法律科技不仅是当今律界人士津津乐道的话题，还是投资界的新宠领域之一。今年7月，美国在线法律服务网站LegalZoom在纳斯达克上市，募资达5.35亿美元。此外，多家国内外法律科技服务提供商也在今年完成了多轮融资，寓示着法律科技广阔的市场前景。不少中国律所也已看到了科技力量的价值，并加大了在信息系统建设方面的投入。
以大成律师事务所为例，这家中国大型律所正逐年加大对信息系统的投入。大成中国区管理委员会委员、高级合伙人郭辰律师向ALB透露：2020年，大成在以IT系统建设为核心的基础设施方面的投入比例达律所收入的百分之2.14。在他看来，这样的投资量是在当前数字化建设的浪潮下顺势而为的结果。
不过，预算多多并不意味着不需要精打细算。大成的投资有的放矢，主要集中在建设集案件管理、利冲管理、账单管理等功能于一体的核心业务系统，以及专注于智能文档管理的“合同机器人”、知识培训及管理工具“大成APP”等方面。郭律师坦言，这些投资内容是与大成的数字化进程息息相关的。
“大成律所体积庞大，覆盖律师行业全业务线，当前的重点是继续深耕业务线上化，在核心业务已经线上化的基础上进一步优化提升。与此同时，逐步将基础业务系统化，赋能律师展业，进一步提升内部运营效率。在夯实信息化基础的前提下，我们大胆尝试及成功部署了较为先进的智能工具。未来，大成律所将继续全面推进数字化系统建设，引进匹配的先进技术，积极推动律所的数字化转型进程，”郭律师说。
有投资就要谈回报。但是，相较于能精确到每一元每一角的投资额，律师们认为这类投入的回报实际上是难以量化的。郭律师表示：“新科技投入赋能的链条比较长，很难通过简单的计算模型获得投资回报数据。”
天册律师事务所执行主任、管理合伙人沈海强律师也同意这一看法。他告诉ALB：“IT系统的投入回报，目前即便在学界也没有一个令人信服的计算方式。”也正因如此，天册看待回报的方式更为灵活——并不拘泥于传统财务语境下对IT投入可量化的“硬回报”，而是更多地着眼于虽然难以用数字精确计算，但确实存在产出的“软回报”。
沈律师列举道：“IT系统的提升，很大程度上提高了团队协同办公的效率，也进一步加强了总分所一体化管理的规范化、集约化。IT系统的日常运作能够对事务所大数据进行收集应用，有利于推进知识管理，也能在风险防控、客户服务质量、客户满意度等方面带来一定提升。可以说，IT系统得到的‘软回报’为天册管委会提供了更高的市场应变能力和管理决策水平，也在无形中提升了客户服务质量。”
郭律师也认同“软回报”的价值，甚至表示：“业务质量进一步提高，工作效率有效提升，对于大成律所这样的大型法律服务机构而言，回报就已经是无价的。”但他同时也理解财务方面所承担的风险。因此，大成设计出了一套能够尽量降低投资风险的前期调研方法，即深入分析业务痛点，调研数字工具成功使用案例，进行数字工具建设前期的试验性监测，根据结果进行慎重选择，确保采纳匹配度高的技术和软件系统，从而确保软件系统上线后带来明显的效能提升。
“科技技术对业务的支撑已经成为各个企业和组织竞争力的一部分，很多情况下甚至是核心竞争力。对于大成律所来说，当下的数字系统属于基础支撑性工具，是律所运行的基础必要投入，”郭律师说。
Law firms see legal-tech investment as vital, even as ROI remains unclear
Legal technology has come of age in a big way. U.S. online legal services platform LegalZoom completed it $535 million IPO in July, and in China, law firms are utilising a combination of domestic and foreign legal-tech solution providers as they seek more efficient ways to utilising existing resources and delivering services to clients.
Indeed, some firms today are investing heavily. Dentons China, for example, invested more than 2 percent of its annual revenue for 2020 into legal tech. Guo Chen, a senior partner and member of China Region Management Committee of the firm, tells ALB that its legal-tech focus has increased steadily over the years, and is “highly necessary in the era of digitalization.”
The budget might be large, but it is focused. Dentons China focuses its investment into three aspects: The core business system that can manage cases, interest conflicts, and billing; a “contract robot” that intelligently manages documents; and the “Dentons App” for knowledge management and training purposes. “As a large law firm that covers all practices in the legal industry, our current focus remains putting core businesses online and systemizing basic businesses to improve internal operation efficiency. Based on that, we have also implemented intelligent tools to help boost our digitalization process,” says Guo.
But while investment can be measured, ROI is less clear. “The empowerment chain of legal technology is complex and not likely to be calculated with a simple mathematical formula,” says Guo. His view is echoed by Shen Haiqiang, executive director and managing partner at T&C Law Firm “There is no convincing calculating method to quantify the return brought by investment in IT system, not even in the academic world.”
As such, T&C takes a different approach to returns. Instead of focusing on the “hard returns” defined by financial figures, it concentrates more on what it calls “soft returns” which is hard to calculate but does exist. “IT system has greatly improved the cooperation efficiency among teams, which then further strengthens the integrated management between headquarter and branches. By collecting the big data of our firm, the IT system also helps knowledge management and risks control, bringing clients better services and higher satisfaction. It is safe to say that the ‘soft return’ of IT system has given our management committee stronger decision-making ability, which leads to better market resilience,” says Shen.
Guo agrees that these “soft returns” are “priceless for a large legal services provider like Dentons China.” But he also understands the financial risks of an investment, especially when its return cannot be defined by precise numbers. To tackle this, the firm designed a research methodology to reduce risks as much as possible, by analyzing the pain points of business, studying successful cases of digital tools adoption, conducting trials of digital tools, and selecting the best possible fit.
“Technology’s support to business has become a part of the competence of every organization, even the core competence in many cases. Our current digital system is a fundamental supporting tool, and the investment is a necessity for law firm operations,” says Guo.
