Legal technology: 2022 wrap up and what's ahead in 2023?

As we enter a new year, I want to look back on 2022 and try to sum up some of the key themes that stood out.

Last year we continued to grow as a legal technology team, with headcount now reaching 50. This was driven by our continued investment in graduates, with the second round of our graduate scheme that added 6 new Legal Technologists to the team.

We have continued our investment in technology, with several new vendors onboarded to support various areas of the firm. We have also been part of a range of initiatives across the industry and have been able to give opportunities to our Legal Technologists to speak about their experiences and deliver sessions to a variety of client and peers.

Key Themes from 2022

WHAT'S AHEAD IN 2023?

I see 2023 as being a continuation of the past few years and maybe a bit of a consolidating year to focus on the success we have had, increasing our engagement across the firm and trying to double down on key areas ripe for change.

With the wider economic forecast looming, the market may slow down a little, but with the resources and team we have now it gives us a real opportunity to capitalise on growth areas and to continue delivering projects.
 
The three main themes I would pick out for this year would be: 

CLM

• CLM will continue to be a big theme throughout the year. Whilst things have moved on over the past 5 years, we are now seeing more and more clients taking this seriously and more entrants to the market trying to capitalise on it as a potential investment or growth area.

Partnerships

• At AG we are thinking about, and looking for, partnerships that enhance our ability to deliver more for our clients. This ranges from working with vendors and software engineers, to partnering with industry bodies. Some firms are already taking these steps, but I think 2023 will bring more of these partnerships out as some parties look for security in the market and other parties look for ways of pushing innovation without increasing headcount or resource.

"AI" or Machine Learning

• The release of GPT-4 will be huge for a range of industries, and I think we will start to see companies investing in AI integrations to enable people to access the key features of these tools; this may be a longer term vision but I can see several cases within legal where this will help but only if adopted with thorough guidance, managing expectations and heavy supervision. No AI uprising in 2023 I am afraid…

My to do list is as big as ever so hopefully lots to come from us in 2023…

For more information or any questions, please feel free to reach out and email me. 

Alternatively, look at our Innovation and Legal Technology page on the website, where we have some blogs from others in the team and some case studies.

Mike Kennedy is a Senior Manager at Addleshaw Goddard and is responsible for Research and Development of our Legal Technology Solutions.