What You Might Not Know About Condo Ownership in Mississauga

What You Might Not Know About Condo Ownership in Mississauga

December 31, 2007

The legal industry may be in the midst of a technological revolution, but don’t expect lawyers to be replaced by robots any time soon, says Toronto corporate and commercial lawyer Marlin Horst.

A U.S. company is developing artificial intelligence that will automate some of the “legal drudgery” involved in corporate mergers and acquisitions, reports the Waterloo Record.

Automation might speed up some aspects of the due diligence work required in mergers and acquisitions, but Horst tells AdvocateDaily.com any gains in efficiency will come at a price.

“If associates are no longer involved in that aspect of the process, how do they go from being a law student to having the level of sophistication and expertise that’s required of a partner,” he says, noting the experience gained by doing such “grunt work” is invaluable and essential for any lawyer looking to develop strengths in the area.

Horst, a partner with Shibley Righton LLP, says conducting due diligence on a target company can take a number of associates weeks of research, depending on how detailed the company’s reporting structure is and how diligent it’s been at putting things in writing.

“Lawyers need to review the material suppliers, customers, distribution agreements, intellectual property — all of that takes time,” he explains. “But it also gives you a sense of the target company, and you gain important information that factors into how you will design your acquisition agreement."

One of the most time-consuming but critical components of a due diligence inquiry is a review of all material contracts and commitments. Horst admits that’s a task where automation could prove useful.

“If the target company’s sales information, for example, isn’t in a standard format, such as Salesforce or another software package, you can’t look at it from the 30,000-foot view,” he points out. “If the company has 500 customers, you need to go through each file separately to review the contract and sales information.”

As technology advances become more mainstream in corporate law, there's likely to be a domino effect, Horst says, both on the way law firms are structured and in how universities adapt their programs to respond to evolving trends.

“Today's firms have a pyramid structure, with a large number of associates at the bottom and partners at the top,” he says. “Going forward, as more of that work is done by computers, there won’t be a need for an army of associates. In 20 or 30 years, firms like ours will look dramatically different. We will go back to what happened 50 years ago, where an associate shadowed a partner to gain knowledge.”

In a competitive economic climate, Horst says law firms have an obligation to investigate and implement solutions that can help them better serve clients.

“Technology can help with many aspects of corporate law, but robots can’t offer the type of strategic thinking and guidance a human can — at least not yet.”