ILTA and InsideLegal Release 2015 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey

Global News

01
Sep
2015

Editor

The International Legal Technology Association (ILTA), and InsideLegal, an insider’s guide to doing business in legal technology, today released the findings of the “2015 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey” (survey). The survey, which is distributed to all ILTA member law firms, includes detailed technology budget data; updated information on firms’ social media and publication preferences; an in-depth look at tablet and mobile purchasing patterns; firm legal IT challenges, and expansive sections on current and future legal technology purchases.

2015 survey findings are being presented as part of ILTA/InsideLegal’s Vendor education program and a separate conference session in conjunction with ILTA’s Annual Conference, ILTACON, taking place at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, August 30-September 3, 2015. The 12 page survey findings report can be downloaded here.

“ILTA and InsideLegal have long collaborated on legal technology education focused on enhancing our value, not only at the annual conference, but throughout the year,” stated Peggy Wechsler, ILTA's Program Director. “The ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey is a perfect example of how InsideLegal partners with us on giving back to the industry and provides additional benefits to our vendor partners and members. The feedback we receive from the broader legal community validates our decision to take on this project every year and distribute and share this free resource.” 

2015 ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey highlights include:

• 57% of all respondents spend 2-4% of total firm revenue on technology. Within this range, Medium Firms (50-199 attorneys) represent 49%, the largest percentage.
• 77% of survey respondents spend less than $17,000 on technology per attorney including 100% Small Firms (less than 50 attorneys). 86% of Large Firms (200+ attorneys) spend more than $17,000 per attorney.
• 2015 top 5 tech purchases: Laptops/notebooks (67%); desktop hardware (60%); network upgrades (51%); printers/MFDs (49%); antivirus/antispam software (40%).
• Microsoft Office add-ons (macros, templates, etc.) declined to 6% (from 12% in 2014); demand for Office upgrades stayed level at 18%.
• MS Office 365, introduced as a new category in 2015, was purchased by 13% of surveyed firms. 11% plan to purchase within the year.
• Firms utilizing big data tech prioritized business intelligence/analytics (34%); predictive coding (25%), pricing/managing legal spend (22%) and competitive intelligence/analysis (19%).
• 2015 top 5 legal/tech publications: ILTA White Papers (86%), Peer to Peer magazine (83%), Legaltech News (50%), Legal IT Today (21%) & ABA Journal (19%).
• Internet research, peer recommendations, and ILTA conferences are top 3 legal IT purchasing influences.
• 2015 ‘most exciting trend’ themes include cloud computing, mobility, security, virtualization, AI & analytics.
• 72% of all survey respondents outsource website design/services followed by printer repair/maintenance (49%) and spam/virus filtering (40%).
• Most firm BYOD policies cover smartphones (71%) and tablets (59%), only 28% cover laptops. 28% indicated they don’t have a BYOD policy.
• 60% of survey respondents stated that less than 25% of firm software and service solutions would be cloud-based within the next 1-3 years.
• 92% of respondents said they use outside technology consultants (up 2% from 2014 and 11% from 2013).
• For first time in 8 years, email management was not named biggest challenge facing legal IT departments … replaced by security management.
• Security is a hot button issue in the 2015 survey. Security software/security assessments ranked 6th in ‘what firms purchased last year’ and 5th in ‘planned purchases for next year’. 

“InsideLegal has partnered with ILTA for over a decade on various industry programs including the legal technology survey, now in its 10th year,” said JoAnna Forshee, CEO, InsideLegal. “We are continually astounded by the great data and participation we receive from ILTA members, and this year was no exception. In fact, the demand for this survey information among ILTA member firms has grown to the point that this year we are offering a dedicated conference session focused on the findings and the last decade of legal IT budgeting and purchasing.”

“The annual ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey is one of the few valuable reports legal IT leaders need to help them keep their fingers on the pulse of legal IT purchasing trends and law firm IT expenditures,” added Skip Lohmeyer, Chief Information Officer, Parker Poe. 

The 34 question web-based survey was distributed to 1,232 law firms, producing 184 unique firm responses, a 14% response rate. Small Firms (1-49 attorneys) represent 41% of all responses; Medium Firms (50-199 attorneys) make up 40%, and Large Firms (200+ attorneys) account for 19%. 83% of those surveyed came from the U.S., 11% from Canada, and 6% a mix of the U.K., Europe, Australia, South America and the Caribbean. The 2015 survey marks the 10th edition of this ILTA/InsideLegal collaboration.

InsideLegal, joined by Skip Lohmeyer, is offering “10 Years of the ILTA/InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey Findings”, a dedicated ILTACON conference session for ILTA law firm members, on Thursday, September 3rd, 1:30-2:15 pm, in Roman Ballroom IV.

For more information on the survey results, methodology and other legal market research initiatives, contact Jobst Elster at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .