Does your firm use an app? Insights from Fliplet Legal Market Report 2024 suggests you should.
Legal apps have reached a tipping point. They’re no longer a novelty. Instead, they’re poised to become cornerstones of every legal practice—and the innovations they bring will soon become the norm.
This is the single most important takeaway from Fliplet’s 2024 Legal Market Report.
The report provides a clear picture of how law firms are leveraging mobile and web applications to enhance efficiency, improve client communication, and stay competitive in the market. With app adoption surging from 2022-2024 across firms of all sizes, the report offers a valuable resource for understanding key trends and planning future strategies. This report is particularly important for practice leaders leading their firm in 2025.
This article offers a preview of the report and deep dives in the top key takeaways.
If you are interested in downloading the full report you can download the full report here.
Research Methodology
Fliplet’s 2024 Legal Market Report is based on comprehensive data from the top 200 global law firms—drawing on Google Play and Apple store to review how law firms are using apps. The research includes input from firms of all sizes, analyzing the types of apps they use, growth patterns, and trends shaping the legal industry.
This gives readers a chance to learn about the types of legal apps being created, the key trends driving the apps made, insights into the law firms leading the way, and how your firm can benefit.
Growth in Legal Apps: 2022-2024
Exponential Adoption Across Firms
The biggest insight revealed is a significant increase in app adoption during 2022-2024, driven by the rising client expectations for tech-savvy solutions and internal needs for operational efficiency. 41% of law firms have legal apps of their own.
That’s driven the number of apps releasted—with over 100 legal apps launching in just the first half of 2024.
Legal Apps for Firms of All Sizes
App creation and adoption is no longer exclusive to large firms. While global giants continue to lead the way, midsize and boutique firms are catching up.
This trend levels the playing field, enabling smaller firms to compete with their larger counterparts through enhanced client engagement and streamlined workflows.
Leaders in Legal App Adoption
The Top Performers
The report showcases several top law firms leading the charge in app adoption. Some firms use multiple apps in their portfolios, reflecting their commitment to staying at the forefront of innovation.
For instance, Latham & Watkins has as many as 19 apps.
These firms use apps not only for client-facing services but also for internal management, showcasing how diverse the applications of legal tech can be.
Preferred App Types
So, what are the preferred app types being used by the top 200 law firms?
- Event Apps (40%): These facilitate legal events of all kinds, with functionality for both running and attending. Events might include partner retreats and corporate events as well as client events.
- Practice Apps (28.9%): These apps serve as client-facing tools that empower law firms to showcase their expertise and promote their practices. By positioning the firm as a thought leader in their practice, these tools provide an unparalleled client experience, fostering deeper connections with their client base and enhancing overall satisfaction.
- Emergency Management (11.7%): Apps in this category streamline how a firm works together internally or with clients in the face of time-sensitive emergencies like a dawn raid.
- Client Portals (4.4%): Client portals are convenient tools for looping clients in on cases.
- Community (3.3%): This category highlights apps that facilitate group sharing and communication but without the specialized features of emergency management and practice apps.
2024 Trends: The Future of Legal Apps
1.Practice Apps on the Rise
A standout trend from the report is the rising popularity of practice-specific apps. 28.9% of apps firms create fall under this category. These tools allow firms to tailor their technology to specialized areas of law, offering targeted solutions that enhance both client services and internal efficiency.
For example, firms focusing on intellectual property law have developed apps that streamline patent filings and track legal disputes in real-time. Similarly, litigation practices are using apps to manage case timelines, share discovery materials, and communicate securely with clients.
2.Apps Are Being Updated More Often
70% of apps in 2024 have been updated within 18 months.
Those include superficial updates, of course, but they also signal a rise in substantive updates to core features like security and feature enhancement. It signals that, in a world where there are more and more legal apps all the time, there is greater and greater competition to stand out from the rest.
The increase in updates is not evenly distributed. Practice apps average a stunning 5 updates a year, while the average for all legal apps is around 1.33 updates per year.
3.AI Comes to Legal Apps
It should be no surprise that AI features are spiking in popularity across legal apps in the past two years.
As the use of AI in legal practice is still undergoing fierce debate among professional organizations and bar associations, legal apps are already enjoying added functionality from their adoption.
Next Steps for Law Firms
The findings in Fliplet’s 2024 Legal Market Report offer actionable insights for law firms looking to stay competitive in a tech-driven world. Here are some key takeaways:
- Identify Needs Align app adoption with your firm's unique and pressing needs. Begin by using apps to streamline areas of your practice that actually need streamlining.
- Review Your Current Offerings Check out the apps members of the Global 200 have released and consider adapting them to your own offerings. How could you better position yourself?
- Think Content What kind of content would be best to share through your apps? Case updates, legal news, or something else? This will help guide your choices.
- Gap Analysis For firms already offering legal apps, it’s a good idea to compare your current suite with those created by your competitors.
- Optimization Can you integrate and perfect the apps you already offer? Can you refine your existing apps to align better with your objectives?
- Expansion Many firms find that broadening the apps they use is a winning approach—as long as good security measures are maintained throughout.
Conclusion
Fliplet’s 2024 Legal Market Report highlights the transformative impact of apps on the legal industry. Firms of all sizes are embracing apps as essential tools for improving efficiency, enhancing client engagement, and staying competitive.
The full report includes examples specific to practices, as well as in-depth analysis of trends of 2024
