Powered by MOMENTUM MEDIA
New research shows that while law departments are trimming the volume of tech platforms utilised, in-house teams are still spending too much time jumping between tech systems.
Matter and contract management software provider LawVu has released its 2023 In-house Legal Technology Report, which surveyed almost 300 in-house professionals across the United Kingdom and the United States between December 2022 and February 2023.
While Australian in-house legal professionals were not surveyed for the report, it contains pertinent findings for law departments here, including last week’s report detailing the headline challenges facing in-house teams at present.
The report also found that legal teams are currently using an average of 4.1 technology solutions across the department, down from an average of 5.8 in the 2022 report.
LawVu pointed out that law departments with 31 to 75 staff members use the most tech solutions (five) compared to teams with less than 10 professionals (3.5), teams of 11 to 30 (3.7), and teams of 75 or more (4.4).
Teams of 31 to 75 also face the most challenges, the provider noted, deducing that “using a greater number of separate systems can actually compound challenges rather than solve them”.
In this year’s report, LawVu wrote, “we are seeing a correlation between efficiency gains and a decrease in the number of solutions used and a more consolidated way of working”.
“However, legal teams are still spending significant time on manual administrative tasks,” it said.
The research found waste in the following areas for law departments:
Only between 31 and 42 per cent of law departments are spending less than one hour each day on these tasks, underscoring the danger of such waste at a time of ongoing economic uncertainty and ahead of a potential recession.
Further efficiency and productivity gains are “high on the agenda for legal teams over the next few years”, according to LawVu’s report. Given these findings, such gains will have to be an urgent priority.
Come along to the Corporate Counsel Summit 2023. It will be held at Sofitel Sydney Wentworth on Thursday, 25 May 2023.
Click here to buy your tickets and don’t miss out!
For more information, including agenda and speakers, click here.
Jerome Doraisamy is the managing editor of Lawyers Weekly and HR Leader. He is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in New South Wales, and a board director of the Minds Count Foundation.
You can email Jerome at: