In the mid-1980s, a bright red computer terminal that provided lawyers with online access to case law was an iconic status symbol. The UBIQ terminal hooked lawyers up to the Lexis service, at the time one of the first legal technology systems, using full-text search capabilities to provide rapid access to information. The conventional wisdom at that time was that computers were soon going to make extensive legal libraries and paper obsolete.

Thirty-five years on, what has happened? After years of chronic underinvestment in technology and embracing data and systems at the core of the digital agenda, lawyers remain comfortable with paper. Legal documentation has not been effectively digitised and, as a result, legal teams continue to wrestle with data management.