In the globalized world we live in, it is important to have mastery of technology, innovation, and development in various aspects of our lives, including legal practice.

Legal professionals must always stay up-to-date, using the best and most advanced practices to perform their profession effectively.

In " How to become a lawyer specializing in digital law? ", Professor Manassés Lopes points out some connections between the legal market, technology, entrepreneurship, and innovation.

It addresses the possibilities of contentious and advisory legal practice in this area, and presents three pieces of legislation that every lawyer specializing in Digital Law should be familiar with.

At this point, we can delve a little deeper into the theoretical aspects and show you some tools you can use by combining technology, innovation, and development in your legal practice.

Come on!

Institutions, Justice and Citizenship: the case of the Supreme Federal Court

Institutions were designed to reduce uncertainty and establish order. In Brazilian law, legal institutions correspond to a set of formal rules that have the capacity to influence and shape choices and decisions regarding the country's economic and social performance.

One of the strongest legal institutions in Brazil is the Supreme Federal Court (STF), which acts as the Constitutional Court. The STF is the ultimate interpreter of the 1988 Federal Constitution, known as the Citizen Constitution.

We studied some of its competencies in Constitutional Interpretation in Practice: A Case Study of the STF , but here we emphasize the STF's commitment to the effectiveness of the principles of human dignity (Article 1, III, CF/88) and citizenship (Article 1, II, CF/88) as the foundations of the Federative Republic of Brazil.

More recently, in 2018, in view of the enormous number of cases pending before the STF (Supreme Federal Court), the Victor Project was established – a tribute to Victor Nunes Leal, a former Minister in the 1960s, who was primarily responsible for systematizing the Court's jurisprudence into binding precedents.

Through Project Victor, the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) uses artificial intelligence to, for example:

• convert images into text in the digital process;
• To separate the beginning and end of a document (such as a procedural document or decision) in the Court's archives;
• To separate and classify the procedural documents most frequently used in the activities of the Supreme Federal Court;
• Identify the most frequently occurring issues of general impact;
• to enhance processing speed; and
• to improve precision and accuracy in the steps involved.

As an innovative, artificial intelligence, and development solution, Victor is capable of automating repetitive actions in a short amount of time, optimizing the work of public servants to achieve justice and citizenship.

Similar models are being implemented in several courts around the country.

Legal Practice, Market and Technology: Introducing some tools

In the private sphere, there are also useful tools of technology, innovation, and development in Law. In " Startup Law: How to Practice Law in this Area?" , Professor Manassés Lopes highlighted some characteristics of startups as innovative companies and their essential elements.

In this article, we will present three useful tools in the legal field to help you connect with the market and develop your firm: legaltechs , lawtechs , and legal design.

Legaltechs and lawtechs have similar names and share some affinities. Both are examples of startups . Therefore, they are companies in the early stages of development that break with market logic and use technology in their business.

However, the defining characteristic of legaltechs and lawtechs is the application of these startup market characteristics to the legal field, offering a greater degree of visibility, control, and automation.

Just as Victor is a technology used by the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) to facilitate work through automation, in the legal profession, legaltechs and lawtechs aim to help lawyers have more time to perform other functions besides operational work.

On one hand, lawtechs are technology companies in the legal field that offer legal services controlled by software , providing solutions that facilitate the management of routine aspects in the applied sector.

One of the characteristics of lawtechs is that they offer solutions aimed at a broader audience than law firms. This audience includes non-technical people, such as those who need legal advice.

Always focused on innovation and technology, lawtechs work to facilitate intuition and precision in legal work through:

• Automation;
• Visibility;
• Predictability;
• A different mindset; and
• Streamlining processes.

Legaltechs are companies that offer managed services using technological innovation specifically applied to law firms and legal departments or sectors.

Legal design, on the other hand, is the application of design as a functionality within the legal field to address specific needs in a more humane, engaging, and functional way.

Legal design can bring legal innovation through technological solutions focused on the user experience, fostering development in your law firm and legal practice.

Creativity, a characteristic of legal design , allows for the emergence of new solutions and a more functional organization. Some visual design tools it uses include colors, images, icons, and infographics.

There are several ways to apply this technology. Perhaps the best known is the change in the structure and drafting of contracts and petitions, using the visual tools we mentioned.

The traditional version of contracts, with continuous lines and italicized words, is giving way to a document with important clauses more clearly visualized through icons. Similarly, petitions—long and with unfamiliar terms—are being replaced by more understandable documents with images and icons.

The literature on legal design refers to five important stages:

• Discovery;
• Interpretation;
• Ideation;
• Experimentation; and
• Evolution.

Following the steps, the main problem to be solved must be identified based on the hypotheses created by the entire team. After the brainstorming session , everyone should separate the best answers raised and combine them into a single sentence.

The next step is to reflect on how to apply creativity to solve the problem. It's important here that everyone is open to new ideas, beyond the traditional ones.

Next, a prototype, a test, a model to be put into practice must be developed. The idea at this stage is to look for necessary improvements and adjustments until a product is reached that can be used continuously. 

Based on feedback and insights from the team, the resolution can evolve over time and further improve the functioning of legal activities in pursuit of continuous development.

For it to be effective, the entire team needs to be involved in this change of mindset. A transformation in behavior is necessary, and legal technology needs to become an important part of the daily routine of law firms.

Conclusions

Technology, innovation, and development in law are important for legal professionals in the 21st century, whether in the public sector, such as in the courts, or in the private sector, such as in their law firm.

Many repetitive tasks require time and concentration, but they can be performed by software and startups specializing in this area.

The use of technology in law, therefore, goes beyond the visual aspect and is more than just the in-depth computerization of the office. It aims to establish a new way of thinking about law and formulating solutions to the challenges we face.

At IDP, you can prepare for this new reality by pursuing a postgraduate degree in Digital Law. If you want to take your career further, you can join the Private Law, Technology and Innovation research line of the Professional Master's Program in Law.

There you study topics such as:

• new trends in contract and obligations law;
• repercussions of technology on fundamental rights; privacy and
• protection of personal data;
• e-commerce; 
• Law and artificial intelligence;
• The influence of technology on market structuring;
• new businesses in the digital economy; and
• regulation and competition of platforms.

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References:

GALLINDO, Sérgio Paulo Gomes; STIVELBERG, Daniel Tisi. GOMES, Lucas Sousa. (Eds.). Law, technology and society . São Paulo: Editora Liber Ars, 2020.

PAULA, Aline Gadelha de. Legal Institutions, Rule of Law and Economic Growth. Revista Da Defensoria Pública Da União , n. 14, 2020, p. 117-136.