Eagles Swoop Down On Tablets

Given a litigous population, a massive pile pending before cou­rts, and cases that drone on, like Dickens’s Jarndyce and Jarn­dyce, lawyers have few tech opt­ions to tap into. A trickle from foreign lands have to be heavily customised for use in India. Of course, digitised versions of conventional tools have arrived, like mobile access to law libraries. The law digests of judgements, such as the Supreme Court Cases (SCC), went digital over a decade ago. Then there was the popular Manupatra.com, which could be used for research. Apps on smartphones have bare acts without much commentary, or some subscription-based cloud access to digital libraries. But such research tools aren’t enough for top corporate lawyers.

Recently, it was reported that law firm Baker and Hosteler had employed a ‘rob­otic lawyer’. In India, Rajiv Lut­hra of Luthra & Luthra is now testing this software, ROSS, to advise app developers. ROSS is a version of iPhone’s SIRI, where you can pose queries, and get  answers to specific questions instead of ‘matching ans­wers’ to keyword searches. It’s meant to cut down lawyers’ residency in tenebrous, book-lined offices.

Legal publishers Lexis Nexis has lau­­­­­­­­­­nc­hed a web-based app for lawyers in India to reduce time spent on procedural drudgery. It also bridges the gap between jurisdicti­ons for lawyers working with clients with businesses in different countries. Contract templates and clauses in pra­ctical guidance are dra­fted by experts, giving the app the imp­rimatur of the Society of Indian Law Firms. But now, lawyers have to be goaded into using tech tools, which, in turn, would lead to a burst of activity from app developers. Yet, we mustn’t cavil at a paucity of tech aiding law, for the profession offers unique challenges, like that of privacy. Bound by confidentiality, some lawyers use email ser­­­­vices that use state-­­­of-the-art enc­­­ryp­tion. And government websites? Let’s be kind, and say they belong to the Ice Age.