Law firms often know their challenges and priorities – but turning plans into real results is known to be a challenge. Here, Zahn Nel has shared powerful insights on how firms can finally bridge the gap between intention and action – and start seeing tangible outcomes.
Speaking on a recent episode of LawTech Talks, Zahn Nel, Actionstep regional vice president in Australia and New Zealand, explored the persistent challenge many firms face in turning ideas into reality and shared insights on how to flip the script – transforming concepts and plans into tangible outcomes that actually get executed.
Nel painted a vivid picture of the pressures law firms face today, emphasising that these challenges are ongoing and widespread across the industry.
“Some of these challenges, [which are] ones that have been going on for quite some time, but particularly law firms are under increasing pressure to meet those client expectations and needs that they have, the fact that they have to manage heavy workloads, and then on top of it all, they have to stay profitable as a firm,” he said.
While law firm leaders are clear on their challenges and priorities, Nel explained that many still struggle when it comes to executing plans and turning intentions into action.
“But there still seems to be this execution challenge due to limited tech adoption, some resource constraints that the firms have, and believe it or not, there still seems to be a lot of manual processes,” he said.
Referencing insights from Actionstep’s Mid-Sized Law Firm Priorities Report 2025, Nel highlighted that many firms repeatedly focus on the same key priorities year after year – yet often see limited progress in actually achieving them.
“There seems to be this theme of three to four key priorities that firms were focusing on … [and] just a lot of those themes kind of repeat themselves year after year because we’ve been running this report now for well about two or three years and those themes normally come up most of the time,” he said.
When it comes to achieving these priorities, it’s not that firms don’t care; Nel explained that reliance on manual processes often slows turnaround times and creates inconsistent client experiences, leaving intentions and actions out of sync.
“In reality, many firms are still actually using or relying on manual processes that obviously lead to slower turnarounds, inconsistency in the experience. So that reality about understanding the expectation and actually what firms are doing about it seems a bit of a disconnect sometimes,” he said.
Nel acknowledged that firms successfully bridging the gap between intention and execution are those willing to rethink their approach, noting that those who embrace modern legal technology and take calculated risks are far more likely to achieve measurable improvements.
“The difference that we see when it comes to bridging that gap between the reality and actually utilising technology as an example for those priorities is that it’s actually a different shift in their mindset,” he said.
“We see firms that take that leap. They have the confidence, and they understand that strong tech or SaaS platforms with open APIs create a best-of-breed tech ecosystem.”
He added: “Importantly, they actually realise that staying still is way more risky, so they take that leap of faith, and they really just start experimenting with technology.”
For firms seeking a more effective approach, Nel emphasised the value of leveraging simple tools and automation, showing that even small, targeted changes can drive measurable improvements without a full-scale overhaul.
“A lot of the time, firms look at a complete 12-month transformation project where they want to reinvent the wheel when there’s actually really great tools that you can do quick wins that you can implement within the firm,” he said.
