Posted 21 January 2020

When it comes to selecting a legal technology solution for your firm, there’s no shortage of options. Many companies and technologies are new to the market, and the number of legal technology products continues to grow. However, this abundance of offerings can make it harder to choose the solution that’s right for your firm.

Fortunately, selecting the right legal tech supplier isn’t so different from choosing any other business partner with which to work. The ideal legal tech partner should have the technology, knowledge and flexibility to create a solution that aligns with your firm’s business objectives and processes. To successfully evaluate technology solution for your firm, you should start by mapping out your baseline business objectives, which might include improving efficiency, reducing costs or expanding client services offerings. 

These business considerations will most likely guide your decision in selecting the right legal technology. In other words, you’ll want to select a solution that will help you achieve your objectives and provide a return on investment. Here are several key things to look for when identifying a potential technology solution and supplier for your firm.

Partnership

Law firms face complex and ever-evolving challenges. An exemplary legal tech provider will be able to not only provide scalable and flexible technology to help you solve these challenges, but also offer expertise and guidance on how to maximise your technology. You’ll want to look for a partner who has a deep understanding of the legal market and is willing to closely work with your team to implement your vision. 

Functional Value

The next step is to consider the functional value of the technology. The technology should be customisable to your firm’s needs and systems and improve your firm’s bottom line. For example, when top-tier international law firm Wikborg Rein wanted to launch a digital client intake solution, it turned to PSA Consulting and Sysero to create customised intake workflow aligned to the firm’s compliance procedures and fully integrated with the firm’s internal systems. 

Experience

When it comes to technology, things change rapidly. However, experience can be a key indicator as to whether a provider is able to keep up with the pace of change. Look for tech partners that have extensive experience in not only the technology they provide, but also within the legal industry. A roster of long-term, satisfied clients with compelling transformation stories is another sign of an experienced and skilled legal tech vendor. 

Security

With regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Money Laundering Act, compliance and security continue to be a key concern for modern law firms. The right legal technology should be able to address your top information security and compliance concerns. There are a number of ways to use legal technology, such as workflow automation, to effectively enforce data protection policies and ensure compliance. However, you should also spend the time to assess your potential provider’s own data retention and protection policies and how they store and access data. One way to ensure your partners are committed to protecting your data is to look for those that have an ISO 27001 certification. 

Once you’ve narrowed down your options to final candidates, it’s important to also consider the following issues:

• How easy is the technology for lawyers/clients to use?
• What support services does the vendor provide? 
• How easy will it be to scale the solution?
• Is a cloud-based or on-premise solution?

At Sysero, we’ve worked with leading law firms around the world to help them solve their toughest challenges with technology. To learn more about our offerings and see if they’re the right fit for your firm, get in touch with our team.