During the pandemic, every industry became reliant on technology to ensure that companies could remain functional and continue to provide a service to their clients, as well as allowing those within the business to communicate via face to face, albeit virtual methods.
The legal tech industry in particular has seen an emergence and significant increase in demand for the implementation of software and solutions to support the industry in providing innovative and enhanced products to increase efficiency and automate somewhat mundane and time-consuming tasks for lawyers.
A survey carried out by Thomas Alsop at Statista in 2021 revealed that the legal tech industry was valued at $18.43bn and is expected to increase in value to a staggering $25.18bn by 2025.
The somewhat sizeable growth of the industry is expected to continue at an exponential rate, and It’s clear that there are differing opinions on the rollout and introduction of software to firms, and the impact that this has on security, integration, and potential cost, as stated below having spoken with experts within the market –
“There's lots of competition but a number of the products are deficient. The advice is to try before you buy and do a technical audit, because the risks and potential cost to the business of buying half-built or insecure software are high. I hate seeing law firms hoodwinked by some legal software vendors, they are often victims rather than customers”.
Technical Lead in industry who has worked for both law firms and software providers.
“I am of the opinion that there will be one particular potential stumbling block to integration that most firms will face, which is access to traditional sources of information/data such as Practice Management Systems/Billing Systems. The security concerns around opening access to on-premises data and the lack of control over the sensitive information will likely present challenges to be overcome by providers and customers alike. I would imagine that this challenge will lead to hybrid cloud appliances being deployed on-premises to facilitate these automation services but it's all speculation.”
Senior Integration Consultant who has worked both for law firms and software providers.
It’s an exciting time to be a part of an established market that is continuing to grow, and of course, there are going to be teething problems along the way, but what is next for the software houses that are shaking up a $700bn+ market? Certainly continued growth but which products will rise to the surface?
Is the rollout of new products a blessing in disguise, or a headache for in-house technology teams that are already catching up with post-pandemic change?
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