Corporate IT departments have been tested this year by a rapid push into remote working and overtures from cybercriminals looking to take advantage of the confusion sowed by the pandemic. With neither of those challenges likely to recede into the distance any time soon, IT budgets could warrant a heftier investment from the c-suite—but what does that mean for legal tech spend?

It turns out that the IT department's gain could wind up giving legal a significant boost in their own quest for budget dollars as companies become more concerned about the impact that privacy and other compliance related issues can have on their bottom line. Still, law departments who fail to properly advocate their cause might wind up right back where they started before the pandemic.

Jack Thompson, assistant director of e-discovery and legal operations at Sanofi U.S., indicated that addressing legal department budgets in the midst of COVID-19 requires a deft touch. "It's definitely a mixed bag of when can you ask for money in the face of such a unique change and how can you really afford not to make those changes," he said.