Meritas, the premier global alliance of business law firms, announced the results of its most recent survey on the use of legal technology among its members, who are located in nearly 90 countries worldwide.
Key findings reveal that most Meritas member law firms plan to increase their overall technology investments in the next year – while very few plan to reduce their spending. Their top priorities for investing in legal tech include risk and compliance (67 percent of survey participants), generative A.I. (57 percent), and document automation systems and technologies (more than 50 percent).
The survey was developed in collaboration with Legaltech Hub (LTH), the leading global directory of legal technology solutions, tools, and services. Survey questions were developed, and responses analyzed by Corey Garver, Meritas’ legal technology advisor, and Nicola Shaver, CEO of LTH. The survey was conducted in February and March 2024 and yielded responses from 100 Meritas member law firms.
Additional findings of the annual survey include:
- 77 percent of firms have a formal technology strategy in place
- Interest and intentions regarding generative A.I. remain high, with almost 80 percent of participating firms expecting to leverage it within the next five years. Many have either already begun or are planning to undertake data hygiene projects as a precursor to using generative A.I. and other automation solutions. Although legal market analysts have hypothesized that proprietary building of generative A.I. solutions remain out of reach for mid-sized firms, several Meritas survey respondents are making traction. Many other firms are also licensing third-party generative A.I. solutions.
- The survey showed strong technology progression among several Meritas member firms, with most adopting a tech stack of core, foundational systems of infrastructure technology and adding cloud-based practice management, document management, time, billing, and document drafting applications.
- Most firms reported increased adoption and utilization of options already available within their current core systems, such as Microsoft Office 365 Teams, SharePoint, document automation, and other native functionalities for increasing efficiencies; these functions were used more often in place of dedicated purpose-built solutions such as comparison and proofreading tools.
- The legal technology market serving Meritas’ member firms continues to be fractured, with very few providers emerging as market leaders.
“This most recent Meritas member survey reveals opportunities, challenges, and progress among independent firms, which is valuable information for these independent firms to stay ahead of technology,” said Garver. “The findings reaffirm Meritas’ strategic decision to offer its members legal technology consulting and vendor relations services, which our members are leveraging to solve many of their tech challenges and serve clients even more effectively. This value-added expert guidance for Meritas members has allowed many to move forward with near-term legal tech investments with more confidence, information, and due diligence because these providers have been thoroughly vetted.”
To bring additional industry knowledge and expertise to the research effort, Meritas partnered with LTH on the survey questions and analysis, “because not only does LTH have its finger on the pulse of the legal tech space, but it also has a strong team of subject matter experts in a variety of specialty areas. Their collective knowledge provided Meritas with a strong yet objective lens through which we could further assess our members’ needs and develop a roadmap to help them make more informed decisions and strengthen our vendor discount program for members,” added Garver. “This further strengthens the value our firms can provide to clients.”
“When it comes to technology, midsized law firms are able to be more nimble than larger firms,” said Shaver, founder and CEO of Legaltech Hub. “Meritas member firm leaders benefit from the collaborative environment created by the consortium. They are able to harness the collective strength and knowledge of their network and they share a commitment to consistent quality around the world, including when it comes to leveraging technology smartly and successfully to run their operations and optimize their value to clients.”
