United Kingdom: Information Technology

Gartner’s latest prediction landed last week with a headline that legal technology vendors will be quoting for years: legal tech budgets will double by 2028. If you are a GC, managing partner, or director of legal operations, you are probably already fielding calls from vendors who want to be part of that spending.

In the bustling world of legal practices, where many documents could be the linchpin of a case, efficient document management is not just a convenience — it’s a necessity. Yet, many law firms find themselves entangled in the chaos of outdated document management practices and systems, where vital information is often buried in physical file cabinets or lost in disorganized digital folders scattered across multiple applications.

AI adoption in legal has crossed a threshold that should prompt every firm leader to ask a harder question. According to the Wolters Kluwer 2026 Future Ready Lawyer Survey of 810 lawyers, 92% of respondents now use at least one AI tool in their daily workflow, with more than half reporting time savings of 6–20% of their work week and 60% expecting their organization’s AI investment to grow over the next three years.

At the moment, legal AI is at the "frothy" part of the hype cycle. It's a bit like the scene What did the Romans ever do for us? in the film the Life of Brian, but in reverse.

This is the fourth of five short vlogs from a Thomson Reuters Panel on Law Firm Innovation that Richard spoke at recently. It looks at client service and client retention.

This is second of five short vlogs from a Thomson Reuters Panel on Law Firm Innovation that Richard spoke at recently. It looks at understanding what clients want and how to provide it.