ANALYSIS: Break Down Barriers to Legal Tech Usage With Training

Many law firms and legal departments report barriers to using legal technology, and insufficient training may be a root cause. To help break down these barriers, organizations should consider creating more opportunities for their lawyers and staff to train on legal technology.

When asked to select what barriers to using legal technologies exist at their organizations, respondents to Bloomberg Law’s 2021 Legal Technology Survey indicated that the top obstacles are a lack of tech savvy, a lack of familiarity with available technology, and not enough time to learn the technology.

More than 70% of respondents said they received fewer than three hours of legal technology training on new or existing technology in the last 12 months. But those who have logged more training time were three times more likely to report having no barriers than those with less than one hour of training.

In light of this, increasing the amount of legal technology training lawyers and staff receive may help to remove these barriers. Organizations should consider the following:

• Develop a well-defined legal technology-based training schedule and strategy.
• Increase the amount of time dedicated to training on new and existing technologies.
• Provide training resources and materials that lawyers and staff can use to learn about technologies.
• Provide lawyers with a dedicated number of hours creditable to their billable hour requirements that can be used toward legal technology training.
• Seek input on how to improve training and what is the most helpful.
• Engage with software providers or training professionals to design more impactful trainings.

Allowing lawyers and staff to invest more time in legal technology training can improve their understanding of existing technologies and make them more open to expanding their use of technology. Training investments that increase the use of technology now can lead to increased efficiency and productivity in the future.

Bloomberg Law Subscribers can find related content on our In Focus: Legal Technology page.

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