I had some great conversations with a number of the local firms at the Legal IT Summit in China last week. It was clear from the presentations and discussions that law firms in China clearly have the same challenges as IT firms in the US and Europe.
One thing that was noticeable is some of the firms do not have the same level of IT support in their organizations. One firm had five IT staff members of which two are solely dedicated to supporting more than 600 end users. This means the firm has an IT staff ratio of 1:120, which is not the ratio you see in other countries. Studies have shown that legal IT in the US typically has a ratio of 1:25 to 1:35. Trying to overcome challenges with limited resources was a common theme.
There was a fascinating discussion on extranets and collaboration by Gerard Neidistsch, Executive Director of Mallesons Stephen Jaques. A core piece of his discussion was around their need to collaborate amongst attorneys as well with clients. They developed a bespoke solution that they named Mallesons Connect. What piqued my interest the most about this solution is the sharing of content including integrations to the DMS and the ability to access this information from a web browser to a mobile device such as an iPad or iPhone.
There were also a number of discussions on knowledge management. What I found most interesting from these sessions was the challenge organizations have to increase adoption of the collaboration and knowledge management solutions they put in place. There was a consensus that people, process and technology are all key elements of a successful solution to increase knowledge sharing. Simply putting a technology solution in place and hoping users will use it typically doesn’t produce the ideal result.
The final day was filled with discussions around e-Discovery. What is clear is that e-Discovery is still a young concept in China and the country is still at the early stages in defining policies around it. There seems to be more questions than answers currently.
There was also a great presentation by a Partner at O’Melvney & Myers on FRCP and how this affects the legal practice, especially as it pertains to Chinese companies who are in legal situations involving US Courts. It was clear that the cultural differences create unique challenges not only for the attorneys’, but also the IT staff.
When they say that things change fast here, seemingly on a whim at times, they truly do and you really have to be here to experience it in person. The people we interacted with at the event have an uncanny can-do attitude and I imagine that this time next year we will see more dramatic changes in legal IT.
Overall a great event that provided interesting insight into practicing law in China.
