Budgeting may feel like an administrative chore, but in 2025, let’s think of it as an opportunity. With firms increasingly open to AI tools, it's an exciting time to do some blue-sky thinking about your firm’s technology as a whole. This is a chance to envision the future of your firm's technology landscape and make bold choices that align with long-term goals.
With that in mind, here are some tips to improve the odds of approval for your legal tech budget:
Making the case for that budget line item starts with thinking about the big picture. Consider the priorities of leaders in your practice group, department, and the firm as a whole. Be specific about the growth areas and pain points and how a legal tech tool can help. Will an AI-enabled case management solution free up associate time reviewing documents for more substantive work? Will case chronology software allow paralegals to devote less time to manually preparing exhibits and keep you from having to outsource trial prep tasks? Include these kinds of benefits in your request.
It will be more difficult to make the case for more or new tech tools if you’re not fully using what you already have. Take a look at what’s included in existing subscriptions and how it could fill gaps. Ask attorneys and staff how they’re using current solutions. Check-in to see where a one-on-one or small group refresher might open the door to greater use. If someone is using a solution effectively now, ask that person to speak to colleagues about how it has helped.
An audit of current tech can pinpoint where augmenting what you already have, rather than spending on something new, can reduce costs.
Numbers can make your case better than any appeal to intangibles. Before requesting a budget for tech tools, calculate not only the out-the-door cost but also the anticipated time and money the tools will save using ROI metrics like solution utilization, time spent on tasks, and time spent on matters. Any way to connect technology to winning more cases and winning more business will show the value of the investment. Other ways to measure ROI include cost savings, operational efficiency, risk reduction, and client satisfaction.
In addition, it demonstrates the benefits of the tech tool in action. Perhaps the software you want to renew played a pivotal role in important litigation during the past year. Include information about that, and even a quote from a member of the trial team, in your budget request. If you’re making the case for a new tool your firm hasn’t used, the provider’s customer service should be able to provide a case study or connect you with a current customer to make the use case.
Happy clients make successful law firms. Demonstrate how a tech tool can add value to clients. For example, a user-friendly dashboard can help the firm and clients collaborate. A case management system can increase reliability and decrease the chance that details will fall through the cracks. Promote these benefits.
Some attorneys might be concerned that giving clients access to tech tools like a platform where they can log in and directly gain access to information about their case status, intellectual property portfolio, and so on will keep them from communicating with attorneys. But this can actually enhance the relationship and facilitate a more proactive partnership.
Legal tech is often a large and long-term investment that requires vetting the vendor and careful contract negotiations to mitigate risks and set clear expectations. Understand which stakeholders are involved at each stage and what type of runway is needed to successfully make it through the procurement process.
Procurement often includes: 1) Vendor due diligence to understand the company’s structure and market reputation. 2) Security and compliance verification to review data handling and security procedures. 3) Reference checks to make sure your use case is viable and what types of things to look out for. Lastly, 4) Contract negotiations to align your firm’s policies with the software terms.
Brainstorm the potential pushback and ask attorneys and staff what’s kept them from implementing tools in the past. One major concern in the current environment is security. According to Bloomberg Law’s 2024 Legal Ops and Tech Survey, 54% of law firm respondents said that security concerns were a barrier to tech adoption. Before submitting a legal tech budget request, ask potential providers about theirsecurity practices, like whether they hold security certifications and what their incident response plans are.
The Bloomberg survey also stated that budgets were a concern for 46% of law firm respondents. Other barriers include lack of tech savvy, lack of familiarity with available technologies, and not enough time to learn technologies. As noted above, studying and presenting the ROI and evaluating current training procedures can help counter such pushback. Discussing other resources like a tutorial library and responsive customer service can also address the knowledge gap.
Once legal tech tools are in place, periodically assess how well they’re working and where they might be underutilized. Collect data throughout the year on frequency of use, time spent on activities that can be streamlined by tech, and more.
By thinking big while working through the details, these strategies can help ensure that you will have the tech tools to help your firm thrive no matter what it holds.
