By Rupert White


Law firms are failing clients by not keeping up with their technology needs, according to a survey of general counsel.



More than half of the 114 senior in-house lawyers questioned by City firm Kemp Little and publisher PLC disagreed with the statement that outside law firms put a significant amount of effort into saving costs for their clients with technology. And more than 60% felt that law firms were not passing on savings they make through using technology.



The report indicates that general counsel see technology playing a huge role in cutting their legal expenditure, said Richard Kemp, founder of Kemp Little.



Another striking point of the research, he told the Gazette, was that general counsel are 'underwhelmed' by law firms' use of technology. 'Law firms have a way to go to catch up with clients' vision,' he claimed.



General counsel showed particular interest in services such as access to legal or industry know-how and billing updates through firms' websites.



Online billing is, according to the report, an area where firms 'could really make their mark' - only one in ten general counsel said they could access billing updates on their law firms' websites, but 59% said they would like to do so.



Nearly a third of general counsel said they had had experience of using technology as a replacement for low-value work, and of those who had not, nearly two-thirds said they planned to do this within five years. Cost-cutting using technology comes in many forms, with contract management and databases top of the adoption list.



The research also found that companies are far more reluctant to outsource legal than, for example, accounts, procurement or HR functions, and less likely to largely replace their legal function with technology, citing risk as the key preventative factor.