While many of today's law firms believe that automation is vital for evaluating, attracting and serving clients, only a small number of them are actually leveraging such automation in-house, according to a survey of 300 global law firms by software technology company Intapp Inc.

Over 60 percent of surveyed firms said that automation around pricing and contact management was important to their efforts to win new clients and grow existing relationships, though only slightly under half leveraged automation for pricing, while only a third leveraged it for contact management.

Among those automating contact management and pricing, only about 40 percent said it reduced hours spent on those tasks. The majority of firms either saw no change, or did not know if there was a change in time spent.

Dan Tacone, president at Intapp, explained that automation around contact management usually takes the form of knowledge management databases that can automatically be updated with current and potential client information to keep attorneys informed. Likewise, automation around pricing refers to similar repositories that automatically collects pricing data, either externally from public databases or internally from the firm, to help attorneys determine how best to price certain matters.

To help with evaluating and onboarding new businesses, almost 70 percent of surveyed firms said automation around conflict clearance was vital, though only less than 45 percent implemented such automation in-house. Around a quarter of those automating conflicts clearance said it reduced time spent on the task, but a majority still saw no change or did not know what the impact was.

Likewise, while around two-thirds of surveyed firms also said that e-billing and time management were important to help meet client demands for transparency, only about 40 percent used e-billing, and 35 percent used management solutions. Under half said e-billing and time management were time-savers.

Tacone explained that though they find automation important, many firms aren't bringing it in-house because it takes time to change their old spending and work habits. “They haven't invested in technology as a strategic advantage before” and aren't used to thinking of using technology for client services, he said.

What's more, law firms that want to invest differently than in the past can find bringing automation in-house a difficult endeavor. “It's more than just the money. It's about making it successful, so firms have to look around and decide if they have the people, culture and strength to implement and lead change management,” he added.

Tacone also noted that law firms that already automate their client services do not see broad time-saving benefits because they are likely not deploying such automation on a broad enough scale. He used time management automation as an example: “Having a time management system where a lawyer keeps track of the time then once a month enters time into the system —there is bound to be something lost. The real gain is to use automation to capture that time right when the work is done.”