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On the occasion of the 1st Annual Study of Juridical Technological Innovation, The Impact Lawyers interviews the participating law firms to discuss the benefits that these technological tools bring to their work

1. What differentiates E-Discovery App from other Apps available in the legal sector?

Although we cannot claim to be experts on all legal apps, we are not aware of another app comparable to the E-Discovery App— one that provides a variety of useful resources for the legal community (especially litigators and e-discovery professionals) that can be downloaded for free to anyone’s smartphone (from the App Store or Google Play) OR accessed on the internet. Undoubtedly due to the uniqueness of the App, our team was recognized by the legal community. I won a Legal Intelligencer “Pennsylvania Trailblazer” award for the App last year, and Marcin Krieger and I were recognized as finalists in the Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Awards “Innovator(s) of the Year” category this year.

2. Is this the first time the firm has used an App at work?

No— in June 2017the firm launched its Breach RespondeRS app to provide legal guidance surrounding data breaches. This is, however, the first time that Reed Smith has launched an app that is downloadable to everyone’s smartphones.

3. How important will technological tools be in the legal sector?

Technological tools have become very important, and that importance is growing, as clients are looking for more value at lower cost. Where technology tools can expedite legal work, and promote best practices, that becomes a quality enhancer and cost-saver for clients – as well as a differentiator for law firms that offer and use the technology. E-Discovery has been a leading area of legal practice with regard to the development and successful use of advanced technology.

4. In general, what challenges can a law firm face when working with technology?

Perhaps the biggest challenge is the learning curve. Lawyers tend to be very busy and do not have time to become experts in technology. As the technology matures, it is usually enhanced to become more user friendly and intuitive, but brand new products tend to require more adaptation and user training for optimal use. Another big challenge is cutting through the noise. There are constantly new legal technology products being marketed, and most of them claim to be like an “easy button” to solve all of your problems (e.g. an “end-to-end e-discovery tool”) but that almost never really happens. Accordingly, it requires a process to identify the best tools to use for each different task—and then someone has to invest in purchasing/licensing, integrating, maintaining, and supporting each chosen tool, and getting all of the users to be aware and trained on how best to use the tool. As an aside, among the benefits of the E-Discovery App (beyond that it is free to download, maintain, and use) is that it is very intuitive, so requires no training.

5. What benefits does E-Discovery App bring to the firm? 

The E-Discovery App puts at our lawyers’ fingertips a lot of great forms, checklists, and other resources. We have carefully curated what is included in the App to find or develop “the best of the best,” so that we are enhancing the quality of our services, as well as saving the time of our lawyers, allowing them to focus on more “high value” work, and reducing costs for our clients. The E-Discovery App does not just benefit the firm, however. We made an intentional decision not to charge for the App, but instead to make it a free resource for the whole legal community, both to encourage the legal community to contribute additional resources to the App (which continues to occur) and to promote wide adoption, thereby enhancing Reed Smith’s reputation as a “go-to” law firm for litigation and e-discovery services.

The fact that the E-Discovery App has already become so popular (more than 1,500 downloads to smartphones) and so highly regarded (top ratings and reviews on the App Store and Google Play) is evidence of the success of the App so far.