A Step into the Future of Law

Eduardo Ustaran is a solicitor specialising in data protection and e-commerce law in the Computer, Media & IP Group at Paisner & Co, London. He is responsible for complytoday, Paisner’s online data protection compliance package for e-businesses and can be contacted at eustaran@paisner.co.uk

The legal profession is going through a period of radical transformation. It is blatantly obvious that much of this change has to do with the emergence of new technologies. The widespread use of e-mail and the proliferation of legal Web sites, in particular, are playing a key role in this process.
However, this transformation is not just about using e-mail as a means of communication, doing research online or developing a Web site. The real change is about being able to take advantage of the new technologies to serve the clients’ expectations of the 21st-century law firm. Interactive and standardised services delivered over the Internet, such as complytoday – our recently launched data protection compliance package – are a small but important step into the future of the provision of legal advice.

The reasons behind complytoday
The so-called e-commerce revolution has brought with it a new type of client. Whether you call them e-businesses or Internet start-ups, this new breed of clients are as attractive as they are intricate to deal with. These clients’ demands are strongly influenced by their own pace and business approach and, therefore, their expectations are not easily met from a traditional lawyer’s standpoint. For the e-business client, our ability to deliver professional and reliable legal advice is assumed. The client’s main interest is invariably three-fold:

• ability to respond in ‘Internet time’
• availability of flexible fee structures and
• awareness of the commercial impact of the advice given.

In the new e-commerce economy, missing a strategic deal today means failing to achieve global expansion tomorrow. Given that the speed of our response is such an essential feature, anticipating the way in which e-businesses need to comply with the law is the only way to offer effective solutions. This means that legal advice is not only provided in response to clients’ instructions, but suggested in anticipation of the challenges and concerns they face.
In a world where money has become so volatile, static fees are a thing of the past and flexible payment mechanisms become critical. What was a four-figure job a year ago is today almost given away with the brochure. Sensible pricing has become a moving target. Charging is no longer a process of ‘what you can get away with’, but a difficult task which involves dynamic thinking and a sound understanding of your client’s perspective.
Perhaps the most difficult task of all is to make sure that lawyers are perceived as business facilitators. Telling an e-commerce client what the regulator thinks or what the law prohibits will not clear the path. E-commerce clients think and act imaginatively – for our advice to be listened to, it must address the issues in the same imaginative ways. The onus is on us to present the law as an opportunity to give businesses an edge, and not as a necessary evil.
complytoday is aimed at addressing these three aspects. As the immediateness of the name suggests, our goal is to enable e-businesses to take instant steps to achieve data protection compliance. The cost of the service is meant to fit within the budget of any serious start-up. complytoday focuses on giving practical advice on how to comply with the key data protection obligations rather than on summarising the provisions of the Data Protection Act.

How doescomplytoday work?
complytoday is a modular advisory service which enables businesses operating on the Internet to comply with the new data protection laws in the UK. It uses the Web as a platform for receiving instructions and e-mail as a means of delivery of the service.
The service is organised in five modules (see box) that can be ordered independently at £100 a piece. Clients go to our site (www.complytoday.com) where they identify and select the modules they need. Payment is made by credit card. Once we receive the instructions, the relevant modules are sent to the client by e-mail. Two of the modules are more interactive and clients are provided with access to a password-protected questionnaire, which enables us to customise those modules on the basis of the answers.

What does this mean for us?
We are managing to convey the message that we at Paisner know our stuff when it comes to giving e-commerce related advice. It’s early days to know what the real impact of package-shaped, Web-based services like complytoday will be. However, in a job like ours – allegedly lacking in creativity – it is not only interesting to experiment, but it may be the only way to survive. If future advisory services are to be provided in a seamless and cost-effective way, the use of new technologies should be a response, not to a growing trend within the legal profession, but to a call for an imaginative way to deal with business needs.