In this interview, Mark Cohen, a renowned figure in the legal industry, shares his thoughts on what it takes to drive change in the legal sector and the role of technology in this transformation. Drawing upon his vast experience and unique insights, Cohen discusses the factors that will shape the future of the legal profession and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
Q: What does it take to change the legal industry?
A: “I think that the transformation in the legal industry is really going to come more from outside of the industry itself than within. And I think it’s really a footnote to a larger transformation that’s going on. Certainly with business, which is well on the way to digital transformation, even before, you know, the sort of drop the mic moment of chat GPT and all this happened since. And also societally, I mean, look what’s happened. We’ve already become the vast majority of the population are already, for example, digital consumers. We’re digital consumers of news and buying and selling things. So I think legal is just slow to the party. But I do believe that there is going to be some magic and I do believe that there is a tremendous amount of latent value in the legal function to do a much better job in terms of standardizing itself, in terms of leveraging its services, in terms of using new organizational structures and tools, and frankly, revisiting what kind of people should be in the industry, and I’m not just talking about licensed attorneys. So all of those things I think are going to happen. I wish the legal industry would sort of take it upon itself to be more proactive, but that’s not historically been its modus operandi, but it’s coming. I’m very convinced it’s coming.”
Q: Is legal tech a fad or for real?
A: “In terms of a fade or real, I think that let’s not call it legal tech. I know that’s blasphemy because we’re here at legal tech talk. But I think it’s really more of technology. And clearly technology is not a fade. I think that some things like blockchain did not realise some of the potential, that at least short term that people thought. But I think AI clearly is something that’s probably people much wiser and brighter than I am would say that this is the real deal. And so the real question is not going to be whether or not the technology is going to be real or fade. I think the real question in the legal industry is what is the strategy for implementing it? How are people going to be trained and educated to use it responsibly and thoughtfully and ethically? And what is this going to do to the workforce? How are people going to adapt? And I think these are the real issues that are lost in the headline of legal tech. It’s really the people side that I think is the side that the legal industry should be focusing on.”
