Legal Tech Trends Shaping Law Firms in 2025
Numerous surveys conducted in 2024 set out to reveal the biggest shifts taking place in the legal industry right now and the results are conclusive: Technology is transforming the way law firms operate. From eDiscovery to automation, legal professionals are in the midst of several big transitions.
How will these changes impact firms in 2025? Let’s look at the biggest trends shaping the industry right now.
1. Cloud-Based eDiscovery
First things first: Successful firms understand the future of legal technology lies in the cloud—even if they’re not there yet. That’s because cloud-based apps offer numerous benefits over most legacy technologies. They run faster, are more secure and support better efficiency. Most importantly, they allow legal professionals to spend less time on manual tasks and more time on work that matters.
However, many legal firms are yet to embrace the cloud—a trend that’s likely to shift in 2025. This is especially true when it comes to eDiscovery. While just 26% of Am Law 200 firms were using cloud-based eDiscovery in 2023, 94% expected it to become the industry norm within two years. Then in 2024, confidence in the eDiscovery sector showed significant improvement, with more than half of surveyed legal professionals rating the current landscape as “good.”
Firms should look for tools in 2025 that are capable of turning massive amounts of electronic data into secure, efficient document workflows. eDiscovery is a complex process of collecting, storing, protecting and organizing sensitive files and the right software makes it easy to create a dedicated digital space for each case.
Related read: The challenges and opportunities of legal tech
2. Paperless (and Paper Lite) Law Offices
Another reason more legal professionals will embrace the cloud in 2025? Paperwork. Many firms are still drowning in paper despite recent advancements in digital document management. The industry has a long paper-centric history — one that continues today and goes beyond pleadings and discovery: While plenty of attorneys use note-taking and productivity apps, 86% still prefer pen and paper.
However, a shift is happening in 2025 as more legal professionals face increased risks of misplaced documents, natural disasters and inefficiencies caused by paper-based record management. Continued reliance on paper documents in a digital world creates bottlenecks, increases the threat of loss or damage and turns retrieval into a time-consuming process.
That’s why, in 2025, more firms will go paperless—or paper lite. Roughly one-third of recently surveyed firms handle document management using a cloud-based model. And according to an American Bar Association tech report, the number of law firms using cloud computing increased 10% in just one year. Among other changes, these offices are embracing legal workflow automation to stay on top of cases and court documents. In addition to these shifts, firms should look for solutions that allow clients to securely view and sign documents without the need for printing, scanning or emailing.
3. AI and Automation
Virtually every industry is being impacted by AI and automation and law firms are no exception. A recent 2024 tech trends survey found that legal professionals are increasingly using software to automate business processes, particularly in the areas of document management and new client intake.
This trend highlights the need for firms to streamline workflows even more in 2025. Why? Because the latest AI advancements have the potential to automate up to 75% of the work legal professionals currently bill. It’s little surprise, then, that nearly 80% of firms plan to leverage generative AI—the kind that uses machine learning to analyze data and create new content—within the next five years.
At the same time, many law offices face a skills shortage when it comes to understanding how and when to implement AI. Intuitive, easy-to-use solutions will play a central role as firms look to automate document workflows in 2025. Done right, these tools will help legal professionals gain a competitive edge in a fast-evolving environment. For example, a strong AI contract management solution can speed up review cycles and approval processes, analyze massive amounts of data to extract insights and even help support compliance.
Related read: The future of work: workflow automation trends shaping 2025
Looking Ahead
Success in 2025 and beyond will hinge largely on legal professionals’ ability to embrace cloud technology—or to at least consider it. New technologies are emerging every day and many of them promise to not only transform but rapidly improve legal operations. For more insights to help guide decisions in 2025, learn how AI is transforming legal contract management.