Like a bad Hollywood thriller, law firm technology has a villain that’s all too easy to spot. The economic downturn has — to no one’s surprise — taken a toll on the coffers of law firm IT departments. Fully one-third of the 110 Am Law 200 firms participating in our 14th annual survey of technology directors reported that their capital budgets were down more than 10% this year. Staffing levels and salaries have taken hits, and equipment purchases and software upgrades have been put off. None of it is happy news.

"When I proposed a budget similar to last year, it was clearly communicated [by the firm's technology committee] that it went beyond what the firm wanted to spend . . . by 30 to 40 percent," says an IT director who asked not to be identified. "So we had to go back and ask ourselves what we could live without for another year."

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