江苏律师王小清亮相“世界律师大会”：律所如何利用技术提升执业能力？

12月9日至10日，由中华全国律师协会主办的“世界律师大会”（Global Lawyers Forum）在广州举行。来自57个国家的约800名法律界代表将围绕“科技进步与法律服务”的主题展开交流。

江苏南昆仑律师事务所主任王小清亮相大会，并作《律师事务所如何利用技术提升执业能力》的主旨演讲。

How can law firms take advantage of technology to improve their practice proficiency?

律师事务所如何利用技术提升执业能力

Wang Xiaoqing

王小清

Before answering the question, you may first need to look back on the changes that technology had brought to law firms in the past ten years. Ten years ago, law firms just began to deal with legal business on a large scale supported by computers and networks, and lots of databases were initiated and widely used. Tools such as management software, document automation, and legal databases were at the time of budding. Technology has dramatically transformed the way in which law firms operate and rapidly improved the work efficiency of lawyers. In the coming ten years, analytics, artificial intelligence, and other burgeoning legal technologies will further transform the way in which law firms shall run or even lawyers shall practice.

在回答这个问题前，我们先回顾一下在过去的十年里，技术给律师事务所带来的变化。

十年前，律师事务所刚刚开始大规模借助于计算机与网络处理法律业务，大量的数据库开始建立并广泛使用。管理软件、文档自动化和法律数据库等工具刚刚开始崭露头角。技术极大改变了律师事务所的运作方式，快速提升了律师的工作效率。在接下来的十年里，智能分析、人工智能和其他新兴的法律技术将进一步改变律师事务所的运作方式，甚或律师的执业方式。

Technological advancements are constantly creating new winners. Ten years ago, technology-based products seldom existed. Nowadays, when looking around, you will find the world is full of technology-based products: iPhone, iPad, Alipay, Wechat, streaming music services, virtual reality, cryptocurrency and etc. It’s not a coincidence that as these products are being introduced, their predecessors are forced to be outdated. Uber and Didi services are challenging taxi businesses fiercely. Electronic payments are replacing cash payments. Streaming music are taking the place of physical music collections. Across various industries, rapid technological change is opening a new chapter of technology innovation. The legal service industry is no exception. We've seen many law firms use technology to keep up with the times and gain competitive advantages.技术进步不断创造新的赢家。十年前，以技术为基础的产品很少存在。如今，环顾四周，你会发现世界上充满了基于技术的产品，如iPhone、iPad、支付宝、微信、流媒体音乐服务、虚拟现实、加密货币等。当这些产品被推出时，过往产品被迫淘汰，这绝非巧合。优步和滴滴打车服务对出租车业务提出严峻挑战，电子付款几乎取代了现金支付，流媒体音乐取代传统的实体唱片行业。在各个行业，快速的技术变革正在翻开"技术创新的新篇章"。法律行业也不例外。我们已经看到许多律师事务所利用技术来与时俱进并获取竞争优势。

So how can law firms take advantage of these updated new technologies? Law firms may utilize through the following ways:

那么，律师事务所如何利用这些日新月异的新技术呢？律师事务所可以通过以下方式加以利用：

(1) In-Depth Research based on AI technology

IT technology has opened a gate through which law firms may access to specific precedents and the merits of case-law decisions which would be quite time-consuming to look up in an old-fashioned way. When laws are becoming more and more complex, it is necessary to have factually specific persuasive cases to persuade judges to weight your argument. Trying to find the needle in the haystack requires access to computerized law programs, such as Alpha, Lexis Nexis, and Westlaw. These powerful computer tools facilitate law firms and their lawyers to carry out advanced searches for compelling cases pinpointed to the issue in question. Because more and more “case-law” opinions are adopted in judgements and awards, in-depth research becomes more and more difficult. Nowadays, based on the original legal search database, AI technology can even use natural language as a search keyword, which can more accurately and quickly retrieve effective information that matches the case and thereby  improves both the work efficiency of lawyers and the accuracy of the lawyers’ case analysis.

(1)基于AI技术的深度检索

IT 技术为律师事务所查取精准的判例及其说理打开了一扇大门，而该些判例及其说理在传统模式下甚有可能要花费很长时间才能查取。当法律变得越来越复杂时，有必要提供实际具体的有说服力的案例来说服法官来权衡你的观点。精准查询需要使用计算机法律软件，如阿尔法，Lexis Nexis 及 Westlaw。这些强大的计算机工具使律师事务所及其律师能够对针对特定问题进行精准的高级搜索。由于越来越多的"判例法"观点的呈现，案例检索的难度变得越来越大，如今在原有法律检索数据库的基础上，借助AI技术，甚至可以利用自然语言作为检索关键词，可以更加精准、快捷的检索到与案件更为匹配的有效信息，不仅提升了律师的工作效率，也增加了律师对案件研判的准确性。

(2) Drafting Documents

Computerized software such as Microsoft Word provides law firms with powerful and easy-to-use tools and templates. Law firm can use the plug-in to complete the drafting and output an outline of a legal document instantaneously. Therefore, law firms can save each case and contract template on a computer hard disk or cloud storage and build a database. The database can be aggregated and analyzed to form a big data, and then the big data can be further accurately classified and automatically upgraded based on the current case. Hence, the big data can liberate parts of the lawyer’s analytical work and even provide ultimate solutions to the cases in question.

(2)文书起草

像微软的Microsoft Word 等计算机化软件为律师事务所提供了强大且易于使用的工具和模板。律所可以利用插件在瞬间即可完成一份法律文件的大纲的起草和输出。因此律所可以将每个案例和合同模板保存在计算机硬盘或云存储上并形成数据库，在该数据库的基础上进行汇总分析并形成大数据，再将大数据进一步精准化分类，并根据现有案例自动升级。这样可以代替律师的一部分的分析工作，实现对现有案例进行分析、研判并最终给出解决方案的能力。

(3) E-Filing

Electronic filing is modifying the ways in which the traditional litigations are filed. In China, some cities such as Guangzhou have established the Internet Courts. The Courts actively explore and develop new technology platforms and new rules in litigation and governance in accord with the rules of the internet. Under these new rules of the Internet Court, they can manage, sign and deliver relevant documents electronically and participate in court proceedings under a real-time audio and visual system. In addition, electronic filing virtually eliminates the risks of documents being lost in the mail or delayed.

(3)电子诉讼

电子诉讼正在改变传统的诉讼方式。中国的一些城市如广州都建立了互联网法院，法院根据互联网规则，积极探索和开发新的诉讼、治理技术平台和新规则。根据这些网络法院的新规则，他们可以通过电子手段对相关文件进行管理、签收和送达，并根据实时影音系统参与庭审诉讼。此外，电子诉讼实际上消除了文件在邮件中丢失或延迟的风险。

(4) Mobile Technology

In fact, lawyers can now conduct research and analysis of cases anywhere and aggregate and share them through mobile technology. In this way, lawyers in a team can breakthrough time and geographical constraints, brainstorm ideas and find winning strategies. For example, when using your phone to convert recordings into text and syncing records by a cloud drive, a single conversation can complete all the work of meetings and meeting minutes, which makes face to face meeting unnecessary.

(4)移动技术

事实上，律师现在可以在任何地方开展对案件的研究分析工作，并通过移动技术进行汇总与分享。团队的律师们可以通过这种方式，突破时间和地域的限制，集思广益，找出制胜策略。例如，使用手机将录音来转换成文本，并由云端网盘同步记录，这样一次对话即可完成会议和会议记录的全部工作，可以节省大量的面对面的会议时间。

(5) Cloud Technology

Even if lawyers are seated in various parts of the world, cloud technology enables law firms to manage them effectively. A terminal device like a mobile phone or a computer is enough to get access to all the resources of the law firm. Armed with cloud technology, the check procedure of the conflict of interests becomes fast and accurate. Law firms needn’t to worry about lost and leaked files, all of which are stored in the cloud instead of a physical location.

(5)云技术

即使律师事务所的律师分布在世界各地，云技术也使得律师事务所能够对所有律师进行有效管理。只需要携带一部终端手机或电脑，即可获取律师事务所的全部资源。利益冲突检索在云技术的帮助下，变得快捷和准确。律师事务所也不必为文件的丢失和泄露而担心，所有数据都储存在云端，而不是某个物理地点。

It is predictable that in the next ten years, science and technology will develop at full speed. New technologies are both opportunities and challenges for law firms and the way forward is to actively embrace new technologies. Law firms need to set up their legal service technology departments as early as possible to understand, analyze and apply new technologies. Only then can law firms take advantage of technology to improve their practice proficiency in the technology explosion age.

可以预见的是，未来的十年，科技将进入下一个飞速发展的时期。新兴技术对于律师事务所来说，既是机遇也是挑战，但前进的途径是积极拥抱新技术。律师事务所需尽快成立与法律相关的技术研究部门，了解新技术，分析新技术，应用新技术，只有这样律师事务所才能在未来的科技爆炸的时代，进一步提升自己的执业水平！

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