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Research Outline

Prepared for Eric S. | Delivered June 17, 2020

Legal Software Purchase Decisions

Goals

To determine how law firms and legal departments in Canada and the U.S. make their software purchasing decisions. This information will be used to help understand the purchasing behavior of this target audience. This research should focus on the following areas:
  • why law firms and legal departments choose the software solutions (particularly document management software) they do
  • their barriers to switching software platforms
  • their openness to cloud-based solutions
  • if possible, who the key decision makers tend to be within this cohort when it comes to purchasing products (partners, lawyers, paralegals)

Early Findings

  • "Internet research (62%), peer recommendations (62%), ILTA conferences (52%), consultant recommendations (45%) and ILTA e-Groups (44%) are the top five influences when it comes to making legal IT purchasing decisions."
  • "Cloud computing continues to be one of the hottest topics in legal IT. Law firms of all sizes are embracing the cloud, some on an application-by-application basis others with a ‘cloud first’ approach."
  • A 2016 survey of legal firms found that "53% of all survey respondents indicated that less than 25% of firm software and service solutions could be cloud-based within the next 1-3 years."
  • A 2016 survey of legal firms found that 80% of respondents use outside technology consultants.
  • Over 35% of legal partners surveyed said they are a primary decision maker who holds some responsibility when it comes to reviewing new technology options for the firm.
  • "Attorneys need legal technology, yet many don't recognize this need, or they have something in place, but don't know how to use it. With all the competition in the legal technology marketplace, lawyers need to define their needs carefully and then shop around exhaustively for the right product, but not many of them have the time or willingness to do so."