Legal IT landscapes 2019

We’ve done Legal IT Landscapes since 2015 (2011 if you count our report of the same name for top 100 firms) and it’s progressively got more in-depth. But this year we’ve changed the format for LITL – moving away from thinking in terms of technologies and towards where in the business those technologies will impact.

So the 2018 report is divided up into areas of operations and business rather than areas of tech – and that’s what we will be doing for future LITL reports. We’ve also changed the format to make it more readable by sprinkling the contributions from our sponsors throughout the book. They’ve helped us to bring this report to you – we couldn’t have done it without them so please take a moment to read what they have to say.

THE BIG QUESTIONS

Our ‘competitiveness v efficiency’ chart (pp6-7) shows a steady increase in the importance of document production and management tech – it’s sliding up the efficiency scale. This is a shift from last year when people ranked it higher for competitiveness. Client portals makes a big leap for both efficiency and competitiveness potential, landing in the top three technologies for 2019, according to respondents. Keep in mind that our competitiveness and efficiency rankings are solely based on what comes top of mind to respondents – we don’t guide their ‘picks’ in any way.

THE DRIVER’S SEAT

The results are in – what does the SME legal market think about their latest competitive threats? And what are firms going to do about them? Interestingly, ‘bigger firms than mine’ remains the top answer (26% of overall respondents) when asked what kind of business would be the biggest commercial threat/competition over the next five years. In LPM Legal IT landscapes 2018 that answer was tied for first place with ‘firms like mine who work in the same geographies’ at 32%. ‘Legal technology-based new businesses’ and ‘online businesses that don’t have physical offices’ move their way to the top three for 2019 at 18% and 17% respectively.

AUTOMATION RELATIONS

Automation continues to strengthen its grip on SME law firm efficiency, and the top three areas respondents think could benefit from more automation haven’t changed since last year’s report. Eddie Harrison, head of business optimisation at Lowell Solicitors, says: “There are a multitude of solutions out there of varying size and price that will suit just about any budget. Fintech and legal tech are becoming huge industries, with numerous startups and entrepreneurs looking for partners to test and trial their solutions.