Third of lawyers use personal devices in office, research reveals

Law firm IT directors are battling to support an influx of personal tablets and other mobile devices in the workplace, with almost a third of lawyers now using tablets in the office.

The number of lawyers using devices such as iPads and Android tablets has grown by almost half in the last year, with around 34% uptake at law firms, compared to 23% in 2012, according to Legal Week Intelligence's annual IT Report.

The survey, which canvassed the views of more than 2,000 lawyers at leading firms, found that although tablet use has increased significantly, the vast majority of these devices (94%) are personally owned, with law firms still restricting company devices to the senior echelons. 

However, IT heads are increasingly faced with demands to put in place an infrastructure to support these personal devices, with lawyers rating the technical help they are given with their tablets as particularly poor, grading it 2.5 out of five.

More than a third (36%) of fee earners and partners say that none of their desktop applications are supported on tablet devices, while an additional 48% say that only some applications work.

Lawyers are more satisfied with the level of support they receive from their IT teams on other home devices, rating the functionality of law firm systems such as time recording, document management and emails on other personal devices as 3.5 out of five.

The increasing trend over recent years of using personal devices in the workplace – often termed Bring Your Own Device – has caused several headaches for IT directors who are faced with issues surrounding compatibility and security across a broad array of products. While many law firms are yet to be convinced of the business case for tablets, IT teams have been forced to embrace tablet technology in contrast to the top down way technology is usually rolled out at firms.

Mark Rawlinson, London managing partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, said: "I use my own iPad, which is linked up to the firm's IT system, to access remote emails. It is particularly useful when travelling to stay in touch with clients. I also take it to meetings and download documents onto it, so rather than carrying around lots of files I can access them all in one place. It's also great for the internet and website searches. Tablets haven't become standard issue in the office yet, we currently use BlackBerry." 

SJ Berwin King & Wood Mallesons, Pinsent Masons, Clifford Chance (CC) and Linklaters were highlighted by lawyers as having the strongest overall IT systems among the firms surveyed. 

Respondents were asked to rate their firm's technology function across several categories including remote working and how IT helped them with negotiations, drafting and winning business.

SJ Berwin racked up an overall score of 3.9 out of five, scoring particularly highly in areas including winning business; and negotiation and drafting, while Pinsents was close behind with a rating of 3.8. Linklaters and CC were in equal third place with 3.7.

Dentons, which was also scored well by its lawyers, has rolled out an initiative to help integrate staff's desktop and mobile devices.

Terry Turner, the firm's IT director for UK and MEA, said: "We have made it possible for everyone to use [remote access tool] Citrix on their tablets. The thing our users most liked was a one-stop shop. As a result, the way they work with clients has become much, much better."

For more information about the IT Report, contact Sean Donaghey on +44 20 7316 9575.

Related: Rise of iPad generation sees firms face up to mobile working demands.