The Iberian Lawyer magazine writes…..
Three lawyers, from different generations and backgrounds tell us how they perceive the new reality and how it will affect law practice..
here’s how the article starts
The pandemic has forced an acceleration of the digital transformation of offices and the Administration of Justice in general, which may well resemble a revolution or a change of era and, as such, also entails a change of mentality. While the Spanish Government is already working on the draft of the normative text that will regulate teleworking.
By Desiré Vidal
OLD LAW, NEW LAW
Iván Gayarre (pictured left), partner at Sagardoy Abogados: The main novelty has been the generalisation of remote work and meetings, even for the most important aspects of the life of companies (councils and Board meetings) and of the judicial processes (the Royal Decree-Law 16/2020, of April 28, has foreseen that the telematic form is the preferential way of carrying out judicial proceedings during a certain period of time that includes the state of alarm and the three subsequent months). However, the foundations and principles of our social, democratic and legal State remain the same. Therefore, only those technologies that help to improve them and not to undermine them, that serve to move forward and not to move backwards, will survive. This assessment will have to be made when the extraordinary and exceptional situation generated by the coronavirus comes to an end. In the meantime, what is appropriate is to experiment by taking advantage of the coverage provided by the law. The art of the process remains the art of administering evidence, with documentary evidence being one of the main means of proof. The same is true about the main decisions and negotiations in companies, which require truthful information, usually embodied in many documents. Being able to work remotely with a voluminous and complex documentation in an efficient, coordinated and respectful way with the demands imposed by confidentiality, data protection, and procedural guarantees and requirements is not an easy task and forces everyone to think about abandoning old practices (such as sending documents and their different versions by e-mails that run the risk of being lost in almost always saturated inboxes) in order to be able to replace them with new ones that allow them to be organised and digitally shared in an efficient and coordinated way, guaranteeing the necessary intangibility and authenticity of those that must be brought into any administrative or judicial procedure. Technology has shown itself to be a great recogniser of structures, but it is far from being able to do three things reserved for humans: the first, to be great generalists; the second, to generate a ‘plan B’ in the face of unpredictable situations in which everything suddenly fails; the third and perhaps most important, technology does not challenge and violates the rules of its creator. Morad Maanan (pictured left), lawyer at Carles Cuesta Abogados y Asesores Financieros: Honestly, I think these are substantial differences. In the “old law scenario” we were called to coexist under very rigid rules for a changing and advanced society such as ours (the inexorable unwritten law of presentialism, the difficult time self-management, the limitation of efficiency by unnecessary travel, etc.), while in the “new law” era it seems -because it is yet to be confirmed- that, in essence and content, we will do the same as before but we will have the functional opportunity to execute it in a different way; we will coexist in the same professional environment but we will work according to criteria based on the “necessary and irreplaceable”, the “recommendable” and the “useful”. In my opinion, the only problem with the above is that this change account is not very optimistic. If we do not involve ourselves in these conceptual differences, they will be no more than fictitious axioms with a lot of theoretical content and a shamefully ephemeral practical statement (it will last as long as it takes to forget what we have experienced this painful beginning of the year). If we want this apparent digital revolution to be a real change (moreover, in the hope that it will survive the “new normality”) we have to be part of it and not just be mere spectators who temporarily accompany the acceleration shadow. In the professional field (as in our most personal one) changes are the result of free will or imposition. In both cases there is a shared reason for necessity (to adapt – in the best of cases – or to survive – in the most extraordinary situations), but it is not the same embracing change freely and consciously as doing so for reasons beyond our own control. I believe that the latter is precisely what has happened with this digital transformation acceleration that we have experienced. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 has forced us to accelerate too quickly; in the vast majority of cases, by imposition. From zero to one hundred without having the possibility of defining the goal or charting the path. The digital transformation acceleration that we are witnessing is more a question of survival than of adaptation; and, in the medium to long term, that seems to be more a problem than a solution. A practical example of this idea is teleworking. If we manage to create a system where professionals and other operators can achieve higher levels of personal satisfaction because they work in more comfortable and flexible environments, I am convinced that we will be on the right path to achieve a much more productive and efficient system. Luís Graça Rodrigues (pictured centre), head of legal at Indra/Minsait Portugal: I would say that the main conceptual differences between law practice before the pandemic and after the pandemic are the ones related to daily procedures and to forms of communication. As for the procedures, it is undeniable that several of them were globally digitalised; even though the digital signature of contracts or other legal documents like powers of attorney were already a possibility, a significant part of companies and law firms were reluctant to embrace this procedure, opting to maintain the traditional hand signature. With the confinement imposed on a global scale, lawyers and their clients had to drastically change this status quo in order to keep the business running: we left our offices on a Friday with a pile of papers to be manually signed and on Monday we were told to stay at home and keep the legal procedures flowing. As for the communications, it became evident that traditional telephone calls were not enough to ensure the elementary needs regarding dialogue and trust: both in law firms and legal departments one of the first strategies to be adopted were videoconferences, webinars… The 2020 lawyer found out (or he was reminded of) the importance of looking his clients and his colleagues in the eye. Working from home will also be a recurring reality among lawyers, I believe, considering the freedom it provides regarding personal life and work balance. Nevertheless, law firms and legal departments that choose this model will have to be aware of its weaknesses: the challenges it represents to the remote management of your teams and to corporate identity (isolation will make this identity blur if it is not fostered by other means). This neo-reality is definitely a challenge to our creativity.
BUILDING “DIGITAL TRUST”
L.G.: I believe that personal contact plays a very important role in the relationship with our client and with our teams. If we reduce client-lawyer personal contact, we will have to compensate it with new factors that strengthen the necessary trust: for me one of these factors is availability. As a client I don’t mind if having fewer face-to-face meetings with my lawyers (I may as well be thankful for it); however, I will need to make sure that when I need my lawyer he will be there: distance won’t be a problem and that he will have the technological tools that allow him to be in contact with me by video whenever necessary.
Read on at http://www.iberianlawyer.com/news/news-focus/10734-on-the-human-and-the-divine-of-the-new-legal-universe
