By Nicholas d’Adhemar

Technology is dramatically changing the practice of law. Big data, machine learning, smart contracts and Artificial Intelligence are all making the assimilation and interpretation of large amounts of unstructured data much easier. Some doom-mongers see this as the end of the traditional practice of law. We believe, rather, that the trend will be for legal professionals – in law firms or in-house – to spend their time on higher-value, more challenging activities.

But what about the business of law, rather than the practice of law? Particularly, the opaque nature and archaic processes of legal fees. It seems extraordinary that invoices for legal services operate on as much as an 18-month cycle, and that million-dollar legal value activities should be subject to less transparency and oversight than an everyday stationery order.