Given its esoteric nature as well as the sheer amount of time in a given day, it’s unlikely lawyers will be able to actually adopt CIO-level knowledge of the technology shaping both their practices and the world at large. But that’s okay, because, contrary to hyperbolic rantings, ominous ravings and the like, no one is actually asking for that.
But that doesn’t mean lawyers can take a pass at being knowledgeable in technology either. As Hogan Lovells partner Nathan Gallon puts it, “This is a software enabled world,” and with technology increasingly intertwined with regulation, mergers and acquisitions, and more, a law firm’s ability to practice in this new climate may partially hinge on the knowledge of its practitioners.
