first list of cases/tasks/actions, critical or otherwise, from its underlying database, as usual. AI can use the same database and further access e-filing modules or Patent Office websites and scrawl through emails to provide a second list of cases/tasks/actions and at same time cross-verify the first list of cases/tasks/actions.
Thus, AI can help achieve the much needed redundancy in law firms or legal departments without disturbing existing workflows. It would be great to know more opinions on this subject. 
Sources:

  1. http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/how-ai-may-become-a-game-changer-for-the-indian-legal-industry-117021800722_1.html
  2. http://www.foxrodney.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Artificial-Intelligence.pdf
  3. https://www.ft.com/content/5d96dd72-83eb-11e6-8897-2359a58ac7a5
  4. http://blogs.lexisnexis.co.uk/futureoflaw/2016/10/artificial-intelligence-trends-and-their-impact-on-the-legal-sector/
  5. http://law.queensu.ca/how-will-artificial-intelligence-affect-legal-profession-next-decade
  6. http://www.tcs.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/White%20Papers/Innovation_Whitepaper_Increase_Productivity_Intelligent_eMail_Tools_050111.pdf
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