Views on obstacles to investment in legal technology from French in-house counsel

Last summer, Legal Suite, a French powerhouse of matter management software for legal departments, conducted a survey. Legal Suite invited visitors to Village de Justice, an online site for lawyers in France, to answer questions about their legal technology use. They collected 58 responses and published the findings.

One question asked about what blocks investment in law department software (“les freins à l’informatisation du départment juridique”). I translated the responses as laid out on page 4. Of the five choices available, no one selected the internal IT department; about 10% chose time to invest; 20% chose “my manager” and 30% chose cost. The most significant obstacle, however, at 40% was the culture of the company (“La culture de votre enterprise”).

To blame lack of technology on your company’s “culture” seems wimpish. If you have a need, the budget, and IT support, it’s your fault if you don’t install software and hardware that helps your legal department. If you would like to see the report, write Legal Suite and mention this post.