Top 5 Technology Gaps in Law Departments Identified in New Thomson Reuters Survey

In a workflow environment that is becoming increasingly demanding and complex, corporate law departments are often lacking automated tools for managing many of their most critical tasks. That’s among the findings of a new survey conducted by Thomson Reuters.

The survey identified the top 5 critical law department tasks that are most often not being managed with automated solutions. The survey found that law departments are frequently using technology to help manage certain critical tasks – such as legal research and matter management. But at the same time, only about one in five are currently using automated solutions on critical tasks such as legal holds, complex transactions and compliance.

More than 500 law department leaders, attorneys and staff were surveyed by Thomson Reuters. The survey focused on tasks that were deemed critical by survey respondents, and were also widespread – that is, carried out by the majority of law departments.

These are the Top 5 critical tasks that have the least use of automated solutions:

- Legal holds (20%)
- Complex transactions (21%)
- Compliance (22%)
- Entity management (28%)
- Contract management (40%)

“Expectations for legal departments are rising and the demands of global operations place new strains on departments,” said Eric Laughlin, managing director, Corporate Counsel Segment, Thomson Reuters. “The finding that fewer than a quarter of law departments surveyed are applying automated solutions against several critical tasks clearly indicates the need for greater use of technology. At the same time, simply applying point solutions against these needs is not the complete answer either. The solutions need to be integrated to provide a comprehensive view of the department’s activities. While deploying point solutions can help address individual needs, survey respondents expressed a strong need for an integrated Enterprise Legal Management approach that could eliminate problems such as duplicate data entry, multiple storage locations, missed collaboration opportunities, and lack of leadership visibility into their entire legal landscape.”

Thomson Reuters is a leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minn., Thomson Reuters employs approximately 60,000 people and operates in over 100 countries.

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