The Integration Tax You're Already Paying
I hear the same objection from managing partners every month: we're too invested in legacy systems to modernise without massive disruption.
I hear the same objection from managing partners every month: we're too invested in legacy systems to modernise without massive disruption.
McKinsey puts a number on it: 40% of IT budgets go towards rectifying existing integration issues rather than building new capability. That's not innovation spending. That's maintenance spending disguised as transformation.
Between 2023 and 2025, investors poured $10.59 billion into LegalTech across 207 funding rounds. Harvey went from $80 million to an $8 billion valuation. Clio raised $900 million. EvenUp hit unicorn status. The funding announcements read like validation that AI-native legal platforms have arrived.
I keep seeing the same pattern. A firm decides to modernise its Microsoft 365 environment. A vendor pitches a comprehensive platform overhaul. The proposal looks impressive. The implementation drags on for months. And when it finally goes live, adoption stalls at 14%.
I've spent years watching law firms buy technology they never actually use. The pattern repeats itself with remarkable consistency.
Linklaters hires 20 practising lawyers, not technologists, to bridge the gap between AI infrastructure and real workflow change. Firms falter less from missing tools than missing people who turn them into behaviour. Volume isn’t adoption; implementation is the real test.
The best tech rarely wins in legal. Walk through the wreckage of failed legaltech ventures and you'll find something unsettling. Sophisticated AI tools that could slash contract review time by 80%. Case management platforms with elegant interfaces and powerful automation. Document assembly systems that made complex workflows feel
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