For many industries IT services have moved from a series of tactical investments, that address specific tasks, into the strategic centre stage in enabling and driving business growth and change. For legal firms this is more difficult.
The generation and management of business strategy is more diffuse and collegiate than within commercial organisations or public bodies, because the stakeholders are personally interested in the day-to-day as well as the strategic. Larger partnerships are striving to achieve the transition to a more corporate operation. However, partners are lawyers first and foremost and may have had neither the technical nor managerial development to take leadership in these areas. As a consequence, there is a clearly identified gap between the business strategy of law firms and their IT strategy.
