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Articles | 04/12/2017

Legal Plans: State of the Industry Panel

Last May I successfully ran for the GLSA Board because my personal mission is to support legal plans to  address our access to justice challenge. Further, I believe that technology within the plans is the leverage needed to serve more Americans. Join us in Scottsdale next month on May 18th to hear from some legal luminaries as we gather for the GLSA Annual Education conference in conjunction with GP Solo, more information here.

I wrote here in Law Technology Today last year on the state of the industry panel at the 2016 annual education conference in Key West. It cannot be said enough that some of the GLSA legal plans are more than 40 years old, and even more importantly, these plans are being overlooked as the answer to the American access to justice problem. In turn, technology is the key component to improving efficiency and ensuring affordability.

In Scottsdale, Arizona, on May 18, the 2017 state of industry panel again features prominent plan players:

  • Jeff Bell is the CEO of LegalShield.
  • Brian Caron is the General Counsel & VP of Hyatt Legal Plans.
  • Jean Clauson leads ARAG’s Network Development and is incoming GLSA President.
  • Allen Rodriguez is the CEO of ONE400.
  • John Wachsmann is managing attorney at Wachsmann & Associates, PC, in Colorado.

I interviewed these panelists and some highlights are below. You can read the full article here in ABA’s Law Technology Today.

How has technology impacted your plan and/or practice over the past couple of years?

Jean: Technology has afforded us the ability to more effectively connect and match consumers with attorneys nationally. Leveraging technology has provided consumers with legal check-ups, a mobile app, and direct access to attorneys in their geographic area for their specific type of legal need,

John: Our firm has tried to monitor and maintain technological proficiency. We purchased the highest-level case management software to assist with law firm management, billing, client portal options, email integration, paperless options, and document assembly. It has been a significant investment of both time and money; however, we believe this will help our firm remain competitive and help us best serve clients and legal plans. We are also in the process of updating our phone system to improve client access. Overall, we are adopting new technology to improve the client experience.

Where do you see technology for the law and/or legal plans in five years?

Jeff: We will see more AI to aid in research to support law firms and to prepare citizens to be confident in working with lawyers. We will also see significant improvements in connectivity and communications between citizens and their law firms.

Brian: The more ways in which technology connects consumers with companies will continue to have an impact on our business. Consumers expect to interact with their legal plan just as they would any other service. The next five years will see our members connecting with us through constantly evolving mediums.

Allen: There will be more software products built on AI. Lawyers and legal plan customers will be able to research legal issues using natural language tools such as Ross. Legal plan customers will be using bots to create their own documents on the go through mobile devices. Software will alert legal plan customers and providers of copyright and trademark infringements and generate takedown notices automatically.

Join us in Scottsdale with GP Solo for CLE and great information. Head here for more information on the conference and also on the interesting free Phoenix local mixer on May 17th, sign up here.

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