Law tech procurement: opportunities and challenges for tech and legal sectors
On 6 October 2026, techUK, in collaboration with the Law Society, ran a webinar looking at the lawtech landscape and opening a conversation between the tech and legal sectors about how law firms procure technology.
The session brought together speakers from both sectors and covered the Law Society's work and its key technology policy priorities, how small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) law firms buy technology and where the opportunities are for tech suppliers, lessons from founding a law firm and developing technology in-house, and what the legal sector can learn from procurement best practice in other sectors.
The question for firms is no longer whether to adopt legal tech but how to choose it, buy it and use it responsibly. AI use is now widespread across the profession, but few firms have embedded it properly. Many, particularly smaller practices, are inexperienced buyers facing a crowded, confusing market, and the risk is that hype and fear of missing out drive rushed purchases that leave firms with a costly patchwork of tools that don't talk to each other.
Good procurement starts with the business problem rather than the technology. Firms should be clear about the outcomes they want, such as efficiency, capacity, risk reduction or better client service, and decide early how they will measure return on investment. Involving stakeholders and end users throughout the process builds buy-in, and security and data protection due diligence is essential: a product with strong features but weak answers on data hosting, sovereignty or confidentiality should not progress. Trust matters a great deal, so suppliers need real evidence, references and case studies rather than marketing claims, and buyers should test suppliers directly, for example with sample data.
Procurement doesn't end at contract signature. Training, leadership support, process change and integration into existing workflows determine whether technology delivers value. Firms also need to keep control of their data and choose systems that are interoperable and built on open standards.
Speakers shared interesting lessons from public sector procurement, including structured proof of past delivery, clear governance over how AI is used and where data is held, and negotiation focused on outcomes rather than just price.
If you have any questions, please reach out to jesteam@techuk.org.
Interesting links:
The Law Society’s AI and lawtech hub
Buying new technology procurement guide
