The evolution of legal IT has followed a path similar to that of law firms themselves – both are increasingly adopting the business practices of mature companies. The implications for legal IT are important.
Growing customer sophistication is a sign of this maturity. The increasing exposure of issues like electronic records management, cross-office client teams and profitability measurements are pushing law firms to consider more complex solutions like identity management, Chinese walls by default, matter-oriented storage and business intelligence systems. Mobility, enterprise searches, client relationship programmes and other projects meant to put useful information into the hands of lawyers require IT to be adaptable and executive minded. Ironically, lawyers want simple IT that delivers against highly complex requirements.
