New research by business provider Intapp has shown that UK law firms consider intelligent automation to be an important factor in driving growth and efficiency, but there is a significant gap between this recognition and the actual investment in deploying these technologies.

Survey results

While 86 per cent of UK firms believe automation is an important factor in managing client terms, just 17per cent have actually adopted the technology to implement this. The research, conducted in collaboration with The Lawyer, surveyed 111 law firms in the UK and sought to identify where firms are positioned on the “data-driven insights and intelligent automation adoption curve”. Overall, less than half of law firms in the UK are utilising intelligent automation in some way. The top areas that AI is currently being implemented include conflict clearance (43per cent), legal project management (43per cent) and pricing (37per cent). With 49per cent of law firms globally prioritising pricing as the number one reason for adoption, the research shows that the UK deviates from this trend, prioritising efficiency-based tasks instead. Though 94per cent deem intelligent automation to be important for conflicts, only 43per cent of firms are taking advantage of data-driven insight. While 86per cent of firms believe that using data-driven insight to manage client terms is important, only 17per cent currently use technology solutions for this purpose. 91per cent firms feel intelligent automation is important for resource allocation, yet only 20per cent have invested. Although 85per cent of law firms agree that automation is important to deliver insight and analytics to clients, only 20per cent have, to date, made the investments necessary to embed this capability into their service delivery models. 46per cent of respondents stated that intelligent automation for opportunity identification and cross-selling is very important, yet only 13per cent of law firms report they are currently utilising data-driven insight for this purpose.

Forward-thinking

John Hall, ceo of Intap, explained ‘what we’ve seen in the industry, and what this study shows, is that forward-thinking law firms are embracing a client-centric technology strategy as a driver of both top- and bottom-line growth. They are using intelligent automation, AI and other modern technologies to differentiate themselves from the majority of firms who are lagging behind.’ Surveyed firms selected the following use cases as the top three investment areas for future artificial intelligence capabilities: seeking improvements in time recording to support accurate and prompt billing; pricing to improve budgeting accuracy; and, identifying target opportunities through relationship mapping.