Blog: Why Digital Fluency Should Be a Core Competency for Lawyers
Here is a competency to add to your hiring plan for lawyers: Digital Fluency.
The legal profession is transforming. Tools like Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM), eBilling, document automation, and Generative AI are no longer optional.
Digital fluency ensures lawyers can operate effectively in this environment, adapting quickly, using technology responsibly, and enhancing productivity. You don’t need every lawyer to be a technologist, but every new hire should be able to operate in a tech-augmented legal environment.
What Good Looks Like
Familiar with platforms like Ironclad, DocuSign, or CoCounsel (or those your team uses now or may use in the future).
Can adapt to new systems quickly and support less tech-savvy peers.
Understands the limitations and governance needs of GenAI.
Use Case
A lawyer working in-house learns to generate first-draft memos using GPT-4 and then utilises CoCounsel to cross-check case references, while adhering to firm guidelines.
Assessing Digital Fluency in Hiring
Interview Questions:
“Walk me through a process you helped improve.”
“How do you keep up with new legal technologies?”
“Tell me about a time you used data to make a legal decision.”
“Describe a time you led or adapted to a major change.”
Technical Tests:
Give a sample prompt and ask for a GenAI output review.
Ask for a process map of a contract review workflow.
Present a dashboard and ask what insights they see.
Modern legal teams cannot scale or innovate without lawyers who are digitally fluent, adaptable, and capable of leveraging technology responsibly.