A Message From the Editor It’s easy to view technology users and buyers as a monolith, especially for people new to the legal technology space. I’ve heard that “Big Law does this” or “corporate clients do that” a number of times, generalizations that make the process of transforming a profession easy. But rarely is the reality so clean cut—a feature from Rhys Dipshan this week looked at the technology procurement methods of three large firms and found that, despite similar goals, all three approached buying technology in completely different ways. It’s important to have different voices weigh in, but it’s simultaneously important to be flexible, and all of the firms interviewed tackled that continuum in distinct ways. It’s a problem I know I’ve struggled with at times, assuming every firm or every department functions in similar ways. As technology becomes more pervasive in legal, I think we’re going to see new ways of thinking and acquiring technology rise, which will create unheard of variation in service delivery. In fact, we’re already seeing it, with a preponderance of firm subsidiaries and the introduction of design thinking into law in recent years. In the very near future, saying “law firms all do this” with respect to tech will be like saying all fast food restaurants are the same. Sure, the overarching idea is similar, but with innovation, the differences matter. – Zach Warren, editor-in-chief, Legaltech News |