Digitalization In/of Law Practice: How Prepared Are You or I?—By Francis Moses Nworah

INTRODUCTION:

Digital Law sets the standard for how personal data should be collected, stored, processed, and shared, ensuring that individua’s privacy are protected. It addresses cross-border flow of data, ensuring that data transferred between individuals, groups, countries and so on, maintains the same level of protection. Therefore, if the financial, public and virtually all sectors including the Justice sectors, both in Nigeria and the world are rapidly moving into digitalization, how prepared are you and I, in taking advantage of these sectors digitally and staying relevant? It is pertinent to note that, either you, I, our Judiciary or our country are ready or not, big computer corporations’ internet sites, obviously owned by individuals, countries and conglomerates are making good progress and digitally changing the entire conventional ways of doing things, including the legal practice. Although, due to the absence of a universal regulations in the internet space, wherein Digital Law practice has a place, the big countries have developed laws to ensure the protection of their individual rights, corporate interest, and national security while dealing with themselves and others in the interconnected world. How well do you or I know about this? There is no excuse to this knowledge gap, be it an individual, group, sector or even a country who has the Judiciary in its arm of government.

It is no doubt that the digitalization method has drastically altered the techniques of our daily interpersonal relationships, including in/for the legal profession; therefore, it is key at this juncture to remind us that we cannot successfully run away from it because they involve our conventional known legal interactions or subjects that are within known areas of laws that will be needing our digital inputs. To bring this home, digital laws encompass a wide array of regulations and legal frameworks designed to govern activities in the digital space. These laws cover known topics like online conduct, digital commerce,cybersecurity, data protection, intellectual property rights, and the like. Because of the speed at which technology is developing and our growing dependence on digital platforms, it is imperative that we as lawyers move with the digital knowledge-filled trend and champion the movement of having strong digital regulations.

These laws will ensure the protection of our individual rights, corporate interests, and national security in the increasingly interconnected world, as seen in other climes.

MAIN BODY:

Gone are the days that, we are completely less concerned with Digitalization, while setting up our legal firm, as Sole practitionership, Sole proprietorship, Associateship or Partnership, because we are just concerned about a gigantic office space, with all that, without considering the adoption of Technology. It is in this adoption of technology that, the need to have digitally compliant knowledge and gadgets is called for. Hence, this writeup to guide us on how to prepare, in order to face the elephant in the room. This elephant is the much talk-about in the TechWorld or the Global Village in all spheres of endeavours. It is here with us, not as the future of Legal Tools and Justice but the present Legal Tools and Justice needed by all legal professionals, who want to continue to be relevant in the practice of law. Assuming without conceding that, the Elephant in the room has taken charge of the Digital Space of Legal Practice, are you contemplating of conventionally remaining in the practice of law without digitalization or migrating into another field of studies? Mind you, all fields have a peculiar elephant in their room. So let us stay here and conquer this elephant in our room together!

Sometimes in the mid-90s, when I had somethings to do with the ABG Satellite Dish in Kaduna, requiring the provisions of internet facilities through NITEL and so on, for both browsing in cafes, access to information online and provisions of café related standard services to one of our clients. There was a need for us to purchase some accessories/gadgets for the setting up of a café. The owner (our client), having insisted on getting guaranty of all the items to be purchased, especially the computers, we asked the white men about the guaranty on the items to be supplied, especially the computers. Surprisingly, the head of marketing interrupted and said that, “the system will crash someday”. Yes! As disappointing his answers were, that was the reality. All computers purchased must crash, except that, managerial experiences will enable some outlive the others. How prepared are you and I, in this Digital Law Practice? This same reply is also applicable to answer the question, “how well will my internet or digital interaction as a lawyer be secured, while providing/rendering my services as a lawyer,  (both to clients and in courts), under the dispensation of E-Justice/ Virtual Court Hearing/ Digital Evidence/ Franking Digital Documents/ Legally Researching/ Sending or Uploading Documents/ Online Courts Sittings/ Online Dispute Resolution/ Taking Briefs from Clients/ Calculating Client or Professional Bills/ Recording Evidence and so on?The answer is simple, “it is hackable.” All computer security can be breached and or hacked, but the managerial skills will all depend on the extent or success of the havoc when it eventually happens. Therefore, your role as regards vulnerability and risk, you can be culpable. How prepared are you and I to ensure that, we have the minimum required skills of protecting our digital tools against Crash and Unlawful Access of either our data, our client(s) data or our client client’s data as the primary target by Hackers, due to the availability of threat in our legal practice, because we embraced Digital Law Practice.

From above and flowing from our rhetorical question of “Digitalization In/of Law Practice: How Prepared Are you or I?”, the obvious Legal Tools and Justice System in Nigeria and the World, the following are key tools to possess/know, have or start, continue or to remain relevant in the Legal Profession:

1. E-discovery platforms/tools, Generative AI assistant, AI assistant Artificial Intelligence for additional Legal Assistance;
2. Cloud Computing and Document Sharing Tools;
3. Virtual receptionist and Video Conferencing software/platformsfor Advanced Practice Management Systems for ease of command or communication within the law firms and participation in online court session or for virtual hearing;
4. Niche patent, E-Signature and Stamping toolsfor ease of provision of Intellectual Property Solutions and client document signing and stamping.
5. Law firm Account, Invoice Software, Online Payments Processor, Time Tracking and Billing Solutions for easy synchronization and billing;
6. Legal-Specific Calendar Tools that reminds you and I of schedules;
7. Lead Tracking Software that will remind you and I to follow-up on our clients by setting reminders, keeping records of client intake processesand automating communications Closing deals
8. Hiring Software and Clients Communication or Feedback Portals;
9. Jargon- reducing tool,  Luminance Diligence and Paperless Guides for ease of referencing, grammatic expressions, corrections and language translations for multinational transactions, considering the facts that, the world is now a global village;
10. Dedicated or customized law firm mobile Applications for on the Go Access. This will reduce the vulnerability and risk associated with hacker’s infiltration of personal and client’s data. It is important to state here that, a hacker can use system sprawl vulnerability tools, to target a user on a network and get to the primary target.
11. Contract Management Systems
12. Legal analytics
13. Strong for Fee Security, Patches and Constant Update and Monitor against disruption that will subsequently, lead to total damage, because there must be security breaches, but our alertness will reduce the extent of the damage or havoc.

The above which shall be broken down, and explained in the Digital Committee’s subsequent publication, is not exhaustive and must not be deployed on a one-off bases. However, you or I, can start with any or the combinations of few or all according to our firm’s needs, user experience, security, budget, integration, reach, location, field of practice and customer’s support.

Either we agree or not, as the legal system and profession becomes more accessible, court hearings are growing to resemble regular contacts. Therefore, legal practice no longer has boundaries or jurisdiction digitally. This could lead or has led to an increase in trust; in order to accommodate chaotic schedules, timeous meeting of client’s needs, making representations, filing, signing, stamping and carrying out all those conventional tasks or rendering those offline services that we are all accustomed to and this has changed or will change upon the deployment of digital legal skills.

These changes include, making asynchronous interactions the standard. These reflects broader societal trends, as most older and few younger generations of legal practitioners in Nigeria, will increasingly prefer offline client meetings, or scheduling, text-based communication over traditional phone calls and in-person meetings or interviews of suspects or clients. It is to our advantage now that, when we adopt digital law practice early as it is beckoning and we allow virtual reality to offer our judges and parties immersive experiences that go beyond physical limitations, we can adopt same practices in other hearings and this will improve dispute settlement and clients’ communications that may require less attention to our clients with more money in our bank account, just by legal digital advise.

For example, in Online Dispute Resolution (ORD), if we accept and adopt digital legal practice that enable and assist the court procedures, to be well organized with the goal of improving accessibility by giving priority to user-centric design. This means creating self-service technologies by our Nigerian courts or internationally, beyond the conventional legal battle, that will enable or assist people in small claim cases to independently comprehend procedures, investigate viable remedies, and navigate legal principles without the need for expert guidance. It therefore means or imply that, regular cases might require fewer lawyers and judges to get involved, so lawyers could devote their skills and time to more complicated cases with more financial inflow, or if the parties prefers, they could choose for a court to decide the case while counsel represents them. It is achievable and could predictable be so. So, either we are ready as individuals, or as law firm to prepare and be part of the digital transition presently disrupting usual ways of practices and be part of it, or litigants will learn it, personally represent themselves online and when our inputs is required for paid review, we might not know what to say to earn the fee, due to lack of digital legal knowledge of the case/proceeding.

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, because Courts has or will soon go beyond their traditional functions that you and I are used to, because centralized, physical establishments that require face-to-face encounters and synchronous communication, which has or will affect the majority of legal problems by starting with and or developing an online, similar to how most disputes are going to be settled without holding in-person hearings are fast becoming the norms, so we must be digitally prepared. There is already and will be exceptions to the rule of attending court in person, with the standard approach being remote participation as can been in most of the rules of court. Although, the major arguments or strategies that are aimed to reduce the discomfort of long-distance travel, are the possibilities of any intimidation of those who might be involved in a case as the litigants or witness, and the rampant criminal activities of banditry, kidnapping, armed robbers, accident, financial expenditures, phasing out of physical offices and so on. Although, the COVID-19 epidemic has prompted most firms to adopt remote work at a faster pace, which has increased public acceptance of doing important tasks from home including rendering legal services and appearances in courts. As a result, communications conducted digitally are now seen as formal and do not undermine respect for the legal system or jeopardize the thorough evaluation of cases. Therefore, we must be prepared and ready to take advantage of the big elephant (digitalization) in our legal profession, for our own good.

Thank you for taking time to read this and expect other publications, in Front and Back Doors of AI, Cybersecurity, IP, E-Commerce, Setting up Complete Online Courts, Laws/Rules/Regulations of Online Courts/Justice etc, including how to Identify and Secure Your Digital Facilities.

Note:

This is purely the authorship of Francis Moses Nworah, and it is copyrighted, although published as under the Digital Committee of the NBA, to achieve part of its mandate.

You can reach the writer, Francis Moses Nworah Esq.,(Notary Public, LLM,  Ph.D Cand., DRS, SPIIM, Certified Ethical Hacker Enrollee), Chairman, NBA, Digital Law Committee, 2025 – 2026 of the Proactive Bar of Sir Mazi Afam Osigwe (SAN), NBA President, through: 08037043371; Francisnworah@yahoo.com; Francisnowrah@nigerianbar.ng

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1. Written by Francis Moses Nworah Esq. Digital Chairman of NBA Committee and published on Thursday, 1^st of May, 2025. This is the First of Series of Publications to be done in the sharing of Digital Legal knowledge by the Committee of NBA Digital of 2025 – 2026, under the able regime of NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe SAN.

2.  Jamil Afzal “Implementation of Digital Law, as a legal tool in the current Digital Era”. Springer Nature Singapore Plc Ltd, Published in 2024.

3. Collection of individual Data makes Artificial Intelligence (AI), to strive, worst still, the activation of Facial Recognition, Finger Prints or Voice Recognition in place of password add to the sum of data about known individual. How well do you know about this for the purpose of providing sound legal services in the digital space, without unknowingly aiding unethical digital legal practice?

4. Including Legal Profession that you and I belong to.

5. Jamil Afzal “Implementation of Digital Law, as a legal tool in the current Digital Era”. (Supra)

All known conducts that are legally prescribed for in our usual daily lives, that are justiciable, are also available in the internet space.

All transactions that are adopted or consummated by means of gadgets or electronically (both online or offline), can be actionable.

What do you know about Cybercrimes Act/Laws/Regulations, NITDA Laws and Regulations, the provisions of the 1999 CFRN as it relates to Digital Law Practice? Etc, Do know that, all Fundamental Rights capable of Enforcement, including Right to Life are applicable in the Online Digital Space as an owner of a Blog, Website, Chats, in WhatsApp group etct? Do you know that, while rendering digital legal services to your client, it can lead to any adverse effects that might make you liable? What is the level of you or your firm’s knowledge on Black, Gray, Suicide or Scripts Kiddies Hackers who take advantage of Malwares, Virus, Trojans, Worms, Keyloggers, Spyware, Ransomware etc to cause havoc to you or your clients in the Digital Space? Take Note that, it is captured on one of my publications on Vulnerability, Risk, Threat and Weakness in the Digital space. It will soon be made available. So, watch out the NBA 2025 – 2026 Digital Space for it and more.

How well are you familiar with the primary and secondary laws on Data Protection in Nigeria?

There are constant developments of laws in this subject in Nigeria. All the offline rights are applicable to Digitally Acquired/Protected  Rights under Copyright/Copyleft, Trademark, Industrial Design, Trade Secret etc.

Laws of Internet not covered under the identified specific fields of legal practice

US, Europe, China and Russia. Although some developing countries in Africa and the like, such as South Africa, India etc, are trying, but more needs to be done to be at par with the mentioned names.

Sometimes around 2005 in the University of Jos, as one of the head of ICT for Student Lab, we had a program themed “Computers Don’t Bite”. This therefore means that, it is a peculiar problem that many you and I can conquer inorder to remain in the profession and above, make good better fortunes out of it.

Australian Broadband Guarantee

Nigerian Telecommunications Limited

Computers, Laptops, Printers, Photocopiers, Diskettes, Stationeries and so on.

Hackers use cyber security threats to infiltrate and steal data such as individual’s personal information, financial information and login credentials for a particular negative purpose.

A threat in this context means, the potential occurrence of an undesirable event that can eventually damage and disrupt the operations and functional activities of a law firm or organization.

AI fronts and backdoors Knowledge, E-Billings,

Deployment of E-Filing, Online Affidavit, Total Online Courts (Which is not to my mind feasible at the moment in Nigeria), Virtual Court Hearing, Case Assignments and Managements, Online Dispute Resolution, E-Depositions, E-Evidence, E-Service, E-Stamping and so on.

Self and or paid trained, purchased kits etc

Installed in our Digital Legal Gadgets

Tabula Rasa in the Use of Digital Legal Tools

Deployed and still deploying Digital Legal Tools

Purely Online Law Firm that Interacts delivers purely Online Legal Services including Purely Online Court Filing, Case Assignment; Fixing; Service; Response; Hearing and Judgment Delivery; Compliance and or Enforcement

https://www.rocketmatter.com/; https://www.psmpartners.com/blog/10-essential-tech-tools-every-legal-professional-needs-to-know/; https://www.contractsafe.com/blog/legal-ai-tools; https://www.mycase.com/blog/law-firm-operations/lawyer-tools/;

MS Teams, Asana, Basecamp, Figma, Wrike, Notion, Monday, Slack, Salesforce, Confluence, GitHub, Zoom, Jira, Todoist, Dropbox, Excel & CSV, G Drive, Trello, X(former Twiter), Skype etc

This is achievable or made possible, where a Staff logs on through the network server of a law firm with gadgets that is vulnerable. If however, a law firm has a customized mobile phone, it can control a lots of hackable ports like printer, removable disks, network, Bluetooth, email, wireless points and even reliable websites that are mostly free for legal research, without the knowledge of the user.

Order 3 of the FCT (Civil Procedure Rules) 2025 and other Courts Rules like Lagos, Jigawa, NICN, FHC, Supreme Court Rules etc

Jamil Afzal “Implementation of Digital Law, as a legal tool in the current Digital Era”.  (Supra)

Rules of various courts, made during the Covid-19 Erra and they are all in force, except where specific rules of laws renders them inapplicable.

The Rules of Professional Conducts and other Laws are gradually simmering down to accommodate this reality.

Source: BarristerNG