Last week, international law firm Foley & Lardner launched a firm-built contract review tool named Foley Equipped. Created by attorneys for attorneys, the solution seeks to differentiate itself from a market saturated by a profusion of technology vendors by offering unique features that understand and address legal professionals' pain points.

Despite a booming demand for contract review tools, however, few firms are likely to follow in Foley's footsteps. For many, stiff competition with technology vendors, significant costs for launching their tools and a lingering hesitancy to adopt technology among legal professionals may keep them on the sidelines.

The Foley Equipped software, which is powered by ThoughtRiver, incorporates "hundreds of templates and negotiated agreements from Foley's knowledge base," which allows the software to review contracts and identify high-risk clauses, provisions outside of commercial norms and important terms that might be missing, according to a news release.