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Dedicated, purpose-built platforms overwhelmingly help teams meet needs, research says
New research shows that law departments that use idiosyncratic legal technology platforms are better placed to meet their team needs compared to those that don’t.
Jerome Doraisamy
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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.
The purpose of the report was to better appreciate the various trends surrounding the use of tech by law departments and the impact on workflow efficiencies and business objectives as a result of said use, as the market emerges from a global pandemic and potentially enters a recession.
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 detailed where law departments are being wasteful, noting that while such teams are trimming the volume of tech platforms utilised, they are still spending too much time jumping between tech systems.
Elsewhere, it listed the most relied-upon tools by law departments.
More than half (54 per cent) of respondents noted that they utilise document management systems, the only tool used by at least one in two law departments.
The other most commonly used tools were spreadsheets (42 per cent), e-signature tools (41 per cent), legal workspace providing matter, contract and e-billing solutions in one system, contract management systems, knowledge management systems (all 34 per cent), collaboration tools like Slack or Teams (33 per cent), workflow and ticketing tools (32 per cent), matter management (29 per cent), e-billing (28 per cent), contract automation (26 per cent) and business intelligence or other dashboard/reporting providers (22 per cent).
Perhaps most significantly, however, is that less than half of law departments (48 per cent) that do not have a dedicated, purpose-built legal technology platform said that their software meets their needs.
This is in stark contrast with departments that do use a dedicated platform, with 92 per cent of such teams saying that their needs are met.
“It’s clear that in-house legal teams see the value in dedicated legal technology solutions to manage legal workflow,” wrote LawVu.
Respondents who said that they rely on non-dedicated solutions (such as email or spreadsheets) noted that their main concerns are lack of integration between platforms (29 per cent), data and information security (26 per cent), and tools not being user-friendly enough (25 per cent).
Those who do use dedicated solutions may have more of their needs met, but retain similar concerns around security, integration and usability. For this cohort, the biggest concerns are data and information security (34 per cent), lack of integration between platforms (32 per cent), and not using all available features and functionality (30 per cent).
“Those using a dedicated point solution are more likely to be concerned with the cost to the business of using multiple providers to meet their needs, as well as collaboration and not using all the functionality available,” wrote LawVu.
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly. A former lawyer, he has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. He is also the host of all five shows under The Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network, and has overseen the brand's audio medium growth from 4,000 downloads per month to over 60,000 downloads per month, making The Lawyers Weekly Show the most popular industry-specific podcast in Australia. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of Minds Count.
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