Law firms are failing to make the most of new technology and need to improve IT skills across the board in order to do so, according to a survey conducted by Legal Week Intelligence (LWI).

Sixty-eight percent of respondents to the poll of 50 senior lawyers and IT directors at UK and international firms said firms were falling short when it came to exploiting new technology, while 85% said IT skills needed improving.

Less than half of the respondents (44%) said their firms were deploying artificial intelligence.

The findings are contained in a report commissioned by legal technology company Fulcrum GT from Legal Week's research arm LWI.

"Being tech-savvy rather than being an expert is the key point," Allen & Overy managing partner Andrew Ballheimer states in the report, which is written by freelance journalist and writer Dominic Carman.

"Firms that do well invest a lot of time in training these systems," adds leading author and consultant Professor Richard Susskind (pictured above). "Firms that are disappointed just take them out of the box and expect immediate competitive advantage."

The findings come as leading in-house legal departments are placing more pressure on law firms to improve their technology.

In an interview with Legal Week last month on collaboration between law firms and their clients, BT Group general counsel for technology and transformation Chris Fowler said: "Sometimes law firms get a hard time when talking about technology. But it's noticeable to me that there are some law firms that are very much looking to embrace new technology and forefront innovation within their firms to give their clients the best service."

Quizzed on the long-term impact AI will have on legal services, just over half (57%) of the survey respondents said it would reduce the cost of legal advice for clients, while 14% thought prices would go up.

Tricia Hobson, global chair of Norton Rose Fulbright, states in the report: "AI is becoming more accessible and cheaper to deploy – as well as becoming more powerful."

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