2016 Law Department Benchmarking Performance Series – Survey Two: Technology

Consilio’s 2016 Law Department Benchmarking Performance Series – Survey No. 2: Technology, the seventh conducted in alliance with the Texas General Counsel Forum, demonstrates a focus on further enhancement of technology in the law department. Although the number of particular industry segments and revenue sectors changes year to year with the survey respondents, the importance of dynamic technology in the law department remains clear. Many best practices, such as process improvement, implementing technology roadmaps and overall expansion of matter management systems have been implemented in light of past benchmarking survey reports. Law departments are now launching advanced initiatives that address specific matters, allowing them to become more operationally efficient to meet the needs of the ever-changing legal landscape.

Highlights

74% of respondents have or are developing a department technology roadmap

Fifty percent of respondents with over $10 billion in company revenue reported that their law departments have a strategic technology roadmap in place, while 41% of respondents with over $10 billion in company revenue are in the process of developing one.

Legal operations is the primary driver of over 36% of respondent’s technology roadmaps, with Legal IT driving 16%.

In a law department’s use of technology, three of the largest challenges were implementation, time constraints and change management.

These challenges highlight the need for Legal Operations’ IT partners to have key roles in both deploying and the ongoing management of legal technology. However, some legal departments have issues aligning and partnering with IT due to the unique nature and confidentiality requirements of legal systems. Seventy-three percent of respondents indicated that lack of implementation resources was their biggest challenge.

Nearly all respondents noted that system training was usually informal, typically received from another internal department user. 35% of respondents noted they have a formalized training program for department technology.

For more information about the Law Department Benchmarking Performance Series or our solutions to assist law departments on their challenges, contact Robin Snasdell at rsnasdell@consilio.com.