A survey asked chief legal officers, half of them from departments of five lawyers or less, about seven types of software – plus “other” – that their law departments had implemented, “which has created significant cost/time efficiencies for your department.” Of the 848 respondents to the survey, ACC’s Seventh Annual Chief Legal Officer Survey at 5, approximately half completed the question.
They most commonly gave the nod to document management (44.6% selected it), contract management systems (37.7%), and matter management (25.3%). Three other genre of software were each selected 10-14 percent of the time (note that respondents could select more than one type of software): client-facing intranets, e-billing, and extranets with law firms.
The 14 percent who selected “other” listed document scanning (5 mentions), “content/knowledge management systems (4), IP management (3), and 10 other forms with on mention each: Blackberry, “departmental e-tracker and e-rooms,” document assembly, EFT payments, “electronic law encyclopedias,” electronic signatures (EchoSign), ethics programs, instant messaging, online mock juries, and web forms for internal client requests.”
However you interpret this list, it is certainly a thundering herd.