This report provides an in-depth analysis on the digital maturity of legal departments in five key European countries: Germany, France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. Additionally, it provides insights from expert contributors from all participating jurisdictions.
The Legal Departments in a Digital Era report came together as a way for Wolters Kluwer and ECLA to understand the progress that legal departments have made in terms of becoming more digitally mature, what the main challenges are that company lawyers face when implementing new tools and services, and what the overall view is that they have regarding the disruptive trends that are being introduced.
Key findings:
- 67% or surveyed participants claim to have a digital strategy, however only 1/3 of this group has an actual plan in place
- Even though 67% of legal departments are working with digital strategies, only one third of those strategies include an established budget
- Implementation success rate of legal technology is still relatively low - legal departments across Europe rate themselves with a 5.33, on a scale of 1-10
- Experience with advanced tools is limited, but many departments are taking relevant steps
- The role of legal technology in the legal department’s daily work expected to strongly increase in the next 5 years: half of surveyed legal departments anticipate that legal technology will play a role in at least 40% of their daily work
