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We explore 50 of the most mind-blowing and important legal tech stats for 2024, helping you to stay firmly ahead of the curve in the coming year.

The past few years have felt like , with a health crisis followed by geo-political and economic crises, all in the midst of an environmental crisis. The legal sector has been hit by each crisis and remains in a state of constant flux. But the sector has shown its resilience, its capacity for effective adaptation, and its willingness to innovate and evolve.

Perhaps the greatest form of evolution has been around legal tech. Legal tech has helped lawyers and firms meet the myriad challenges, such as embracing videoconferencing during several lockdowns, onboarding cost-reducing automations during the cost-of-living crisis, and streamlining generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the present moment.

And legal tech will play a larger role in the future. So, with that in mind, we present 50 stats about legal tech to help with your preparation, inform your decision-making process, and hopefully steer you towards the right tech to meet your needs.

General legal tech stats

1. Four-fifths (81%) of small firm lawyers said that keeping working practices and systems up to date will be a significant challenge in the next 12 months – Bellwether Report 2023

2. Despite strong awareness of the need to invest, only 24% of small firm lawyers have any actual plans to implement new technology in the next 12 months – Bellwether Report 2023

3. A survey of 900 law firms in the UK found that only 37% are currently using legal technology –

4. Over four-fifths (82%) of in-house lawyers agree that the demand for legal technology skills will increase in their legal teams – ½Û×ÓÊÓƵ Escaping the in-house legal labyrinth report

5. The biggest benefits of legal tech are ‘makes the team more productive’ (74%), ‘automates repetitive tasks’ (54%), ‘gives more time to focus on priority issues’ (53%), and ‘simplifies workflows’ (49%) – ½Û×ÓÊÓƵ Escaping the in-house legal labyrinth report

6. ‘Improving the use of technology’ and ‘Standardising and centralising processes’ are the top two priorities for business support functions –

7. Law firms are investing more in technology, with overall legal tech spend increasing 48% over the past 12 months – Legal Ops and Tech Survey, Bloomberg Law

8. More than half of solicitors (60.9%) said they intended to use legal tech more frequently in the next five years –

9. The legal sector will grow by +2% in 2024. 2023 saw 6% growth, which means the sector’s growth has slowed significantly, and legal tech is poised as one way that lawyers can mitigate the potential loss of revenue – The ½Û×ÓÊÓƵ Gross Legal Product (GLP) Index 2024

10. In 2021, the impact of legal tech on the global economy equated to around $127.7bn, with forecasts suggesting a rise to more than $225bn by 2027 –

The way lawyers use legal tech

11. Three-quarters (71%) of small firm lawyers said they have a platform to manage cases and client information – Bellwether Report 2023

12. The most popular legal tech is e-billing, which is at present used by 48% of law firms –

13. Contract lifecycle management technology is implemented in 44% of law firms and document management technology in 40% –

14. Nearly three-quarters (70%) of in-house counsel agreed or strongly agreed that law firms should be using cutting-edge technology – Generative AI and the future of the legal profession

15. Over two-thirds (67%) of lawyers use legal research tools â€“ Bellwether Report 2023

16. The top three priority areas for legal tech investment are ‘Document management systems’, ‘Matter management’ and ‘Collaboration tools’ –

17. 95% of firms have found that implementing technology has made them more responsive to client needs –

18. Lawyers see the potential of generative AI to exist in research (66%), briefing documents (59%), and document analysis (47%) – Generative AI and the future of the legal profession

19. 92% of firms say that COVID-19 and the associated restrictions have broadly increased trust in technology –

20. Law firms have responded to the ever increasing cyber risk by investing more funds in cyber security technology and staff –

Artificial intelligence in the legal sector

21. 84% of more than 1000 lawyers surveyed believe generative AI tools will increase the efficiency of lawyers, paralegals, or law clerks â€“ Generative AI and the future of the legal profession

22. Respondents said they’d use AI to increase efficiency (61%), research matters (59%), and draft documents (53%) – Generative AI and the future of the legal profession

23. Nearly nine out of ten respondents to a 2023 ½Û×ÓÊÓƵ survey were aware of the existence of generative AI – Generative AI and the future of the legal profession

24. The vast majority (95%) of lawyers believe generative AI will have a noticeable impact on the law – Generative AI and the future of the legal profession

25. 41% of legal tech respondent companies across the globe have identified AI as an engine that drives their technology –

26. Uptake on use of generative AI was slow in the first half of 2023, with just over a third (36%) of private practice lawyers using it but nearly half of in-house lawyers (46%) – Generative AI and the future of the legal profession

27. Adoption rates will accelerate, with 39% of lawyers saying they are currently exploring opportunities, which rose to 64% when looking at responses from large law firms – Generative AI and the future of the legal profession

28. Almost two-thirds of lawyers (65%) said generative AI would increase efficiency, which rose to 72% for respondents from large law firms and 73% for in-house lawyers – Generative AI and the future of the legal profession

29. The global ‘generative AI in legal market’ size was valued at $52.27m in 2022 and it is expected to reach around $781.55m by 2032 – Generative AI and the future of the legal profession

30. By 2024, all spending on legal tech AI tools and software is expected to reach about $37 billion globally –

Legal tech recruitment, skills, training

31.52% of in-house lawyers said teams will hire more ‘non-legal roles’ such as legal operations experts, project managers, or data analysts in the next three to five years – ½Û×ÓÊÓƵ Escaping the in-house legal labyrinth report

32. Almost half (43%) of in-house lawyers admitted an appetite to onboard legal tech to decrease reliance on external counsel – The pros and cons of the global law firm report

33. Only 29% of legal tech companies around the world were founded by women –

34. One study approximates that more than 100,000 legal roles will be automated by 2036 due to the introduction of AI –

35. Data analytics is the biggest solicitors’ innovation-related skills training priority over the next three years – 

36. Software engineering is the top function for which legal tech firms are recruiting –

37. Only 3% of solicitors have received software coding training in the past three years –

38. A third (33%) of lawyers believe in-house teams will rely more on flexible resourcing for specialist and more technical expertise – The pros and cons of the global law firm report

39. Paralegals were paid an average of 25% more if legal tech skills were required –

40. Solicitors were paid an average of 13% more if legal tech skills were required –

Barriers, roadblocks, challenges

41. Almost two thirds (60%) of lawyers cited 'lack of budget' as a barrier to legal tech adoption – ½Û×ÓÊÓƵ Escaping the in-house legal labyrinth report

42. ‘Lack of understanding’ (51%) and ‘lack of time’ (49%) stood out as other preventative barriers to legal tech adoption – ½Û×ÓÊÓƵ Escaping the in-house legal labyrinth report

43. Only 17% of small firm lawyers suggested that a big advantage of legal tech was saving money, despite the cost-reduction potential – Bellwether Report 2023

44. Two-thirds (67%) of lawyers have mixed feeling about the impact of generative AI on the practice of law – Generative AI and the future of the legal profession

45. 54% of lawyers said communication with the wider business could be more efficient, making the case for tech investment – ½Û×ÓÊÓƵ Escaping the in-house legal labyrinth report

46. Four-fifths (81%) of respondents said keeping working practices and systems up to date will be a challenge in the next 12 months – Bellwether Report 2023

47. 76% of the top 100 firms suffered a cybersecurity incident in 2021 as a result of unintentional actions taken by staff – PwC Law Firms’ Survey

48. Exactly half (50%) of in-house lawyers said they wouldn't join a company without legal technology already in place – ½Û×ÓÊÓƵ Escaping the in-house legal labyrinth report

49. Only 2% of law firms are using AI to cover predictive analytics for litigation – 

50. Despite shifting client expectations, only 24% of law firms use client-facing online portals and only a further 11% plan to use them in the future – Bellwether Report 2023