Small and medium firms - those with up to 30 lawyers - make up 97 per cent of law practices in Singapore. The announcement from the Ministry of Law, the Law Society of Singapore and SPRING Singapore follows a study commissioned by the Law Society in 2016 which revealed that only 9 per cent of firms interviewed had used technology tools to boost productivity, with most citing cost as main reason given for the low adoption rate. 

New initiative

Under the new Tech Start for Law programme, funded by SPRING Singapore over a one-year period, law firms which buy certain technology-related products can get as much as 70 per cent of costs covered for the first year.Five products have been identified as basic technologies that would help law practices work more efficiently.These include practice management systems that would help firms streamline case and client record management, an online legal research tool and one online marketing tool. 

Smaller law firms

It is understood that the shortlisted products cost between S$3,000 and S$30,000 each and under the programme, each firm can apply for support for up to three of the products. Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said that smaller law firms may not have the resources to invest in technology and that the programme would allow them to ‘upgrade themselves, and that will make them more competitive’.Law firms can apply to the Law Society's Secretariat from Mar 1, 2017 to Feb 28, 2018 for funding. Source: Channel News Asia