The Law Department Operations Survey’s 10th anniversary report has revealed insights into technology adoption in within law department operations.

A key finding identified that while LDO professionals claim they have the right technology, the tools themselves are not gaining in effectiveness.

The report asked survey respondents whether e-billing and matter management providers are keeping up with their needs. Fifty-four per cent identified that they were not, while 46 per cent said they were.

This is in stark contrast to the results to the same question posed in 2014, where 53 per cent of respondents said e-billing and matter management providers were keeping up with their needs. 

“Some of the core technologies are just not maturing. In fact, they are less frequently meeting the needs of LDO professionals,” the survey explained.

“Contract management, which is currently ‘hot’ technology (with dozens of new players since 2016), is consistently ranked as the least effective tool.

“Law firms, on the other hand, are starting to get the message. In most industries, technological innovation comes from sellers. There is a real opportunity for law firms to build and use tools to fill the effectiveness gap of in-house technology.”

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Commenting on the findings, Ron Denton, manager, legal business services at Philips 66 and 10-Year LDO Survey advisory board member, said: “Good technology utilisation can be the difference between success and failure for an LDO”.

“It seems we have the right tools, but we need to do a better job of making those tools effective. And we also need to make sure our law firms are fully leveraging their technology to provide us with better productivity and quality,” he added.

The LDO Survey also revealed the evolution of legal department operations roles, as well as the top KPIs for such professionals.