Law firm leaders are showing an eagerness to invest in advanced technology solutions to help improve firm efficiency and enhance the client experience, but as recent panels discussed, how do you get the rest of the firm to go along with that?
SONOMA, Calif. — One of the more elusive yet seldom talked about challenges faced by law firm business development and marketing professionals is securing the buy-in from the rest of the firm for any new tech solutions or client programs. And unfortunately, much of that reluctance is coming from firms’ top partners.
Indeed, according to panelists at the Thomson Reuters Institute’s 32nd annual Marketing Partner Forum, held in late-January, securing the buy-in may be a more difficult task than actually getting the financial resources needed to undertake the new initiative.
Today, many law firm leaders are most worried about addressing their firm’s talent issues and trying to mitigate any potential revenue loss, one panelist said. However, that does offer firm marketing professionals and opportunity — if they can focus management’s attention on these worries, it may be easier to make a case for an investment in tech innovations or client programs to alleviate some of these concerns.
“Fear and risk mitigation are powerful ways to convince firm management to act,” the panelist explained.
Firms seem eager to invest in tech
In fact, according to recent data, law firm leaders already may be getting the message about the necessity of investing in advanced AI-driven tech solutions to improve workflow efficiency and leverage data for better decision-making. Tech spending by law firms has been on the rise, growing at a historically high rate of 9.4% at the end of 2024, with a notable year-end acceleration coming in the last month of the year.
According to the recent Thomson Reuters Institute’s 2025 Report on the State of the US Legal Market, many law firm leaders see tech investment as a way to gain an advantage with clients in a highly competitive legal market. And as clients increasingly expect the integration of tech solutions in the work of their outside law firms, law firms are feeling the pressure to invest heavily in data infrastructure and AI tools, even given the increasing costs of development and maintenance.
While many legal market experts — and more than a few at the Forum event — expect tech spending to continue to increase as generative AI (GenAI) investments become non-negotiable for law firms, the path to getting the rest of the firm on board with these investments, especially around adopting the new technology and properly training lawyers and staff to use it, is daunting.
Still, as is evident by the numbers, many law firms are gearing up to explore new AI-driven tools to help their lawyers and staff in a myriad of ways — from conducting legal research, crafting documents, leveraging matter management, and engaging in predictive analytics. Yet, in addition to the considerable capital investments, as well as the costs of maintenance and training, firms may also need to spend sizeable sums to optimize and maintain their data in order to capitalize on the potential benefits of GenAI.
Check out the recent video from the 32nd Annual Marketing Partner Forum here
And that’s all before you get to securing the necessary buy-in from your team.
Indeed, many a firm has seen its investment in the latest tech tool or client management platform wreck on the rocks of lawyer indifference or outright hostility to the way their workflow will need to adapt to make best use of the new innovation. And that, as many panelists pointed out, is just one of the problems.
“You also have to rapidly adapt to lawyers’ refusal to cede territory,” said one panelist at the event. “Too many lawyers want to be ‘the only salesman’ and the only one having any interaction with key clients, which can make creating a new client program very difficult.”
How to secure the buy-in
Many panelists at the Forum had their own success stories in how to best secure the needed buy-in, especially from top lawyers. For example, one panelist suggested framing the investment in new tools, programs, or data initiatives around an insistence to act on it. “You need to create scarcity, or a FOMO [fear of missing out] in managers’ minds,” the panelist said. “You need to make them afraid to not act.”
Another panelist suggested that marketing and business development professionals pitch new initiatives as a need to follow what the firm’s biggest clients are doing in order to remain competitive. “We looked at creating a client program with a careful eye on which clients fit the program and which didn’t,” said the panelist. “And we were able to move forward on it by positioning it was a way to use the program as a proving ground for client strategy plans that we could then take further down our client list and increase our work with those clients.”
“Fear and risk mitigation are powerful ways to convince firm management to act.”
For lawyers, the strategy may be a little different. One panelist recommended that when trying to get lawyers on board with new tech innovations or client management programs, you should stress the innovation’s expanded ability to create opportunities, especially those that will help lawyers interact and engage with clients. “We wanted to help our lawyers find the micro-actions that can allow them to see what their clients are doing,” the panelist said. “You have to help them put two and two together and really see how it benefits them without placing a lot more work on their plate.”
Another Forum participants urged taking the long view and seeing securing the buy-in as a process. “Take small steps — get one meeting, get small wins, and foster a coalition of the willing,” the participant said. “Don’t let naysayers derail it, and don’t name the program — just do the work.”
Once the early work is done and some small wins have been wracked up, it’s much easier to move on to the next critical step of developing ROIs to show management how to pursue the most profitable areas. “And don’t let the perfect be the enemy of progress,” she explained. “Work with what you have and show success early — that really helps.”
And never forget, the participant continued, you have to bring the lawyers around. “Some lawyers will be uncomfortable with the tech and AI, but they still have to be brought in. Just sell it internally, whet the lawyers’ appetite, and then bring them along for the ride.”
Always remember, she added, you eventually have to draw a line to revenue, because that makes the world go around.
You can find out more about recent Marketing Partner Forum events here
