The world has entered the second half of the third decade of the 21st century, and it is also the time when we enter an era where digital transformation and technology develop like a storm. In this context, Vietnamese law firms are facing unprecedented challenges. The global economy is gradually entering the borderless era, leading to the increasingly extensive and strong development of the world's leading law firms in the Vietnamese market, which is putting domestic law firms in front of challenges that are not easy to overcome. This article will clarify the challenges and opportunities of Vietnamese law firms in the new context and propose solutions to help domestic law firms reach out and integrate once again with the global arena of the legal industry.
Challenges in the new context
The 4.0 technology revolution brings comprehensive changes in the way legal services are operated and provided. Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and big data analytics not only help optimize workflows, but also open up new service delivery opportunities. However, this technological revolution poses many challenges for Vietnamese law firms. In particular, in the general context of the country when the time for the formation and development of Vietnam's legal profession is not long enough, large-scale law firms in the country also only have about 25 to 30 years to form and develop. Indeed, Vietnam's legal industry is really small when compared to the legal industry of developed countries with a history of several hundred years.
Automating legal work with technology
Vietnamese law firms, when looking at themselves under the development of the fourth technological revolution, can see the challenges quite clearly. First, legal tasks have begun to be automated. With the help of AI, tasks such as drafting contracts, researching case law, judgments, and document management are being automated. Traditional lawyers face the risk of losing their jobs or decreasing the value of their labor. This requires continuous learning and specialization in high-level advisory areas such as complex dispute resolution or strategic consulting. Currently, law firms around the world are fundamentally changing the way law firms work, especially in traditional tasks such as drafting contracts, software such as Contract Express (Thomson Reuter) and LawGeex (an AI-based platform for drafting contracts) that can automate the process of drafting contracts by analyzing available forms. minimize errors and save time for lawyers. In addition to drafting contracts, AI technology can help research legal documents and manage documents. Prominent today are ROSS Intelligence or Casetext, which helps lawyers quickly search for relevant case laws and regulations from millions of data, or iManage and NetDocuments, which enable automated document storage, retrieval and security that previously took law firms a lot of time to resolve.
In addition to the benefits brought, artificial intelligence also brings immediate risks to legal personnel. It can be said that in just a few short years, AI applications can replace some legal workers who take on repetitive, repetitive and uncreative jobs such as law clerks and even lawyers who take on tasks such as research, etc drafting documents, searching for collections of precedents and judgments. This also results in law firms needing fewer staff for simple tasks, making it difficult for those who are not highly skilled or do not switch skills and professional expertise to maintain employment. In fact, the world's leading law firms such as Clifford Chance or Baker McKenzie have used AI to analyze contracts or apply digital technology to manage legal documents on online platforms, helping to reduce the time spent searching for documents and analyzing contracts very significantly when compared to traditional methods.
Increasing competition from the world's leading law firms
The increase in the presence of international law firms in Vietnam such as Allen & Overy, Baker McKenzie or Linklaters not only brings high-quality, seasoned legal services in the international legal environment with complex cross-border transactions has posed great challenges for domestic law firms in developing approach and catch up with these companies. International law firms often have outstanding advantages in terms of financial resources, professional personnel with international experience, and access to modern technology. This creates a significant disparity between domestic and international companies in many aspects. Firstly, from the capacity to provide services, international law firms provide a variety of services, from corporate legal advice, complex M&A transactions, to international dispute resolution. They are often chosen by large clients, especially multinational corporations operating in Vietnam. Secondly, the personnel of these law firms are very qualified and carefully selected. The lawyers of international companies are often well-trained at prestigious universities and have experience working in the international legal environment. This helps them handle complex legal issues with professionalism and high efficiency. Third, international law firms often have long-standing reputable brands, strong brands, and global reputation are great advantages of international law firms. Not only do they attract large customers, but it is also easier to recruit high-quality talent from the Vietnamese market. Finally, there is the superiority in the application of technology. International law firms invest heavily in technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) for data analysis, blockchain for transaction transparency, and digital platforms for process optimization. This helps them provide services that are faster, more accurate, and less expensive.
What solutions for Vietnamese law firms to adapt and develop
There is no other solution for Vietnamese law firms to go faster and go further in the current context other than investing in digital transformation. This world trend is increasingly having a strong impact on the Vietnamese legal market, requiring Vietnamese law firms to increase investment in technology. Specifically, they are (i) applying automatic document management software; (ii) using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze contracts and support the study of judgments and case law in Vietnam; (iii) developing an online service system to increase convenience and reduce fixed costs to improve the competitiveness of Vietnam's legal industry compared to the world.
In addition, in a promising and fledgling market like Vietnam, law firms and lawyers are constantly increasing their professional capacity and legal knowledge as well as understanding of related fields. At the same time, strengthening cooperation with leading international law firms in the world will not only help improve the brand, but also help Vietnamese law firms learn from long-term and diverse experience from the world's leading experts, lawyers, law firms, etc thereby shortening the gap in service quality between Vietnam and the world. Through international training and cooperation, Vietnamese lawyers can quickly meet the standards required by the international legal market. In addition, building long-term customer relationships, providing quality, efficient and flexible services to meet the changing needs of customers is a way to maintain a competitive advantage in the new context.
A new vision to go out into the world
In the context of globalization and strong digital transformation, Vietnamese law firms need to shape a clear strategic vision from becoming a reliable legal partner not only for domestic businesses but also for these corporations in the region and globally. At the same time, actively apply technology to optimize work processes and improve service value to create a strong brand based on prestige, quality and professionalism. This can be considered the most effective solution at this time for Vietnamese law firms to step out of Vietnam's borders and get closer to regional and international playgrounds.
It can be said that Vietnamese law firms are facing enormous challenges from the development of technology and global competition in the legal field. However, the challenge is also the opportunity to innovate and break through. The combination of technology investment, professional capacity improvement and international cooperation expansion is the key for domestic law firms to not only survive but also thrive.
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Lawyer Nguyen Van Phuc
HM&P Law Firm
