Technology

Scheme to help small law firms speed up tech use

The Tech Start for Law programme, an initiative from the Ministry of Law, the Law Society and Spring Singapore in February, was aimed at speeding up technology use among Singapore law practices.

Law Minister K. Shanmugam said the programme would benefit smaller law firms that may not have the resources to upgrade.

Of the 874 law firms here back in February, 852 were practices with fewer than 30 lawyers. They face challenges with the rise of disruptive technology in the legal sector, such as software allowing would-be clients to draft their own legal documents.

The programme will pay up to 70 per cent of a law firm's first-year costs for five selected technology products identified as basic processes to help practices enhance efficiency for day-to-day tasks.

The products available under the $2.8 million scheme include practice management systems CoreMatter, online legal research tool Intelllex and online marketing tool Asia Law Network to help law firms establish an online presence at low cost.

Separately, in January, the Singapore Academy of Law unveiled a five-year road map to help the legal profession "be part of the disruption, rather than the disrupted". More lies ahead in this effort.

K.C. Vijayan

  • 852

    Number of law firms out of the 874 in Singapore in February with fewer than 30 lawyers.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 30, 2017, with the headline Scheme to help small law firms speed up tech use. Subscribe