The Year in Technology: ABA TECHREPORT 2017

The ABA Legal Technology Resource Center (LTRC) has published its fourth installment of TECHREPORT—a collection of easy-to-read breakouts of the annual ABA Legal Technology Survey Report, one of the leading surveys on how attorneys use technology. In 2013, the LTRC launched this companion compendium to the industrious survey, sharing highlights and foresight in laymen terms. Practitioners, firms, and legal tech companies alike can use TECHREPORT to get a better grasp on legal technology trends and predictions.

In the ten topics listed below, our very own technology experts take a look at survey data from ABA members and put the most telling findings of 2017 under the microscope. From the sudden decline in LinkedIn activity to the surge in cloud usage, our writers take an in-depth look beyond the numbers and share their observations, opinions, and predictions for the future of legal technology. Each individual article is now available online or as a downloadable PDF.

Check out each article:

• Technology Training, Mark Rosch
• Planning and Budgeting, Catherine Sanders Reach
• Security, David Ries
• Litigation and TAR, Stephen Embry
• Mobile Technology, Aaron Street
• Cloud Computing, Dennis Kennedy
• Social Media and Blogging, Allison Shields
• Solo and Small Firm Technology, Natalie Kelly
• Virtual Law Practice, Chad Burton
• Practice Management, Dan Pinnington, Ian Hu

Here are some highlights from the year:

• More than one in three firms with 10-49 attorneys report having experienced a security breach.
• 27% of respondents indicated that they had a client retain their legal services directly or via referral because of their use of social networking sites for professional purposes.
• Even among lawyers who have private offices, 77% regularly work from home, 33% while traveling, and 20% regularly work from clients’ or opposing counsel’s office or from court.

Discover more trends—each individual article is now available online or as a downloadable PDF.