Reflection and anticipation—these words are especially resonant at this time of year. While we look back at the accomplishments and progress made in the last year, it’s important to prepare for the year ahead by identifying and preparing for both opportunities and challenges.
Following tradition and last year’s annual litigation support trend survey, U.S. Legal Support conducted a fresh investigative survey to dive into the latest topics and trends poised to affect legal professionals and law firms in 2024. From top trends like remote work and cybersecurity to the latest developments in litigation support services, the results will prepare your firm to stay on the cutting edge in 2024 and beyond.
2023 Litigation Support Trend Survey Summary
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation spurred hot debates across various industries this year, it comes as no surprise that legal technology investment and adoption remained a core priority for respondents in our 2023 survey.
The following results detail the highest priority legal tech software investment firms will look to make in 2024:
- Data management and retrieval
- eDiscovery and document review
- Matter management software
- eBilling/cost recovery software
- AI/Machine Learning
Just over 32% of respondents indicated they anticipate their firm’s investment in legal technology to increase in 2024.
Top Considerations for Firms Choosing a Litigation Support Services Vendor
From court reporting to record retrieval to transcription services, outsourcing litigation support services remains a vital component of the litigation lifecycle.
Our 2024 survey asked legal professionals which factors are most important when selecting a litigation support vendor and how they predict their spending on services would change in the upcoming year. Here are the results:
Most Important Factors
What legal professionals expect as the gold standard of service from a litigation support vendor is unchanged from last year. The following remain the most critical factors when selecting a vendor partner:
- Responsiveness and delivery speed
- Fair prices
- Ability to deliver talent/resources when needed
Steady Spending: Litigation Support Spending in 2024
Like last year, respondents reported that their annual spending on litigation support services will likely stay the same. The number of vendors contracted will also remain consistent for many firms, as evidenced by the survey results below.
- Spending on litigation support services will stay the same — 43%
- Number of vendors used will stay the same — 44%
In the Spotlight: 3 Legal Technology Trends
From our survey results, the top legal technology trends to watch in the new year are:
- Digital transformation
- Remote work
- Cybersecurity
While these themes were relevant last year, our 2023 survey dove deeper to glean new insights into how firms and legal professionals are adjusting their approaches in an ever-evolving landscape.
Trend #1: Digital Transformation
Technology continues to steadily evolve across all industries—sometimes incrementally over decades and sometimes drastically in just a few short years. While adopting new technologies, the legal industry continues to take a measured and cautious approach. Guardrails are in place and awareness is high for potential misuse or abuse of ever-developing tools like AI. Still, the survey results suggest that lawyers are still actively exploring digital solutions and are open to leveraging new technologies.
AI in 2024
AI has dominated many legal tech conversations this year:
- 5% of respondents are “extremely familiar” with AI
- 17% of respondents are “very familiar” with AI
- 43% of respondents are “somewhat” familiar with AI
AI has many potential applications within the legal industry. Of the 21% of respondents who are currently using AI technologies, here are the top ways they’re doing so:
- Legal research: 19%
- Document management and automation: 15%
- Predictive analysis: 15%
- Automation of route tasks: 14%
The use of AI brings many benefits to firms. Of those using AI, here are the benefits they’ve experienced:
- Efficiency for administrative tasks, resulting in increased billable time: 45%
- Reduced costs: 35%
- Enhanced client experience: 21%
Notably, 25% of respondents said they expect their firm’s use of AI in law technologies to increase in 2024 and 46% of respondents agree with the statement “AI tools will become mainstream in the legal profession within the next 3-5 years.”
Important questions that remain on the minds of many legal professionals are what impact AI will have on the practice of law and how firms safeguard against potential errors and/or misuse of AI technologies. After a landmark executive order on AI regulation from the White House in late October 2023, senior lawmakers in all industries are kicking off discussions on AI’s potential legislative and regulatory needs.[1] For firms currently using AI, safeguards include:
- Human oversight: 38%
- Training and education: 36%
- Processes to vet software vendors: 30%
- Internal company policies: 21%
Spending on Legal Technology in 2024
Regarding budgeting for tech investments, most firms believe their spending will either increase or stay the same.
- Spending on technology will increase: 32%
- Spending on technology will stay the same: 27%
Trend #2: The Continuation of Remote Work
While lawyers and legal professionals have returned to the office over the past year or two, remote work trends are relevant, and working from home is still widely practiced in the industry for its convenience and efficiency. Here’s how the mix of remote, hybrid, and in-office work broke down:
- Fully in-office: 44%
- Hybrid (office 2-3 days per week): 32%
- Fully remote: 11%
Remote Depositions are Here to Stay
In last year’s survey, 70% of respondents confirmed their organizations used remote depositions. This year’s findings further support the notion that remote depositions are here to stay. Thirty-one percent of respondents expect their use of remote depositions to increase and 46% expect use to remain the same. Legal professionals responding to our survey said the following were the most important factors when selecting remote deposition services:
- Ease of use
- Functionality
- Affordability
- Security
- Affordability
Trend #3: Cybersecurity
Discussions of technology in law are hardly complete without addressing increasingly relevant cybersecurity threats. In 2024, mitigating security risk remains top of mind for firms of all sizes.
This year, our survey revealed that 78% of responding professionals have a firm data security policy in place. Additionally, 76% of respondents said their firm demonstrates compliance with the latest security and privacy standards.
Sources:
The National Law Review. 4 Realities of Using Graphics in Trial (According to a Top Trial Attorney). https://www.natlawreview.com/article/4-realities-using-graphics-trial-according-to-top-trial-attorney
The National Law Review. Landmark Executive Order on AI: What Does it Mean for Healthcare? https://www.natlawreview.com/article/landmark-executive-order-ai-what-does-it-mean-healthcare
