Legal Technology Trends

India’s litigation market is shifting gears, Maulik Vyas reports for The Economic Times. Senior litigators and arbitration experts are ditching large law firms to set up independent chambers. These boutique practices are popping up across Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Delhi, led by former partners from names like Dentons Link Legal, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, and HSA Advocates, the report adds. Driver behind this move? Clients are changing what they value. There is a growing preference for specialist advocacy, flexible service, and better pricing over the traditional full-service model. Additionally, independent chambers avoid conflict-of-interest issues that often plague larger entities. Poornima Hatti, who recently started her own practice in Bengaluru, points out that running a massive firm is time-consuming for senior partners. “Chamber practice allows counsel to appear in a range of matters and not necessarily focus on one specific area,” she adds. Vijayendra Pratap Singh, Senior partner at law firm AZB & Partners, further pointed how this trend is also related to a rise in transactional complexity, and an increase in the number of specialised regulatory tribunals. The timing also makes perfect sense. India has nearly 50 million cases pending, and as transactions get more complicated, the need for focused, conflict-free representation is skyrocketing. This leaves the big firms in a bit of a bind regarding talent. To keep their best people, experts suggest these firms might need to rethink their entire business model. “They may have to consider autonomy for litigation practising teams, including flexibility in taking briefs on non-firm mandates or appearance in court and participation in thought leadership, among other things,” points out an expert. How do you think this will impact the future of big law firms? Share your thoughts in the comments below. ✍: Nakul Ghai 📷: Getty Images Source: The Economic Times: https://lnkd.in/dsrwNxGh

The biggest and most important trend I’ve seen in the legal ecosystem since I graduated from law school 15 years ago is the disaggregation of legal work. It’s a trend that shows no signs of stopping. Which I happen to view as a good thing. It used to be that the lawyers were responsible for doing 100% of the work, no matter what the task was. That’s why attention to detail came to be viewed as such an important virtue. The idea was that if your lawyer could do a good job on low value tasks, they could be trusted with higher value tasks. But then both firms & their clients realized that they could break off certain types of lower value work and delegate it to others effectively. Like providers who handled document hosting or first level doc review. Then we all discovered that software (first on premise, then private/public cloud) could effectively automate document, contract, or e-discovery workflows. It probably didn’t hurt that the economics of all this disaggregation were highly attractive. These developments also showed that highly pedigreed (and expensive) lawyers didn’t need to do all the work themselves. Instead, the work could be assigned to the appropriate provider. Division of labor had always been common at law firms—but with internal staff, like paralegals or law librarians. Now it became clear that the work could be further divided & delegated to outside providers. Things are poised to move even faster. Right now, in 2025, investors are waiting in the wings, ready to deploy large sums of capital into legal AI startups, AI-enabled services companies, or occasionally, law firms themselves. New structures, like Arizona ABS or MSOs, will likely lead to the creation of large providers, focused on even higher value tasks that drive operational efficiency to firms & clients. I don’t know what this all means for the ecosystem or the profession for that matter. Surely there will be growing pains, and things could go wrong. It’s still an open question about how all this will interact with the patchwork of draconian regulations surrounding the practice of law. But personally, I think all this change is welcome. The status quo had its own problems. So to me, it doesn’t matter if it’s traditional tech, services, or some new flavor of AI—all this disaggregation of work is a move in the right direction. 

Law firms are hiring a non-billable role that’s quietly increasing revenue. 𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗹-𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲, 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁-𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 are being hired at an accelerating pace - and not as reactive support, but as revenue drivers. Titles vary (Client Relationship Director, Client Account Executive, Client Development Manager), but their mandate is consistent: grow key clients, expand relationships, and capture and nurture new opportunities in certain practices and industries. The market signals are clear: - A top Am Law firm is hiring client and business development professionals focused on expanding existing relationships and cross-selling. - Others are building a dedicated client relationship function for financial institutions and private equity to deepen wallet share across practices. - Another is hiring a litigation-focused BD leader to expand client relationships and drive revenue growth. - A global firm is investing in client account executives as part of its global client program. Why now? The BTI Consulting Group reports that 87% of firms are increasing BD budgets. The shift is not just more spend; it is how firms are deploying it: toward dedicated, client-facing revenue and relationship roles. BTI’s research shows that law firm clients love these dedicated client executives, they deliver results, and (key) the law firms with these roles outperform those without them. What these professionals actually do: ☑️ Accelerate organic revenue growth: identify needs early and convert them into proposals before an RFP is issued. ☑️ Expand relationships: conduct structured, proactive engagement with key clients and prospects beyond what busy partners can sustain. ☑️ Maintain pipeline discipline: turn annual plans into active pipelines with clear ownership, follow-up, and accountability. ☑️ Improve win rates: coordinate and participate in pitches, capture feedback, and apply lessons to future pursuits. ☑️ Increase ROI visibility: track, report, and improve ROI on the firm’s BD and marketing investments. This is not a new model. Accounting and consulting firms professionalized their sales functions decades ago. Today, PE-backed firms, ALSPs, AI-native firms, and the Big 4 are competing for legal spend with fully built client development infrastructure already in place. This is no longer innovation - it is catch-up. Firms that still treat these roles as overhead will lose to those that treat them as revenue multipliers. Law firms do not have a talent gap. They have a role design gap. If your firm is considering piloting or formalizing this role, I am happy to share sample position descriptions and market insight. This is also the type of role I excel at and am actively pursuing. #lawfirms #clientdevelopment #businessdevelopment

Most law firms don't have a business development problem. They have a growth architecture problem. The traditional formula was simple. Build legal expertise, wait for referrals, and let reputation do the heavy lifting. That model is no longer enough. Today's clients have more choices, greater expectations, and access to AI-powered legal tools that make technical expertise easier to compare than ever before. Firms that continue to rely solely on reputation risk becoming increasingly interchangeable. Consider this. The global Alternative Legal Services market has already surpassed US$30 billion, reflecting clients' active pursuit of new delivery models that combine expertise with efficiency, technology, and commercial value. The firms that will lead the next decade are unlikely to be those with the largest libraries or the highest billable hours. They will be the ones that deliberately build five strategic capabilities: • A clearly differentiated market position. • Deeper and more proactive client relationships. • A predictable pipeline of quality opportunities. • A culture where every partner contributes to growth. • Metrics that measure relationship quality, not just revenue. Business development is no longer about selling legal services. It is about understanding industries before clients ask, solving business problems before they become legal problems, and becoming the trusted adviser clients call first rather than the lawyer they call last. The most valuable asset of any professional services firm isn't its office, its technology, or even its expertise. It is the trust it consistently earns, the relationships it nurtures, and the opportunities it creates.

I went to PwC’s 34th UK Law Firms Survey results seminar this morning. Here are some of their findings: The legal sector’s holding up, but the gap between winners and strugglers is widening fast. The survey paints a familiar picture: resilient firms, restless markets, and a business model under strain. Growth is still there, but it’s thinner, slower, and built on rate rises clients won’t accept forever. Good year. Hard year. - 95% of the top 100 grew fee income. - But growth slowed. The 51–100 firms outperformed mid-tier rivals on profits, which was a first. - The PEP gap that was 40% four years ago is now 7%. Expect more movement of partners to smaller, hungrier firms. The UK led most global regions. The US, Middle East, Australia and CEE grew fast. Western Europe lagged. Asia barely moved. Growth has gone rate-led. - Chargeable hours are flat. Income is up. - But that’s not sustainable. Clients are pushing back. Pricing has become the strategy, and the next competitive battleground. The productivity paradox. - Half of firms report productivity gains from AI and automation. - Yet fewer than one in five have turned that into commercial value. - Hours saved are not (yet) profit earned. Execution separates the leaders. High-growth firms do four things better: 1) Make laterals deliver value, not headlines. 2) Govern pricing, don’t discount reactively. 3) Productise know-how instead of rebadging it. 4) Invest properly in BD and marketing. So... nothing radical, just discipline. Workforce and structure are shifting. - Top 10 firms trimmed headcount*. Mid-tier grew. - Fixed-share and non-equity partners are rising fast. Spare capacity is increasing at the top end. - Some firms are rethinking performance metrics from hours to value, collaboration and efficiency. That’s long overdue. So what now? - Rebase your pricing. Tie it to tech and value, not just time. - Monetise productivity. Capture the gains. - Integrate laterals with purpose. - Productise one service per core sector this quarter. - Address diversity gaps that clients now see before you do. Resilience isn’t a strategy. Pricing, productivity and people models are colliding. The firms that recalibrate around those levers will grow. The rest will raise rates and call it innovation. If you priced a major matter today, would you do it the same way you did last year? *we cover this every month in the free TBD 250 headcount charts (see image below) #LawFirms #Lawyers #LegalProfession

Which law firms are really growing ? Instead of revenue or rankings, I looked at something very concrete ! 👉 The evolution of lawyers’ headcount on LinkedIn (from 2024 to 2025). ➡️ Top firms by absolute headcount growth (mainly driven by global platforms) • White & Case LLP • Clifford Chance • Jones Day • Norton Rose Fulbright • Baker McKenzie (Global) • Bird & Bird • Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP ➡️ Top firms by percentage growth (where real momentum shows 👀) • PIERSTONE (+50%) • Arcas Law (+20.6%) • Baker McKenzie Belgium (+12.8%) • Centrius Avocats (+11.5%) • Argo Law (+11.1%) • AKD (+8.5%) • Astrea Law (+7.8%) • Gide (+6.5%) • Liedekerke (+6.1%) My takeaway: Large international firms grow through scale and global platforms. Mid-size firms and boutiques grow through focus, positioning and timing. Two very different growth stories, both highly relevant to today’s Belgian legal market. Methodology & disclaimer (important): These figures are based on publicly available LinkedIn data, i.e. profiles declaring “employed at” each firm between Dec-24 and Dec-25. The data may reflect: • global vs local entity differences (e.g. Global vs Belgium pages) • delayed profile updates • internal restructurings or naming changes As such, the numbers should be read as indicative trends rather than exact headcounts. The objective is to highlight market dynamics, not to establish a definitive ranking. Which firms do you think will show the strongest growth next year? #belgium #lawfirms #legalmarket #recruitment #linkedindata

Every single day, law firms are making leadership changes. It's great to see succession at work. The tough thing is, stepping into leadership means more than just overseeing legal work—it means driving growth. Business development and marketing are no longer side functions; they are core to your firm’s success. To position your firm for sustainable growth, here are a few observations. 👓 You’re Not Just Selling Legal Services—You’re Building Relationships Business development isn’t about pitching—it’s about cultivating meaningful connections. - Understand your clients’ industries, pain points, and business goals - Encourage proactive guidance instead of just reacting to legal issues - Regularly check in with clients beyond the work cycle 🌟 Remind your partners, the best law firms don’t just provide legal solutions; they act as strategic business partners. 👓 Partner with Your CMO—They’re Your Growth Visionary (and Architect) Your CMO is one of your most valuable allies. They have deep insights into the firm’s brand, client perception, and competitive positioning. Too often, firm leaders underutilize this resource. - Understand your firm’s marketing capabilities and gaps - Align on strategic priorities and what’s needed to execute them - Support key initiatives—whether it’s digital transformation, thought leadership, or client experience improvements 🌟 Your CMO likely has a "strategic wish list"—initiatives that could significantly enhance firm growth if properly supported. Prioritize a growth agenda together to ensure BD and marketing efforts align with your firm’s goals. 👓 Your Lawyers Are Your Best Marketers—Empower Them Rainmaking isn’t just for a select few. The strongest firms encourage all lawyers to contribute to BD. - Invest in BD training and mentorship 🌟 Set expectations for networking, speaking engagements, and content creation and provide budgets 👓 Data Drives Growth BD and marketing efforts should be strategic and measurable. Use data to: - Measure effectiveness—what’s driving engagement and leads? - Gather client feedback to refine service offerings and identify growth areas 🌟 If you’re not tracking what works (embrace CRM), you’re making decisions in the dark. A data-driven approach helps optimize your firm’s growth efforts. 👓 Culture Is Your Secret Growth Weapon The firms that grow aren’t just technically excellent; they foster a culture of collaboration, client service, and innovation. - Align the firm around a shared vision - Encourage cross-practice collaboration and knowledge sharing - Stay open to new approaches, e.g., tech adoption to new services 🌟 Growth happens when BD and marketing are embraced firm-wide—not just at the top. As a leader, your role goes beyond managing... to driving sustainable growth. That means embracing collaboration with your partners and CMO to ensure your firm continues to evolve. #Lawfirmleadership #businessdevelopment #legalmarketing

For law firms developing and executing on an AI strategy, Lana Manganiello, Nancy Rapoport and I are 100% elbows deep into thought leadership and content delivery mode. And we're already helping AmLaw20 firms plan and execute on a successful AI strategy. We're happy to share the specifics on how. Our thesis: Law firms which want to capitalize on AI as a growth accelerator need to follow a multidisciplinary approach combining legal spend analytics and business development tactics to focus on where AI fuels growth. We started with our Bloomberg Law article. See https://lnkd.in/ge737MJv) where we laid the foundation of our thesis. We followed up with a more academic version which will be published in a few days in the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University's Corporate and Business Law Journal. Thanks to Jon Iversen for his quick turnaround on the publication. We gave our first CLE presentation last week. See attached presentation. Before any AI strategy can succeed, firms must understand their current workflows. Using Legal Decoder, Inc's legal spend analytics platform, firms can diagnose which tasks are automation-ready versus judgment-intensive by analyzing time entries, matter types, and billing patterns. This data diagnostic reveals the foundation for what we call the "Defend-Extend-Create" framework: DEFEND high-margin bespoke work (bet-the-company litigation, complex M&A) EXTEND mid-margin tasks through AI efficiency (contract reviews, due diligence)   CREATE entirely new AI-enabled offerings (algorithmic bias audits, AI governance policies) REPOSITION AI AS A CLIENT VALUE DRIVER by demonstrating: - Accelerated turnaround times that match clients' AI-velocity business operations - Enhanced accuracy and risk management - Proactive strategic insights, not reactive service delivery FOLLOW A PRACTICAL ROADMAP Phase 1: Build internal AI competence with pilot programs Phase 2: Conduct client listening tours on their AI journeys Phase 3: Develop signature AI-enhanced offerings Phase 4: Launch thought leadership campaigns Phase 5: Integrate AI into all business development activities Phase 6: Commit to continuous evolution If your firm needs help, we can provide a tailored solution. Coming up are a series of presentations with TVPi - True Value Partnering Institute and the CABLJ Forum in March 2026. Karl DORWART David Solomon Angie Litan, MS Deirdre White Michael Frankel Sudheer Poluru

Mid-sized law firms are now leading AI adoption. This is a significant shift. Historically, big firms led technology adoption while small and mid-sized firms lagged behind. Clio's 2025 Legal Trends Report shows the gap is closing: • Firms with wide AI adoption see 3x revenue growth likelihood • AI reduces cognitive load by 25% and active focus time by 72% for billing tasks • 77% of AI-driven revenue growth comes from operations automation—document generation, workflow automation, and client communication • Growing firms use 12% more automation workflows than stagnant firms The takeaway? Mid-sized firms are no longer waiting for big firms to validate technology. They're moving fast, automating operations, and seeing measurable growth. What's driving AI adoption at your firm—efficiency gains, client expectations, or competitive pressure?

87% of firms are increasing BD budgets. But this hides the real story: Law firms are pouring money into business development. They are trying to fix a set of activities characterized by: • Uneven performance across partners • Partner dependency for execution • Widely disparate, informal, partner-specific systems Firms are attacking the problem from every angle with one goal: to build one high-performing, scalable system to drive new business. Our survey of more than 130 Marketing/BD leaders tells us where the money is going – and what each investment is trying to fix: Client Relationship Managers/ Business Development Executives Clients love their dedicated business professionals (BDE). BDEs support relationship partners and clients. Some firms see BDEs as nothing but overhead. The firms pulling ahead see them as force multipliers. BD Coaches for Partners Most partners don’t have a business development strategy. They have instincts, habits, and occasional wins. BD coaches are filling the gap. They don’t just build plans. Good coaches translate scattered activity into focused behavior. Practice-Specific and Industry-BD Managers Most firms go to market by practice. They’re adding BD firepower inside M&A, Litigation, and other high-demand areas – embedding support where revenue already flows. The smaller group of firms going to market by industry is adding dedicated business managers as well. Digital Marketing Strategies Digital marketing used to be a novelty. Now it’s infrastructure. Firms are moving past content production and toward precision targeting and client development. The goal: reach the right client at the exact right time.   Content Developers The world is flooded with content. Clients ignore most of it – which is why firms are investing in resources to curate, refine and target. They are moving from focusing on output to impact. CRM CRM is back – with a new promise: intelligence. AI-driven systems are attracting fresh investment – offering better visibility, coordination and insight. The idea of deeper and more targeted insight is compelling. Every one of these investments is solving the same problem: Business development in law firms is still not a system. It’s a collection of: • Individual habits • Uneven skills • Inconsistent follow-through • Fragmented information So, firms are building around it: • BDEs to capture insight • Coaches to shape behavior • Managers to drive execution • Digital strategy and content to scale visibility • CRM to connect it all Most firms will improve pieces. Fewer will connect them. And those who do: • Waste less effort • Move faster • Convert more opportunities • Grow predictably The firms with systems don’t replace rainmakers. They make the best ones unstoppable. And they win the BD race. Read the full post at The MAD Clientist: https://lnkd.in/eb5Wk2HG