State of Legal Operations and Legal Technology Spotlighted in New Bloomberg Law Survey

Fewer Than One in Four Respondents Report Using Legal Technology That Leverages Machine Learning or Artificial Intelligence

ARLINGTON, VA (May 14, 2019) — Bloomberg Law today announced that it released a wide-ranging survey on the state of legal operations and legal technology at the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC) Institute, which begins today in Las Vegas. Among the most noteworthy findings, less than one-quarter of survey respondents indicate that they are using legal technology with artificial intelligence or machine learning, and while over half replied no to the question the remaining quarter responded that they are not sure which may indicate a gap in either knowledge or underuse of the technology. An overview of survey findings is available at http://onb-law.com/eh3030oIxyU.

The survey was conducted in April and features responses from nearly 500 practitioners representing a mix of law firms and corporate legal departments across the United States. Topics covered include legal process and operations, legal technology adoption, and legal technology spending.

“This survey provides a wealth of valuable data regarding attorneys’ perspectives on the operational processes and technology that can help make legal departments and law firms more efficient,” says Molly Huie, team lead for data analysis and surveys at Bloomberg Law. “This foundational research is part of our expanded focus on legal operations, which now includes a new In Focus page within the platform providing analysis, news and insights, and practical guidance.“

Additional survey findings include:

• Nearly nine in ten respondents report having a legal operations function, with equity partners at law firms and general counsel at corporate legal offices being the titles most frequently cited as directing that function.
• The legal operations function often has multiple responsibilities within a department, including records and vendor management, training, and procurement.
• Expectations are high for using new legal technology – 87% say that as clients, they expect their outside counsel to use appropriate legal technology to be more efficient. However, fewer than one half agree they are well prepared in general to respond to demands for increasing technology use.

An executive summary of the survey results is being offered to CLOC attendees. Access to the full results and analysis is available to subscribers of Bloomberg Law. As with all enhancements to Bloomberg Law content and analysis, this survey is available to Bloomberg Law subscribers at no additional cost.