Legal Tech Talk 2024: WHAT THE SPEAKERS SAID

PART 1

Every now and again someone says something so profound that you are not only taken aback but you are forever changed.

Things like “I have a dream” by Martin Luther King Jr and “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country” by President JFK. Or perhaps, “It always seems impossible until it’s done” by South Africa’s own, President Nelson Mandela.

Some words just stay with you. You take these words with you as you move through life applying them to the different journeys you embark on. It’s funny how some words seem to stretch and grow as your life experiences stretch and grow, fitting and evolving as the situation dictates.

Words have the power to build you up, to encourage, to educate, to entice and empower. But they can also be used for the contrary – to break you down, to hurt, to embarrass or belittle. We suppose that’s why they say that “the pen is mightier than the sword”. Some words when spoken cannot be taken back. Sometimes that’s a good thing. Other times not.

In our case, we believe what our speakers shared during the LegalTechTalk 2024 bears repeating. So, allow us to recap a few of the things that each speaker spoke about and perhaps you too will take their knowledge with you as you embark on your own professional journeys in the last months of 2024 and in the years to come –

Tertia Barrett: DocFox

When DocFox was started the aim was to make money laundering impossible. It’s for this reason that DocFox is pretty passionate about FICA – because it’s about more than just compliance.

Being FICA compliant means making it difficult for criminals to do business and that means making South Africa safer. And – right now – that also means getting us off of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey listing.

Unfortunately, the legal profession has been identified as being especially vulnerable to criminals for money laundering. That’s a fact. Yet of the 16 000 law firms registered with the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) only 60% of them submit their risk and compliance return and almost 80% of law firms are not fully compliant with the FICA Act. The main reason lawyers don’t FICA their clients – familiarity – “I know my client. I’ve done business with them for years”. The thing is – how well do you really know your clients? What’s hiding behind closed doors?

The manual system of collecting IDs and having clients fill out forms is not enough – since when do we expect criminals to tell us the truth? It’s also important to note that not every bad deed is sanctioned. Media checks – the likes of which are included in DocFox – pick up news about the ill dealings of individuals that sanction lists won’t pick up. And for FICA purposes, media searches are equally important.

Another reason law firms don’t FICA their clients is because it takes up too much time. FICA is such a hassle. And the reality is, if you’re running a manual system, it does take up a lot of time. But that’s where technology steps in – it’s there to do the heavy lifting, it’s there to make your life easier, quicker and simpler. It also does a better job than we as human beings can do.

With the risk and compliance return soon to become a compulsory annual return, law firms are going to need technology to help them compile data in a way that makes the risk and compliance return easy – let the tech do the heavy lifting for you.

The important takeaway here is – criminals are getting smarter. So, we too need to get smarter. Even if you “know” your clients – go through the process. Do the checks. Prove to FIC that you do actually know your clients and that they are the stand-up people that you believe them to be.

If you want to make a difference and want to ensure that your law firm is compliant, we recommend partnering with a company that is pretty passionate about FICA.

Contact DocFox here.

Andre van Jaarsveldt: Legal Serve

As legal professionals, governance, risk and compliance are key. How we go about ensuring we have complied with the rules of court is the difference between a successful legal matter and an unsuccessful one.

And it’s a fairly simple, but extremely important thing to get right.

When doing research for these events, we discovered that in the last 3 months (within our national court system), there are currently 15 000 unissued Summonses and 18 000 unprocessed Default Judgements all because of irregular services.

• An irregular service happens when the court rules dictate how you must do something like issue a Summons or Default Judgement, but corners are cut for a specific reason like COVID (we blame everything on COVID).

This could all have been avoided if service had been done by a trusted resource.

In today’s fast paced environment where clients expect their work to be done faster, more efficiently and more cost effectively, we are constantly challenged to meet their demands. So, we are always looking for ways to make our workload not only move more quickly, but also turn a profit – otherwise what are we running a business for?

So, when you are approached by a service provider that claims they can perform a vital service, like sending registered mail or serving a letter of demand that – importantly – complies with the court rules, how do you evaluate if they are actually providing the service? It’s a challenge. Because we all know that you can take a document, slap a logo on it and it looks legit. And if the law firm next door is using them, why can’t I?

If a tech partner comes to you and proposes that they can perform a service like sending a registered letter, do your due diligence – does the technology service provider comply with information security regulations – like the US’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the European Union’s ISO 27001.

At Legal Serve we pride ourselves on being a trusted Electronic Court Filing (ECF), court e-filing, platform that complies with all international standards. We also provide document delivery via registered mail, document delivery via normal mail (either digital or physical) – a certificate of service is always provided, court processing services, as well as other services (which can be found here).

Legal service done the right way.

Contact Legal Serve here.

Riaan Oosthuizen: e4

Change is inevitable. We all know this.

And in a world, that’s dominated by technological advances, change happens more often than not. It’s our ability – and indeed decision – to keep abreast of these changes which guarantees our relevance in today’s society.

Kodak is a prime example of a company that failed to embrace change and with it, technology. Kodak was incorporated in New Jersey in 1888.  With the slogan “you press the button, we do the rest,” founder George Eastman put the first simple camera into the hands of a world of consumers. When Eastman marketed the first commercial transparent roll film in 1889, it enabled Thomas Edison to develop the first motion picture camera. Kodak really is an icon of its day. In fact, it remains the only non-studio company to have earned nine Oscar® statuettes for its technical contributions to the movie industry.

Fast forward many years later, there would be few corporate blunders as staggering as Kodak’s missed opportunities in digital photography, a technology that it invented. This strategic failure was the direct cause of Kodak’s decades-long decline as digital photography destroyed its film-based business model.

Kodak’s management team had made the catastrophic decision to not adopt technological advancements and opted to instead, remain analogue. They didn’t identify or recognise the changing needs of their customers. And in 2012 with 160 000 employees, Kodak filed for bankruptcy.

This brings me back to the law firm model. How you perform your daily tasks may not be the smartest, correct, time effective or cost-efficient manner. Why you elect to perform your tasks in this way comes down to complacency – “we have always worked in this fashion and so far, it has steered us in the right direction – why change?”

It also has a lot to do with working in your comfort zone – even if the software systems are outdated, might have manual processes involved like updating software or backing up databases, even if your systems are vulnerable to cybercrime, and even if they are more expensive. You are comfortable with it, so you stick with it.

But remaining in the status quo, accepting how you have always done things is detrimental to your law firm. Because being stuck only serves to stagnate the growth and potential of your firm.

As legal professionals, economic stability comes with the ability to change and adapt. In order to survive in today’s fast-paced and competitive environment consolidating products and product expenditure is key.

e4 provides conveyancers with intelligent tools to create new strategies and alleviate manual processes freeing you up to diversify. Our products also enable users to work remotely whilst also having access to reputable systems and disaster plans for backups, taking ownership of your intellectual property and the security thereof.

e4’s products provide one platform that encompasses all aspects of conveyancing services.  The security is also not limited to your intellectual property but is mushroomed across every single aspect of the conveyancing process.

Be fast. Be first. Or be eaten.

Contact e4 here.

But we’re not done yet – we still have our very own Barry Swart and the ever entertaining and always knowledgeable Tony Dovale to highlight. Be sure to look out for Part II coming out soon!

In the meantime, if you are ready to incorporate a new tool into your existing accounting and practice management suite, or if you need to start from scratch, feel free to get in touch with AJS – we have the right combination of systems, resources and business partnerships to assist you with incorporating supportive legal technology into your practice. Effortlessly.

PART 2 TO FOLLOW NEXT WEEK…

AJS is always here to help you, wherever and whenever possible!

– Written by Alicia Koch on behalf of AJS