Speaking on a recent episode of LawTech Talks, produced in partnership with Clio, the pair unpacked some of the headline trends around tech and AI and how this tech is levelling the playing field for female practitioners.

This episode was also recorded at the 2024 Women in Law Forum – and Farmer said that for female practitioners in particular, AI can help them overcome various challenges that they face more than their male counterparts.

“There’s never been a time where legal technology or technology more broadly is as affordable and as accessible to any size of law firm across the spectrum, and the change management is actually vastly reduced. It’s not six months to implement a web-based legal technology platform. It can be six minutes, six days,” Farmer said.

“So, the barriers to implementation have come down really significantly as well. And many female lawyers that I’ve spoken to just in the last couple of weeks around how they’re thinking of different ways of doing things, the technology they’re adopting, the barriers have come down significantly.”

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Newton echoed a similar sentiment – and added that technology has levelled the playing field in “a variety of different dimensions”.

“When you talk about it levelling the playing field from an empowerment perspective, it gives law firms of all stripes a superpower when it comes to being able to focus on their clients and focus on delivering great legal outcomes for their clients. And when we think about how do women in law firms help prevail in this new world of AI-powered legal work?” he said.

“I think it really comes down to a concept I talk about a lot, which is being client-centred, really orienting yourself around your client, leaning in on empathy and leaning in as being a problem-solver to your client. And this is something that women are often uniquely better at than their male counterparts. Being a client-centred law firm, being a client-centred woman-owned law firm is something we hear a lot about at this conference, and it’s something I think that I’m really excited to see, the information sharing and collaboration that’s happening here.”

Furthermore, technology is also disrupting the old law firm model – one which significantly disadvantaged female lawyers, according to Newton.

“If you think about the traditional large law firm model and you’re working hundred-hour weeks trying to make partner, the idea of taking a maternity leave, for example, just simply took you off that track. And if you tried to return and wanted to maybe work reduced hours or something else, you never would have a hope of making partner or having a high impact at that firm.

“And when you look at why that large law firm model prevailed for so long, it was really around how do we share resources, how do we share administrative staff, how do we share a brand that helps support the individual lawyer? And I think the power of technology, the power of the cloud and especially the power of AI is helping democratise and make running your own small law firm something that is open to everyone. And I think that’s opening up a completely new way of working for not just women, but everyone,” he said.

“But I think especially so groups like women that maybe were discriminated against more routinely in the old model and empowers them to create modern law firm that frankly can run circles around their large law firm counterparts when it comes to agility with technology, being able to leverage AI, being able to innovate on their service delivery model in a way that is more client-centred. And I think that is what is so exciting and empowering for the women you see at this conference and for women more broadly.”

In terms of how this is impacting practitioners – and the wider profession – moving forward, Farmer added that there are certain themes emerging across the board.

“There are definitely some common themes emerging as to the change that’s happening, which is a huge desire for autonomy, a fresh set of eyes on things. Just that they can see there’s a better way of doing things, and there’s no restriction anymore to being able to implement that change and to innovate because the tech is there. And flexible working is there,” she said.

“And there are so many different ways now that not just women, but anyone who wants to change the model of legal services delivery can do so by themselves through embracing autonomy and a completely different way of working. And it doesn’t just democratise things from the perspective [that] there are many more options in terms of law firms and legal services delivery. It democratises access to these essential legal services for a whole new kind of swathe of the population as well. So, I think for societal change even, it’s hugely important.”

The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Jack Newton and Denise Farmer, click below: