The missing middle and digital literacy gaps: Takeaways from the legal tech panel at LIV CPD

Most organisations are in an experimentation phase, where they’re trying to see where you can and can’t use AI. But as AI adoption ramps up, lawyers need to acquire key technology competencies to address digital literacy gaps and use AI responsibly and effectively.

The Missing Middle and Narrowing the Digital Literacy Gap

Lawyers don’t need to code, but they need to acquire more tech competencies to close a growing digital literacy gap.

A key reason why there is a digital literacy gap among lawyers, apart from the lack of legal technology training in university, is the ‘missing middle.’ On the extreme ends are small law firms (which can use basic consumer AI tools because they’re agile and not overburdened by large IT systems) and large enterprise law firms (who have the resources, capability, and funds to take advantage of AI tools).

In between is a missing middle, where medium and boutique-sized law firms can’t use consumer products and don’t have the resources for the enterprise scale. With rapid technology advancements, the gap has widened.

Data Governance and AI

Legal firms and organisations can narrow that gap by doing a legal health tech check on what their data is, where the data is stored, what technology they are using, getting educated with the new technology, and more importantly develop an AI framework.

AI deals with sensitive, confidential data, and organisations need to ensure none of these are leaked outside by implementing proper insurance policies for cybersecurity and internal policies governing the internal use of AI.