LexisNexis UK, a global provider of information and analytics, has published a dedicated Insight report for in-house counsel titled ‘legal technology: looking past the hype’.

Worrying signs

The report provides insight to in-house teams and benchmarking of best practice for successful legal technology adoption. The report found that 85 per cent of the general counsel surveyed have introduced multiple technology types and are most comfortable using tried and tested legal insight tools. Respondents (75 per percent) believe that technology investments have already increased their efficiency, though one in five can point to a piece of recently installed technology that has had low or no usage. Over half (60 per cent) believe legal technology will further improve the accuracy of legal work over the next three to five years, with 72 per cent expecting technology to enable new data insights during that time. In-house counsel (75 per cent) expect their law firms to adopt technology and as a direct result deliver efficiency gains, specifying lower fees (74 per cent), increased quality (66 per cent) and faster turnaround times (63 per cent). They also expect their law firms to advise on the best technology to use, yet worryingly 37 per cent of general counsels do not know what technology their law firms are currently using.

Maturity issue

Sophie Gould, head of in-house at LexisNexis said ‘our inaugural Insights in-house report reviews how the issue of legal technology is being approached by the UK’s in-house legal community. The in-house role has changed significantly, and beyond being ‘a good lawyer’ general counsel now need to drive efficiencies, add real value and demonstrate commercial acumen. Our research revealed an interesting range of operational and technological maturity across in-house legal teams, with some organisations needing to develop or consolidate their legal operations and technology landscape, while others were already developing robust infrastructure to undertake strategic and business transformation roles.’ Ms Gould added, ‘legal technology offers huge opportunities but these will only be realised if all parties take a transparent and collaborative approach to its adoption and integration.’