For some legal tech companies, embracing a collaborative design philosophy that leans heavily upon customer input may already be a way of life. However, an increasingly robust and competitive legal tech market could be putting more pressure on vendors to distinguish themselves with quality user experience—and for that they need outside feedback.

"I'd say it's a must have along with a strong engineering team and a strong product team. I think it's just one of those cores to having successful legal technology. It's just something that you've got to have," said Nina Steinbrecker Jack, chief product officer at the legal research company Fastcase.