According to a new survey from Altman Weil, chief legal officers are taking a more strategic approach in their management of internal and external resources that support their operations. Citing cost pressures as their biggest concern, these legal leaders are taking steps to cut the fat as it relates to counsel expenditure, and also considering their technology options to save money and drive efficiencies.

Collecting responses from 258 chief legal officers, the 2015 edition of the Chief Legal Officer Survey showed that technology is an increasing area of focus for driving efficiency in the legal department. Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they had used technology more frequently within their departments over the last year. Perhaps more importantly, respondents also indicated “rapid technology advancement” was the most impactful trend in their departments.

Additionally, the CLOs cited greater use of technology tools as the third most common tactic for improving efficiency, while the value of the improvement they provided was ranked second highest, just behind restructuring and reorganization efforts. In regards to restructuring, 44 percent of law departments said they were collecting and analyzing management metrics as they seek to get more out of their internal staff.