5 Legal Tech Adoption Pitfalls to Avoid (with Insider Advice)

Legal technology is everywhere, promising to streamline workflows, boost productivity and give your firm a competitive edge. But if you’ve ever seen a “game-changing” platform quietly fizzle out, you’re not alone. In fact, a recent webinar on aligning tech and legal strategies, we spoke with two industry experts who bring unique perspectives to the conversation.

Zak White, Legal Operations Director at Progress Software, is responsible for evaluating and implementing technology for legal teams.

On the other side, Lisa Mundrake, Senior Director of Commercial Legal Services for Progress ShareFile, brings a wealth of experience as an end user, having worked with SaaS solutions throughout her career.

Together, Zak and Lisa shared valuable insights from both the buyer and user perspectives. Keep reading to explore standout insights from the webinar that highlight common adoption pitfalls in legal technology.

1. Planning Without Purpose

One of the biggest reasons legal tech projects fail is a lack of clear, purposeful planning. Instead of being guided by a defined business problem, many organizations are swayed by vendor hype, peer pressure or the allure of the latest technology. The result? Projects that never deliver.

“If you really concentrate on what your most pressing problems are that you need to solve, then you can start your research as to what is the best tool that you can use to solve that problem,” White advises.

2. Choosing Complicated Tools

It’s tempting to pick the tool with all the bells and whistles, but complexity is the enemy of adoption. Overly complicated platforms often end up underused, and firms may pay a premium for features they don’t need or can’t use. Tools that don’t integrate with existing workflows are especially problematic, making the new system feel alien and disruptive.

“Working with lawyers and legal professionals, it’s going to need to be very intuitive, straightforward, not a whole lot of complicated back-end processes that you need to build out ahead of time” White adds. “It needs to be out-of-the-box. Ready to go.”

3. Underestimating Resistance and Neglecting Change Management

Resistance to change is consistently cited as the number one barrier in legal tech adoption. Legal professionals are notoriously resistant to change—a natural byproduct of a profession that values precedent and risk mitigation. If a tool poses additional hurdles, resistance only grows.

Mundrake explains, “There has to be simplicity of use. Lawyers are very slow to change the ways of working. We get used to something, we want to continue to work that way. It’s going to need to be a change that really has benefits right out of the gate. It’s going to save us time. It’s going to be easy to use. It’s going to lead to greater efficiency, better ways of working.”

4. Treating Adoption as a One-Time Event

Many firms believe that tech adoption ends at go-live, but this “set it and forget it” mindset is an easy recipe for failure. Without ongoing measurement, feedback and training, even the best tools can become underused or obsolete. White emphasizes,

“When you’re adopting new technologies and you really want them to succeed, they need continuous attention. You can’t just stand it up and ignore it…. It’s really just an overall health check of your technology stack.”

5. Ignoring Governance and Human Oversight (Especially with AI)

With AI and automation on the rise, robust governance and human oversight are more critical than ever. Security, privacy and compliance risks can’t be left to chance.

Mundrake cautions, “AI is going to help you to get to the result quicker in a lot of cases, but it’s not going to be something that you can rely upon as the end all be all. You need to be comfortable with taking the output, making sure that it references materials that are valid, accurate and complete, before you go and incorporate it into your daily use case.”

Want More Insider Tips?

These pitfalls are just the beginning. For more real-world stories, actionable strategies and in-depth advice from legal ops experts, register to listen to the full Progress ShareFile webinar recording. Unlock insights and discover how your team can turn legal tech into a true business advantage.