The link between law and technology
Legal engineering is a relatively new, but very important and exciting job title for a lawyer in the field of digitalisation (legal tech). It connects law with technology and ensures the implementation of (digital) projects. But what exactly does a legal engineer actually do? We have created an overview of the activities and importance of legal engineers.
What does a legal engineer do?
A legal engineer works at the interface of law and technology and ensures the implementation of a (digital) project in the digitalisation efforts or projects of a law firm or a company. He detects avoidable administrative burdens and implements (technically digital) solutions. A legal engineer works closely with lawyers, IT experts and other experts in his field to find creative solutions to legal challenges.
In today’s world, it is increasingly important to integrate digital processes and technologies into the workflows of companies and legal departments. This enables faster and more efficient processing of legal tasks. Legal engineering is the field that specifically deals with the development and implementation of digital solutions.
A legal engineer has the ability to increase the efficiency of legal departments and law firms. In doing so, he or she contributes to a faster and more accurate resolution of legal disputes.
The tasks of a legal engineer includes:
- developing tools for contract analysis and management
- automating procedures such as due diligence
- analysing important data quickly and accurately
- creating compliance programmes
- ensuring that companies comply with all applicable laws and regulations
The duties of a legal engineer
The legal engineer is an expert in using technology to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of legal departments and law firms. He faces important questions such as:
- What is to be achieved?
- Where are my strengths?
- Where are things not going optimally? Which area would I like to improve? Where are a lot of resources tied up?
- Where do I want to go (as a law firm)?
- What are the technical possibilities? There are already a lot of providers on the market and you wouldn’t believe what solutions already exist for. Especially in the area of no-code solutions, which offer the possibilities for everyone to transform their knowledge into the digital world easily and without programming.
- What does the implementation of a new solution mean for the usual work? What will be the acceptance of all employees?
A legal engineer analyses areas of law and filters out which data is needed for efficient further processing. After an analysis, the individual steps need to be visualised in order to capture the individual sections or areas in the best possible way. Also to see what possibilities are already there, what simply needs to be adapted and what still needs to be created. Many people are often unaware of the possibilities that an existing (legal) software actually offers. The desired state can be an automatic import of master data and claims data, which leads to an automatic file creation, where processes are defined that automatically create reminders, complaints and pleadings. In such templates for reminders, etc., there are conditions that are executed independently and automatically and thus text contents are generated variably (for the concrete application), which finally lead to the finished document.
How can I become a legal engineer?
To become a legal engineer, one usually needs broad expertise in a relevant field as well as experience in conducting research projects and publications. Another important requirement is the ability to work together as a member of an (interdisciplinary) research team. It is also important to have a thorough understanding of legal challenges as well as modern technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics. A career as a legal engineer can be a future-oriented way to find innovative solutions to legal problems.
How much does a legal engineer earn?
There is no clear answer to what a legal engineer earns. It is not easy to give an exact salary for legal engineers, as it is a relatively new job title and the salary depends on various factors. Factors that influence the salary of a legal engineer are, for example, the size of the company, the industry and the existing experience of the legal engineer. However, as a rule, legal engineers can expect an attractive salary that is equal to or even higher than that of other lawyers in comparable positions.
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Legal engineering with the help of no-code solutions
No-code solutions enable a new form of knowledge transformation, i.e. they address the question: how can I transform my expert knowledge into digital knowledge in the simplest possible way? They are quasi-self-explanatory digital modular systems that require no programming knowledge. With low-code solutions, a little programming knowledge is necessary, which is why no-code solutions in particular are so attractive to use, because they can or should be implemented simply, quickly and thus cost-effectively. The conception of such solutions is based on if-then rules, which can be defined individually according to requirements. It does nothing other than what the lawyer does in his head every day: fact-finding and subsumption. The structure of such a module therefore also includes the legal control or the correct subsumption, where the person who builds such a module covers the necessary use cases (from a legal point of view). The end result can be a finished contract, a result or structured data. No-code modules can also be published immediately and easily on one’s own homepage or made available to third parties (such as major clients). This makes no-code solutions like UNOY the perfect tool for the successful work of a legal engineer.
The importance of legal engineers for companies
The importance of legal engineers for companies lies in their expertise and their ability to automate and optimise processes. By implementing technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, legal engineers can facilitate and speed up the work of lawyers and legal departments.
By automating standard processes, legal engineers can not only save time but also reduce costs. Implementing digital solutions can also help minimise errors and increase the accuracy and traceability of work.
The future of legal engineering
The importance of legal engineering will continue to grow in the future. Digitalisation will cover more and more areas of daily life and thus also the field of law. Due to the increasing automation of processes, lawyers and legal departments will have more and more time for complex legal tasks.
Legal engineering will continue to ensure that companies and legal departments are optimally positioned to meet the challenges of digitalisation in the future. By developing new technologies and adapting existing solutions, legal engineers will help companies and legal departments to work efficiently and successfully.
Conclusion
Legal engineering is an exciting and forward-looking field that deals with the connection between law and technology and already represents an important component in modern legal departments. The use of a legal engineer offers companies and legal departments the opportunity to automate and optimise processes, thereby saving time and costs and minimising errors.
The importance of legal engineering will continue to grow in the future and legal engineers will play an important role in the development and implementation of digital solutions. Companies and legal departments should already deal with this topic now in order to be optimally prepared for the challenges of digitalisation.
