The American Bar Association Legal Technology Resource Center has released its ABA TechReport 2023, a comprehensive online series of articles exploring how attorneys are using technology in their practices. TechReport 2023 combines data from the annual Legal Technology Survey Report with expert analysis, observations and predictions from legal technology leaders.
TechReport articles on a variety of legal technology topics will post on Law Technology Today every Monday through February 2024.
TechReport articles on a variety of legal technology topics will post on Law Technology Today every Monday through February 2024.
Separated into nine different articles on technology topics, TechReport 2023 covers the prominent areas in technology that lawyers face today. The survey report focuses on issues relating to technology use, not product use.
Examples of statistical information included in the annual survey report are:
Fifty-six percent of all respondents regularly use fee-based internet/online services for legal research and 21% occasionally use this resource. Twelve percent of respondents report that they never use fee-based online services for legal research.
Sixty-four percent of firms budget for technology (compared with 65% in 2022 and 2021, and 62% in 2020). As in prior years, this percentage increases with firm size: 51% of solo respondents, 52% from firms of 2-9 attorneys, 74% from firms of 10-49 attorneys (compared with 65% in 2022, 69% in 2021 and 78% in 2020) and 86% from firms of 100 or more attorneys. Overall, 11% indicated they did not know if their firms budget for technology.
During the past four years, there has been a downward trend in the percentage of respondents using a desktop as their primary computer. Forty percent of all respondents (compared to 41% in 2022, 44% in 2021, and 49% in 2020) report using a desktop as their primary computer. Fifty-four percent of all respondents (compared to 56% in 2022, 53% in 2021, and 47% in 2020) report laptops as their primary computer.
Respondents who report describing their practice as a virtual law practice (11% overall) were asked what they consider to be the defining characteristics of their virtual law practice. A majority of respondents chose “ability to travel and work from anywhere” (76%), “ability to work outside of normal business hours” (67%), “better work-life balance” (64%), “minimal in-person contact with clients” (60%) and “lack of traditional physical office” (53%).
The TechReport articles, appearing in Law Technology Today each Monday through February 2024, focus on a variety of topics that include:
Litigation and Technology-assisted Review (TAR)
Technology training
Websites and marketing
Budgeting and planning
Practice management
Solo and small firm
Cloud computing
Cybersecurity
AI
The Legal Technology Survey Report, launched more than two decades ago by the ABA Law Practice Division, is recognized as the primary source for information regarding the use of technology by attorneys in private practice. It is based on responses by practicing lawyers — not consultants, vendors or IT staff.
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