TSMP leverages high-tech, but aims to be 'high touch'

Singapore

INCORPORATING artificial intelligence (AI) into the operations of a company - law firms included - isn't cheap, so TSMP Law Corporation is urging the government to take the lead in building a platform for local law firms so that they too can ride the tech wave.

Stefanie Yuen Thio, joint managing partner of the firm, said that it is not financially feasible for small or medium-sized law firms to build their own AI capabilities, maintain the system and upgrade the technology.

Her proposal is for the government to drive the creation of a technology platform for local law firms and then license its use for a fee.

There are industry-wide programmes to bring law firms on board in their adoption of technology, she noted, but these are just programmes and not a common IT system.

On her wish list of AI capabilities for such a system are a customised research engine for case precedents and software for drawing up contracts.

As is the case for using AI in other sectors, the technology is a double-edged sword. Yes, it is disruptive and threatens to displace commoditised legal work, but it can also mean cost savings and efficiency, given the volume of work it can handle - and at speeds and levels of accuracy that humans cannot reach at that.

In an interview with The Business Times, Ms Yuen Thio said that while she recognised the need to get on board the high-tech wave, TSMP positions itself as a "high-touch" firm.

"AI is high-tech, TSMP is high-touch," she quipped.

Her husband and fellow managing partner Thio Shen Yi elaborated that being high-touch means offering premium service at a high level of engagement with clients.

The litigator, who earned his senior counsel title a decade ago, said: "What clients want from us isn't the legal product, they don't want something commoditised.

"They want strategy, they want judgement, they want wise counsel."

He reckons that it would take 20 years - or even less - for machines to take over the job of churning out documents or dispensing basic advice.

"So we focus on high-end human-touch delivery."

Founded 20 years ago, TSMP had started out trying to be a "smaller version of a big firm".

However, this positioning did not work out for it, so it moved to its current niche - one that invests in its relationship with its clients.

Ms Yuen Thio said: "What's important is that as a boutique firm, you don't try to be all things to all people. We're not NTUC FairPrice."

She said clients look to her lawyers as "relationship lawyers" - meaning that these clients would go to that lawyer as the main point of contact, even if there are other lawyers on the team involved in the file.

"Some firms specialise in practice areas; TSMP focuses on the needs of each client, which may stretch across multiple practice disciplines.

"There's a high degree of engagement with the client, a deep sense of investedness, because the client has entrusted his problems to me even though it's not my area (of speciality)."

This strategy of investing in client relationships has given TSMP the means to counter the technology tsunami many of its peers face.

Ms Yuen Thio said technology can undertake a lot of good research and perform the repetitive tasks - the commoditised work - but lacks the critical ability to understand psychology and provide personalised work, which she says is where the real value is. "Technology is not quite there yet."

The emphasis on relationships also colours the qualities TSMP looks for in its partners. The firm has 60 lawyers, including eight partners.

Mr Thio said: "We need very good partners, so we are fussy about who we hire, and who we invite to become our partners ... They have to be good at understanding the clients' needs, managing human relationships and building the business of a law firm."

On this, he complimented his wife for being the human version of LinkedIn, the social-media platform through which professionals network, in that she connects clients when she sees that there might be business opportunities for them to collaborate.

For being the unofficial corporate matchmaker, she is sometimes rewarded in the form of legal work from her clients' new ventures that resulted from her introductions.

In coping with the shifting sands of competition, TSMP does not forget the less fortunate. The firm is closed two days a year for charity events, and also takes on pro bono cases for migrant workers.

For its giving, TSMP has won the President's Volunteerism and Philanthropy Award for small and medium-sized enterprises for 2018. The accolade is given out by National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre.

TSMP is the first law firm to be given the honour.