Legal departments and law firms keep making the same well-intentioned mistake: assuming that buying better technology is the same as becoming a better organization.
It’s not.
The Above the Law article below nails this disconnect. We keep investing in smart, promising platforms—AI, contract tools, workflow engines—only to watch them sit unused. Not because they’re broken. But because adoption was never designed as part of the strategy.
In too many orgs, tech procurement is treated as the win. The business case gets written, the contract gets signed, the implementation kickoff is held… and then the rollout loses steam. Lawyers, facing no clear incentives and overwhelmed by competing priorities, quietly return to legacy methods. The system may be “live,” but it’s not alive in the practice.
This isn’t a tech problem. It’s a change management problem.
Real legal transformation requires building adoption ecosystems: shared incentives, contextual training, cross-functional champions, and leadership that reinforces new behaviors. The best tools mean nothing if lawyers don’t see how they make their work safer, smarter, or more client-centered.
If you’re investing in legal tech, invest just as heavily in what comes after: the onboarding, the narrative, the habit-building. Because innovation isn’t something you install. It’s something you cultivate.
Tech doesn’t drive the strategy. Adoption does.
🔗 Full article: https://abovethelaw.com/2025/05/law-firms-keep-buying-amazing-tech-lawyers-keep-not-using-it/
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