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The trusty Document Management System (DMS) has been the backbone of law firm work product management for decades. Legal professionals should strap in for the next chapter in the evolution of this workhorse of the legal tech industry.
DMS systems are designed to help an organization manage, organize and access their documents efficiently. A popular example of a general purpose DMS is SharePoint, a collection of enterprise content and knowledge management tools developed by Microsoft nearly 25 years ago.
Legal DMS systems are software tools specifically tailored to the needs of law firms and legal professionals working with legal documents. The rise of these products coincided with the transition to electronic legal documents that accelerated in the 1990s. Some of the more well-known Legal DMS systems are iManage and NetDocuments.
The first chapter in the history of law firm DMS deployment was all about on-premise installation, where the software was hosted on the firm’s servers inside their law offices. This enabled law firms to store thousands of documents on hard drives and local networks, but still required significant manual IT support to organize and manage.
The second chapter in the evolution of the law firm DMS was the migration to cloud storage platforms (e.g., Azure, AWS, Google). This was a major step forward as it enabled accessibility to legal documents from any location at any time, and also delivered important cost efficiencies by transferring data storage and security responsibilities to the cloud provider.
The evolution of the law firm DMS continues as we enter a new phase in the history of DMS deployment: connecting the law firm DMS to Legal AI platforms (Generative AI models trained for the legal profession) and the integration of those data sets with legal productivity tools that leverage the power of AI.
This third chapter in the law firm DMS story will usher in a new era of personalized legal drafting and research solutions. The valuable work product content sitting in a firm’s DMS will be be better leveraged by connecting that system with the firm’s other internal and external information platforms through the power of Gen AI technology.
The result of this DMS connectivity will be the seamless addition of firm-specific content to the lawyer’s research and drafting experience, all in one application where they are working (i.e., Microsoft Word). For example, AI-powered DMS connectivity will provide more accurate and relevant search results in response to legal research queries, and will streamline repetitive tasks to drive new efficiencies in legal workflows.
“As AI and automation technologies continue to evolve, their impact on document management in law firms will only grow,” writes Asia-based Business Network Solutions. “Future advancements may include more sophisticated AI algorithms that can understand complex legal language and further integration with other legal technologies. Law firms that embrace these technologies early will be better positioned to stay competitive in an increasingly digital world.”
Law firm leaders would be well-served to make sure they are committed to a clear strategy for managing their firm’s knowledge with the assistance of Gen AI technology. One option is to develop your own tools by hiring the right people and establishing a sufficient capital expenditures budget to fund the development effort. Another option is to partner with a Legal AI provider who is creating those tools for the specific needs of law firms.
Legal professionals will soon be able to effortlessly draft brilliant legal documents tailored to their firm’s unique style and client preferences by leveraging Legal AI tools from LexisNexis to surface arguments, clauses and insights from the firm’s DMS and authoritative legal research content — all while preserving firm confidentiality and privacy requirements. These new AI-powered legal drafting capabilities, complete with advanced document review and redlining features, will be seamlessly integrated with their existing workflow.
With flexible technology that works across various DMS providers and enterprise content management systems, firms will be able to quickly implement these solutions without a complicated onboarding process. Lawyers will access the information they need more quickly and with greater accuracy, ultimately enhancing their ability to provide high-value legal counsel to clients.
Learn more about how Lexis+ AI with DMS connectivity will blaze a new trail in personalized legal research and drafting solutions.