Covid-19 - The Precursor to the Modernisation of the Legal Profession?
Less than a month ago, South Africa was placed in a lockdown, which has seen many non-essential businesses temporarily closing their doors. The rendering of legal services too, has been largely limited, as right around the same time, access to courts were restricted to largely urgent matters. Just like that, the world as the legal profession has come to know it, came to a screeching halt.
The South African legal profession has since began adopting, by rapidly adopting technology which has finally modernised the practice of law. Below are two of the most notable changes, that have been implemented:
VIRTUAL CONSULTATIONS, MEETINGS AND HEARINGS
Many firms have since implemented ‘virtual consultations’ hosted via Facetime, Zoom, WhatsApp or Skype which enables clients to consult with their legal practitioner from the safety of their homes to discuss legal matters.
These technologies will now also be extended to courts, with Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng directing on 16 April 2020 that all Superior Courts in the country, should adopt video conferencing to facilitate limited types of matters being bought before the courts during the lockdown period.
Microsoft claims that the demand for it’s platform “Teams” has surged to 44 million daily active users, with an additional 12 million users in the week dating between the 12 - 19 March 2020. This came as workers across the world began to work from home in response to the spread of COVID-19. What was the adoption rate just four months ago in November 2019 you might ask? 20 million users.
Video conferencing company Zoom, has seen their shares rise more than 70 percent this year, amidst other tech stocks tumbling.
Seemingly overnight, the legal profession is practicing law like it is 2040 by promoting the use of readily available technologies to facility and streamline the administration of justice.
THE SERVICE AND FILING OF LEGAL DOCUMENTS VIA AN ELECTRONIC CASE LINE PLATFORM
Another step forward has been the acceptance of digital documents for purposes of service and filing in lieu of hard copies. The South African Legal profession has for the longest period of time, resisted this change, which has compelled litigants to only serve and file hard copies. With the lockdown being put in to place, various courts have since welcomed the filing of documents and pleadings via the case line system, which was implemented in the Johannesburg High Court and the Pretoria High Court during the last year.
It is astounding to consider some of the innovation that has occurred and a little overwhelming to ponder how it will impact our lives going forward, however one thing remains certain - the world as we know it, is forever changed, but technology advancements that resulted because of COVID-19 will expand industry boundaries far beyond what we previously thought possible. The world of tomorrow, hopefully, will be a better and safer place for everyone.
