OMESTI Highlights How Technology Is Disrupting Future of Law Practice

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, September 28, 2014 (Newswire.com) - More than 300 legal practitioners attended a dynamic open canvas session featuring three prominent members of the profession to hear how technology is disrupting the future of law practices in Malaysia. Hosted by OMESTI Group, the session was part of the 2014 International Malaysian Law Conference held in Kuala Lumpur with a panel line-up that included Judge Lee Swee Seng, Azhar [Art] Harun of Hisham Sobri & Kadir and Edmund Bon of Bon Advocates.

Xian-Zhen Mah, Executive Director of OMESTI Group set the scene by highlighting how technology is disrupting businesses across the board. “Companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook have disrupted markets. Records and CDs have been replaced by electronic downloads, digital photography has made traditional SLR cameras almost obsolete. Even supermajor Nokia joined the smart phone game too late.

"With technology, if you don't change you become extinct. In the legal landscape, clients are re-evaluating their supply chain and looking at costs. Traditional law firms need to embrace technology, to offer more for less."

Xian-Zhen Mah, Executive Director, OMESTI Group

“Even though many dislike and continue to dislike change – as we all know, change is the only constant. With technology, if you don’t change you become extinct. In the legal landscape, clients are re-evaluating their supply chain and looking at costs. Traditional law firms need to embrace technology, to offer more for less.”

The three speakers gave thought-provoking views on how technology is already impacting the various disciplines of law. On conveyancing, Judge Lee said, “We need to go back to basics and question for example why do we really need a cumbersome, lengthy Sales & Purchase Agreement when a much simpler document will suffice - plus help save trees along the way. By introducing greater simplicity, we can focus on expanding our skills base into the more meaty areas of our profession.”

Art Harun examined how many legal firms are specialising in a particular area of law while others are evolving into one-stop solutions providers. “This trend could help streamline processes and make it easier to achieve faster progress for clients. Even setting up a meeting can sometimes be challenging when there are so many parties involved.”

Edmund Bon stressed that the time for change has come. “We have been talking about change for years. Now we need to embrace it and take action. We need to adapt and adopt the benefits technology can bring in order to enhance our delivery, create new opportunities and sustain future growth. . We need to foster entrepreneurial environments that allow young professionals to flourish and take on broader roles.”

Quoting examples of how technology and crowdsourcing are impacting the profession, he added, “There is no reason why sharing of information cannot take place in secure cloud environments. Online dispute resolution is already happening and we should be looking to adopt templates for some types of transaction.“

The exhbition alongside the conference featured products and services that are adding value to the sector including OMESTI Group's enterprise applications and cloud storage solutions, as well as its Ohana high speed fibre broadband and Microimage HCM [Human Capital Management] platform.