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Legal IT

Legal Technology Predictions for 2026

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Sticking to the tradition of new year predictions, here is a selection of legal technology predictions for 2026. By now, AI has become ubiquitous. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that most authors spend plenty of time on AI-related predictions. We also discuss market-related predictions, as well as at predictions about the law firm and legal practice. As can be expected, these three categories overlap.

AI-related predictions

The rise of AI in the law firm seems unstoppable at present. All authors in the sources below give their own AI-related predictions. These are the common themes.

AI becomes the defining force in legal technology

AI is going to reshape legal technology in a big way. It is becoming a fundamental part of how law firms work. AI doesn’t just write things for you. It manages entire tasks from start to finish. It can sort through cases, pull together documents, and help you make decisions. Most experts mention the same trend: AI tools that can think through problems, make plans, and handle complex legal work on their own. Basically, we’re shifting from AI as an assistant to AI as a genuine work partner. AI is fundamentally changing how lawyers do their jobs. It assists in everything from case management to predicting outcomes to organizing workflows.

AI is also changing how clients and lawyers interact from the very first conversation. More and more clients are showing up with advice they’ve already gotten from an AI tool. As a result, law firms need their own AI systems to sort through and make sense of what clients bring to the table before a human lawyer even gets involved. The firms that have already woven AI into their daily operations are going to cash in on that head start. The ones still dragging their feet risk getting left behind.

The shift from Generative AI to Agentic AI

As mentioned above, the biggest tech shift coming in 2026 is how AI works. We’re moving away from the old approach where you ask AI a question and it gives you an answer. Instead, we’re getting AI agents that can handle entire projects from beginning to end. Right now, you might need to constantly tell AI what to do next just to draft a single document. But in 2026, these AI agents will work more like digital colleagues. They’ll sort through new cases on their own, dig up relevant documents, fact-check information, and put together organized reports. And they do all of this without you needing to hold their hand through every step. This kind of “deep research” ability means AI is graduating from being a glorified word processor to something that can orchestrate complicated legal work. As a result, lawyers can oversee entire workflows without getting bogged down in every little detail.

Data-driven strategy and predictive analytics

Law firms are starting to realize that all the data they’ve been collecting – billing records, case results, which clients are actually profitable – is worth its weight in gold. In 2026, using predictive analytics isn’t cutting-edge anymore; it’s just how things are done. Firms will tap into these insights to predict how judges might rule, get ahead of opposing counsel’s next move, and figure out which types of cases actually make them money.

Market-related legal technology predictions

Several authors pay attention to changes in the legal services market in 2026.

Market consolidation and shakeouts

The legal AI market is heading for major consolidation in 2026, with more than half of current providers expected to be acquired or shut down. Companies offering basic AI features without distinctive value will struggle, while survivors will be those providing specialized capabilities and measurable results. Major vendors are moving from standalone products to integrated platforms that connect across the legal ecosystem.

Meanwhile, traditional Big Law firms face growing competition from alternative legal service providers and AI-powered firms that can handle standardized work like contracts and compliance at lower costs. Some AI vendors may even begin offering legal services directly, blurring the line between technology and law firm. This efficiency revolution is forcing the entire industry to reimagine how legal services are structured and priced.

Evolution of Revenue Models and Billing

AI and automation are making legal work so much faster that the old billable hour model is starting to fall apart. By 2026, we’re likely to see more firms experimenting with alternative fee arrangements that involve mixed pricing approaches: maybe hourly rates for some work, flat fees for other projects, and even subscription-style arrangements based on results. Why? Well, when AI can knock out routine tasks in a fraction of the time, firms need to shift their focus to charging for the high-level thinking and judgment that only experienced lawyers can provide. But this creates a new challenge: firms will need much better financial tracking for each case to make sure they’re still profitable, while also giving clients the transparency and fair pricing they’re increasingly demanding.

Cybersecurity as a Competitive Differentiator

As law firms rely more heavily on AI tools and cloud-based systems, cybersecurity is something clients actively care about and ask for. By 2026, clients will expect “zero-trust” security setups and automatic encryption as basic requirements. They’ll choose firms that can prove they have strong vendor security and handle data safely. Firms with rock-solid security systems are already using that as a major selling point to win over high-value clients, and that trend is only going to accelerate.

Predictions about the law firm and legal practice

The remaining predictions largely have to do with the law firm and legal practice. They can be grouped in four categories.

The Shift to Unified Legal Platforms

The legal industry is moving away from using multiple disconnected tools toward unified cloud platforms that act as a single system of record. Instead of juggling separate software for billing, document management, HR, and client communication, law firms and in-house legal departments are adopting integrated environments that bring everything together in one place.

These unified platforms combine matter management, document automation, spend analytics, and risk tracking into a comprehensive solution. This consolidation creates a “single source of truth” that gives legal teams better visibility into case status, resource allocation, and spending patterns while eliminating the inefficiencies of managing siloed systems.

This shift is especially beneficial for small and mid-sized firms. Cloud-native platforms make enterprise-level automation and security accessible to firms of all sizes. As legal workflows become more automated and data-driven, these integrated platforms are democratizing access to sophisticated technology across the entire legal industry.

The Rise of the AI-Augmented Legal Professional

The role of the lawyer is evolving to require new technical skills. In 2026, successful lawyers will need to master AI tools and data analysis, not just traditional legal research. This means learning how to effectively prompt AI systems and oversee their outputs. This shift is changing how junior lawyers learn. Rather than spending years on repetitive tasks like document review, they’ll develop skills through AI-powered mentorship and practice simulations. The goal isn’t to replace lawyers with technology, but to free them from routine work so they can focus on what humans do best: strategic thinking, ethical judgment, and building client relationships. Technology handles the repetitive tasks while lawyers concentrate on the work that truly requires human expertise.

Strategic Imperatives: Adoption, ROI, and Skills

The key to success in 2026 isn’t just buying AI tools, it’s using them strategically. Law firms need to carefully select secure technology partners, redesign their workflows around AI, and establish clear metrics to track efficiency gains and client outcomes. Firms that started experimenting with AI in 2024-25 will pull ahead of their competitors by deploying these tools at scale, delivering faster service at lower costs. We’ve reached a point where those who waited will struggle to catch up.

Client Experience and Business Model Innovation

AI is transforming how law firms interact with clients and charge for their services. In 2026, firms are expected to use AI not just to work faster internally, but to provide clients with better transparency and responsiveness. They use tools like real-time dashboards and collaborative portals. And, as mentioned above, as AI handles routine tasks, traditional hourly billing will increasingly give way to fixed fees and subscription models. This shift responds to client demands for predictable, value-based pricing rather than simply paying for the time lawyers spend on a matter.

Conclusion

In 2026, legal technology will be characterized by mature AI systems, fewer but more powerful platforms, and fundamental changes in how law firms operate. Firms that adopt integrated cloud platforms, predictive tools, and advanced AI will outpace their competitors, while those that resist change risk becoming irrelevant. Every technology decision will need to prioritize security and client trust, and lawyers will increasingly need both legal expertise and tech skills. The legal industry has moved past the experimentation phase. Technology is now reshaping the profession’s core structure, transforming from a helpful tool into an essential strategic partner.

 

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Legal IT

Unbundled Legal Services

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Unbundled legal services are gaining in popularity. In this article, we explore the following questions: What are unbundled legal services? What are the benefits? What are the risks of using unbundling legal services?

What are unbundled legal services?

So, what are we talking about? Unbundled legal services (also called “limited scope representation” or “à la carte legal services”) is a legal service delivery model where attorneys provide specific, clearly defined services for discrete portions of a client’s legal matter rather than handling the entire case from start to finish. In traditional full-service representation, an attorney handles everything related to a case. With unbundled services, clients can pick and choose which specific tasks they want professional help with, while handling other aspects themselves.

The concept was introduced by Forrest S. Mosten, in his book, Unbundling legal services: a guide to delivering legal services a la carte, which was published in 2000. The practice of unbundling legal services first took off in family law. Since then, the use of unbundled legal services has been increasing. This growth is driven by a rising demand for affordable legal solutions, a growing number of self-represented litigants, and clients’ desire for more control over their legal affairs. Lawyers have responded with greater acceptance and support for this model, recognizing its potential to bridge the justice gap.

By now, unbundled legal services have become quite common, and they are expected to become even more so. In a way, one could also label all the services offered by Alternative Legal Service Providers (ALSPs) unbundled legal services. They do exactly the same thing: they focus on – and specialize in – one aspect of the legal process. So, from that perspective, it’s not just the clients but also the lawyers who benefit from unbundled legal services, where they can outsource specific tasks, either to ALSPs or other lawyers.

These days, we can find plenty of examples of unbundled legal services:

  • Legal coaching (giving advice on how clients can represent themselves)
  • Transactional guidance
  • Negotiation advice for a specific matter
  • Limited litigation and court appearances, like a court appearance for a specific hearing only
  • Document preparation or review, and document drafting (think of contracts, wills, etc.)
  • Agreement review
  • Case evaluation
  • Settlement evaluation
  • Legal research on a particular issue
  • Consultation on strategy or specific legal questions

What are the benefits?

The main purpose of unbundled legal services is to save costs for the client. So, for clients, this model offers a cost-effective solution. It makes legal assistance more accessible to those who might not afford comprehensive representation. As such, unbundled legal services also improve access to justice. And they provide greater control and involvement in the clients’ legal matters, as clients can choose which aspects to handle independently and which to delegate to an attorney.

For attorneys, offering unbundled services can expand their client base, enhance job satisfaction by tailoring services to specific client needs, and improve financial outcomes through upfront payments.

For both parties, unbundled legal services offer greater flexibility.

What are the risks of using unbundling legal services?

While unbundled legal services increase access to justice and affordability, they come with several notable risks for both attorneys and their clients.

For attorneys, there are significant potential malpractice concerns: if scope limitations aren’t clearly documented, this may result in a failure of a client to comply with their responsibilities, either through inability or a lack of understanding of the expectation. Many lawyers also struggle with maintaining appropriate boundaries when clients inevitably want assistance beyond the agreed scope. There’s an additional challenge of providing competent representation with only limited involvement in a case. Attorneys maintain an ethical duty too to verify that clients are competent to handle portions of their own case. Add to that that possible negative outcomes could reflect poorly on the attorney, even when those outcomes stem from the client’s handling of the case.

For clients, there’s often a misunderstanding about the limited nature of representation. Many clients struggle with inadequate handling of case aspects outside the attorney’s scope and may miss critical deadlines or procedural requirements. Complex legal matters can be difficult to navigate without continuous guidance, potentially leading to worse outcomes than with full representation.

Several mitigation strategies can help address these risks. Clear, written agreements that explicitly define the scope of services are essential. Thorough documentation of all communications and advice provides protection for both parties. Regular assessment of client capacity to handle their portions of the case helps prevent problems. Establishing mechanisms to modify the scope when necessary, provides flexibility. And thorough client education regarding exactly what the attorney will and won’t handle helps set proper expectations.

Conclusion

Unbundled services have become increasingly popular as the legal market evolves to meet changing client demands for more cost-effective and flexible legal solutions. They represent a significant shift from the traditional model of comprehensive representation toward more client-centred, accessible legal services. They offer a flexible and affordable alternative to traditional full-service representation, benefiting both clients and attorneys. Their growing prevalence and demand reflect a shift towards more accessible and client-centred legal solutions. But while unbundled services can be valuable when implemented properly, they also require careful management of expectations and boundaries to protect both attorneys and clients.

 

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Legal IT

The New Legal Economy

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In an article, published in Law 21, on 20 September 2019, Jordan Furlong shared his insights on the emergence of “the new legal economy.” In it, he describes how the legal profession first evolved from being the profession of lawyers into a legal market. And now we are seeing the next major transformation, where a new legal economy is starting to take shape. Several evolutions indicate that this indeed seems to be the case. Let’s have a closer look at what’s happening, and what the implications are.

Less than a century ago, the legal profession consisted only of lawyers, and they were the only ones offering legal services to legal consumers. Then, in the last decades we saw how a new legal market came into being. Two evolutions played an important part in that. The first one was that law firms started being managed like companies, which meant that more and more non-lawyers started playing a part in law firms, and that lawyers started changing the way they worked. A second evolution was the rise of Alternative Legal Service Providers, where the market was disrupted by non-lawyers offering legal services.

Evolution 1 – the de-lawyering of law firms: As law firms became commercial legal service providers, they started focusing on service delivery, on productivity and profitability. Running a law firm these days requires skillsets like project management, data analytics, design, business basics, digital basics, risk prediction and management, talent management, strategic planning, financial management, vendor management, technology support, knowledge management, growth and development management, communications, litigation support, workflow automation, and others. Law firms now often have law librarians, legal knowledge engineers, legal data analysts among their staff. Some bar associations are even considering allowing law firms to have equity partners. In this new market, law firms must serve more clients and serve them more efficiently, holistically, empathetically, and cost-effectively. This evolution has led to changes in who works at law firms, and in how lawyers work.

Evolution 2 – Alternative Legal Service Providers (ALSPs): In recent years, we have also seen a sharp increase in non-lawyers providing legal services. The services they offer at this stage typically focus on litigation support, legal research, document review and e-discovery. In less than three years, the number of law firms in the US that use the services of these ALSPs has tripled. By now, more than 1 in 4 law firms already uses their services. And a recently published survey by Thomson Reuters revealed that about 52 percent of corporate Canada either already uses alternative legal service providers for litigation support or will do so within the next five years.

Apart from these two main evolutions, there are other changes affecting the legal market as well. These include “the rise of legal process improvement and outsourcing, the technology-driven commoditization of legal work, the growing sophistication of large law firms and law departments, and the slow but steady liberalization of legal regulation.”

Furlong notes that throughout all these market changes, one thing has remained largely constant, and that is what lawyers do. The market evolutions described above are changing the how lawyers work, and to some degree who is active on the legal market as well. But thus far, it has had relatively little impact on the what lawyers do. And now that too is about to change.

Traditionally, lawyers did mainly two things: offer legal advice (including the drafting of contracts, etc.), and litigation. With the progress being made in Legal AI, we are seeing ALSPs who are offering legal advice, and are offering services like automated and smart contracts. (Though a German court has just ruled that automated contracts still have to be supervised by lawyers).  And more and more, legal consumers are going out of their way to find ways to avoid litigation. Both of these changes directly affect what lawyers do.

Furlong: “The old legal economy consisted of paying lawyers by the hour to do every legal task that needed to be done. In the new legal economy, systems, software, and structures are going to integrate, automate, delegate, and eliminate countless legal tasks by which lawyers once made a living.”

Because of this, it becomes essential to redefine what lawyers as well as law firms are and what they do. In this context, Furlong says three important questions must be answered:

  1. What now constitutes “legal work”?
  2. How will legal work be done?
  3. What will lawyers do?

Something to think about.

But rest assured that we here at INFORMA keep on closely following all these evolutions to be better able to serve you.

 

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Legal IT

The changing shape of the legal market

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I always keep a close eye on how the legal market evolves. In the last ten years, we have witnessed quite a number of evolutions that have disrupted the traditional legal market. In a presentation at Lexpo 2016, held in March, Chris Bull gave an interesting overview of ten ways in which innovative business models have changed the market. (Chris Bull, An uncharted world: 10 ways in which innovative business models have changed the shape of the legal market forever, presentation at Lexpo 2016. Available on video at http://lexpo.com/videos). Here are the highlights.

  1. Investment

Ten years ago, a law firm typically consisted of partners who co-owned the firm. Now we see law firms that have external investors on board who are not lawyers. These can be insurance companies, accounting and consulting companies or plain capital investment companies.

  1. Corporation

As the correlate of the first evolution, we find more and more law firms in a more traditional commercial corporation model. Where ten years ago, law firms were partnerships, many law firms have adopted a corporate structure of a Limited company. In this corporate structure, law firms often have directors (CFOs, COOs, CIOs, etc.) who are not lawyers.

  1. Outsourcing

Law firms tend to focus more on specializing in certain fields than before. As a result, anything that is not part of their core business is subcontracted to third parties.

  1. Insourcing

Another way in which the legal market has been disrupted is by an increase in the insourcing done by the customers of the law firms. Bigger corporations tend to have bigger legal departments and do more in-house than before.

  1. Agile Firms

In the last ten years, we have also witnessed the emergence of ‘agile firms’. Four aspects set an agile firm apart. A) Role: ‘role’ has to do with who plays what part/role in the company. Apart from the partners, agile firms tend to use more paralegals, and temps, and have a larger diversity in who works full time or part time, etc. B) Place: where does the firm operate from? These days, many firms operate in a multi-site set-up. At the same time, people spend less time in the physical office and work more from home. There even are ‘shared service centres’ for lawyers. Traditionally, law firms were located in the city. Now they may just have an office there, where the main site of operation has moved to the outskirts of the city because it’s cheaper. C) Time: more and more firms are using flexible hours. Some companies have moved to a system where work hours are counted on an annual basis instead of per week or per month. D) Source: where do you find your people? Recruitment is no longer a matter of just prospecting at law schools.

  1. Start-ups

Over the last ten years, we have seen a tendency where bigger firms merge. In spite of that, the number of law firms remains more or less the same. As big firms merge, people also leave to set up their own start-ups. These start-ups typically operate differently.

  1. Legal Tech

Legal tech has dramatically changed over the last ten years. New on the scene are online offices, which can take one of two forms. On the one hand, there is the ‘Remote Office’. Here, lawyers are still involved and do the actual work. They don’t necessarily ever meet the customer in person but operate through a website front. On the other hand, there are offices that are entirely virtual: the AI office. Here no lawyer is involved. Everything is done through and by the website, using an Artificial Intelligence engine.

  1. Fixed Price

The traditional law firm worked with timesheets and billable hours. But because of market demands, more and more firms offer to work for fixed prices. That way the customer knows exactly in advance how much what will cost.

  1. Group Structure

Traditionally, law firms were single legal entities. Now we also see group structures that can be national or international. There may even be a holding company.

  1. Collaboration

Over the last years, there also has been a sharp increase in collaboration between law firms. These can take the form of collaboration networks, franchises, membership groups, purchasing groups, joint ventures, and/or firms using a common brand name.

All of the aforementioned changes have a dramatic impact on how the firm operates. But for CICERO LawPack 10, this is not a problem. It is designed to be able to handle things like multi-site set-ups, corporate accounting, etc.