A separate study found that 27% of general counsel and in-house lawyers found digital transformation overwhelming. The biggest challenges were skill development, fostering a culture of innovation, and data security. Despite this, 45% of lawyers were hiring staff to support digital transformation, and 42% identified cloud technology as most relevant for their organisation's digital transformation. The study also found that negotiating tech contracts was a significant challenge, especially for smaller firms.
Key takeaways:
- Chinese companies filed nearly two thirds (64%) of the 1,184 legaltech patent applications around the world in 2022, followed by those in the USA (15%) and South Korea (10%).
- The patent applications were most likely to relate to automatic document generation and contract review, with blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) sharing the third place.
- Research for Leeds-based commercial law firm Walker Morris found that 27% of general counsel and in-house lawyers describe digital transformation as “overwhelming”, with the biggest challenges being developing or securing the right skills, instilling an organisational culture of innovation and digital progression, and data security.
- Four in ten in-house lawyers (42%) said the cloud was the most relevant technology for their organisation’s digital transformation, with a third (33%) already using it.