Advances in legal technology are the biggest threat to large law firms as legal departments shore up their investment in technology and move more work inhouse. According to research from Exterro, companies are now carrying out over half their legal work for litigation internally. They cite expanded capacity and better software as factors in the decision to move away from external legal providers as well as cost savings. 

Efficient

Only one in five reported they were 'very satisfied' with work carried out by their law firms whilst 41 per cent said they rated work undertaken by their internal inhouse teams very highly. One respondent explained the benefits of moving more work inhouse as 'Cost savings, leveraging institutional knowedge, consistent defensible practices, reducing law firm spend. Increasing control over data.' However, whilst rating inhouse teams highly, there was a view they could be more efficient.'We could benefit significantly from better integration among practice areas and centralising operations support including e-discovery,' one respondent said. 

New data types

Half the companies canvassed reported preserving instant and text messages, whilst 34 per cent preserve social media communications and eight per cent preserve wearable devices.