How to choose a legal tech company
It’s important not to simply look for a legal technology company that offers one-size-fits-all solutions, says Kenneth “Tray” Gober, managing partner of Lee, Gober & Reyna in Texas. It’s crucial that any proposed tech solution can be tailored to fit specific needs, Gober says. (Image from Shutterstock)
At the ABA Techshow in February, legal technology companies crowded the Hyatt Regency Chicago, hustling for space as they attempted to show off their wares in a rapidly growing market.
In fact, legal tech is posed to nearly double its value, increasing from $25.6 billion in 2022 to $50 billion in 2027, according to a study by Gartner, a tech market analyst.
But while it’s clear that legal tech is necessary, what’s not so crystal is determining which legal tech company will be the best fit for your law firm. Some of the ways that Techshow vendors tried to sway firms their way included slipping little gifts to anyone walking by their booths: a stress ball; a rubber duck branded with their company name; and in one case, a few lottery tickets.
Although the slew of swag is a nice treat, it’s probably not the best way to choose your legal tech team. Instead, Kristopher Kaufman, a senior legal tech customer success manager based in Arizona who has managed high-volume corporate accounts and a former paralegal, suggests that firms should start by thinking about the solutions that the tech vendors offer.
For example, Kaufman says, is your staff having difficulties updating case lists and managing deadlines in bulk? Is your billing department overwhelmed by manual account receivable processes? How long does it take an average case to be completed, and what steps take the longest? Once you determine your firm’s most urgent needs, you can zoom in on legal tech companies that specialize in these services.
It’s important not to simply look for a legal tech company that offers one-size-fits-all solutions, says Kenneth “Tray” Gober, managing partner of Lee, Gober & Reyna in Texas. It’s crucial that any proposed tech solution can be tailored to fit specific needs, Gober says.
At Jones Foster, a commercial and private client firm in West Palm Beach, Florida, it mainly uses software company TCDI for its e-discovery and cybersecurity services.
Robert W. Wilkins, co-chair of the litigation department at Jones Foster and co-chair of the e-discovery subcommittee and the data security subcommittee of the ABA Litigation Section’s Commercial & Business Litigation Committee, says he arrived at this decision after much consideration.
He suggests leaning toward a vendor who may be more expensive per gigabyte (in e-discovery, tech companies typically charge per gigabyte of stored data) but has more capabilities. In the long run, he says, they’re more cost effective, as they have greater capabilities. Wilkins focuses on the cost, experience level and range of services that the legal tech companies offer, also making sure that they’re using generative artificial intelligence.
And while larger firms typically can afford internal tech firms, which help with confidentiality, it makes more sense for smaller firms that have to hire outsiders, Wilkins says. With the latter, they have to focus on the tech’s data privacy, making sure that they’re up to date with the latest data privacy and cybersecurity innovations, along with insurance coverage and response times.
When it comes to choosing a specific legal tech company, Wilkins also likes vendors who are skilled in managed review to help with crafting e-discovery searches.
Wilkins adds that legal tech forensics are crucial, and the vendor should also have someone who can testify in court in case there’s an issue with the data.
“You can find a great vendor, but the person who is the genius behind the algorithms doesn’t know how to speak and to testify,” he says. “You need the whole package. The fewer people who touch my data, the better.”
The basic tech package
Lauren Davidson-Ibarra, an attorney, a co-founder and CEO of the Astral Law Group based in Los Angeles, says she opted for the most basic package at her two-person firm, selecting LexisNexis’ Lexis legal research platform.
She made this decision because she realized that basic internet (Google, for example) doesn’t help very much with caselaw research at the state and federal district level. She considered Lexis and Westlaw but selected Lexis because it was less expensive, totaling $250 per month.
“Other than the price, though, Lexis has really great practice guides in every area of law, amazing templates; you can go in and select any practice area and be shown every type of filing from prelitigation through trial, judgment and judgment collection,” Davidson-Ibarra says.
In addition to Lexis, her firm also pays $20 per month for ChatGPT-4 and ChatGPT-4o. Davidson-Ibarra originally considered hiring a remote assistant or a part-time remote paralegal to handle the firm’s administrative tasks, but ChatGPT-4 does everything that the firm requires, except answer the phones.
Bigger firms tend to utilize more tech variety.
Chambord Benton-Hayes, the founder and principal at Benton Employment Law in Oakland, California, says she and most of her staff are from BigLaw, so they have compiled a massive amount of legal tech experience. For case management, they use MyCase, a commonly used software on the plaintiff side. They also use AI for limited discovery, and they’re considering AI tech to help with billing.
When it comes to selecting the specific companies, Benton-Hayes says, reliability and efficiency are key. One company that her firm initially hired erased an important saved document that was unable to be restored.
“We’re looking for companies that are responsive when there is an issue, with a good track record of customer support,” she says. “Protecting privacy is also essential. When it comes to using AI technology, we never share anything confidential or privileged.”
Final steps
Look at how the tech will help you reduce costs, Kaufman says. Does the new solution that you’re considering eliminate other software or integrate with it? Can it help reduce your firm’s head count, high payment-processing rates or even storage and office space?
Make sure that you also ask for existing client references from other firms.
“While a good case study or well-crafted presentation can be appealing, there are several examples I can think of where it didn’t work the same in practice, or it was rigid and did not in fact integrate well into our systems, which proved to waste time, resources and hinder case management,” says Jason E. Taylor, the founder of the Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor with offices in North Carolina and South Carolina.
Firms can eliminate that risk by getting multiple references to validate the use that cases offer, Taylor says. Just keep in mind that what works for one firm may not work as well for another.
Before he finally signs the bottom line, Taylor says, he asks about hidden costs, such as onboarding and ongoing support.
