Tools of the Trade for Young Lawyers
6.11.2025
Meeting rising client expectations does not have to entirely depend on AI software and complex practice management systems. They have their place, but more mundane items including Microsoft Word and popular billing software can also streamline an attorney’s workflow.
A recent continuing legal education program geared toward law students focused on the array of available tools that can help lawyers stay ahead of the steep technological curve and therefore improve quality, efficiency and client satisfaction.
The program, “Intro to Legal Tech: Tools Changing the Practice of Law,” was sponsored by the Young Lawyers Section along with the Committees on Law Practice Management, Technology and the Legal Profession, and Continuing Legal Education. The discussion explained Apple and Microsoft platforms, practice management systems, document drafting tools and hardware.
Alexander Paykin, managing attorney of The Law Office of Alexander Paykin and chair of the Committee on Technology and the Legal Profession, and Reuben Mirzakanov, associate at The Law Office of Alexander Paykin, were the speakers.
Practical Tools
Paykin emphasized that a priority for anyone is to incorporate communications tools, so they seamlessly work together. The practice will help save time and money by eliminating unnecessary administrative tasks.
“The more that you can tie everything into a practice management system so that you’re doing (your tasks) on one screen the better. And the practice management system should really be where you’re spending most of your time except for the time you’re drafting documents, meeting with clients or going to court,” said Paykin.
A second step to operating more efficiently is to learn how to operate Microsoft Word to its fullest capacity. For instance, many individuals use third-party vendors to manually type up tables of authorities that the software can generate automatically if the citations are tagged correctly.
“Microsoft Word is a lot more advanced than what you think, and I have yet to hire an attorney out of law school who had any idea as to its advanced features. It takes people a while to discover how much they don’t know. Things like tables of authorities should generate themselves automatically,” said Paykin.
Practical Billing
Any law firm must have the wherewithal to track its cash flow. However, that can be a daunting task if its clients are required to navigate cumbersome procedures to pay their bills. It is therefore imperative that a firm has an invoicing system that provides clients with convenient payment options.
“You do not want to rely on your bookkeeper and your CPA to tell you if you are running a profitable business. You want to be able to look at (accounting software) QuickBooks on any given day to see where you stand,” said Paykin.
The World of Artificial Intelligence
Young lawyers also must be mindful that Artificial Intelligence is not some black box that can instantly provide an answer to any legal question. It is a tool, albeit a powerful one, that relies on human inputs to provide guidance. It should be used as a resource, but not one that can be relied on entirely. Anything it produces should be confirmed by an individual.
“Make sure that your eyes touch everything carefully, that you read everything that’s being produced. And, most importantly, and this is what gets caught the most regarding AI, is the citations. Always double check,” said Mirzakanov.
Paykin emphasized that point.
“AI is really, really useful. Now, you can use it for just about anything and everything to help you with all your work. However, AI is dangerous. If you don’t know what you’re doing much like every other piece of tech you can get your hands on, you will find that AI is still highly fallible,” he said. “The very short version of an ethics class on AI is you are signing your name. So, if you have used AI, you have a duty of confidence and a duty of technological confidence.”
Paykin and Mirzakanov also touched upon the advantages and disadvantages of various phone systems and document and communications options throughout their hour-long presentation.
Go HERE to view the entire program.
