Puncturing the hype

This is a realistic look behind the curtain at what it takes to sensibly buy software as a corporate legal department. The author guides the reader through several useful strategies to enable a more robust approach to purchasing.

With a down-to-earth look at the current state of the legal tech industry, Cemenska does not pull any punches when talking about the mistakes seen through years of experience, including some good insight into why technology is often overhyped and why it is hard to sell to legal departments and law firms.

This book sets out the realities of building and selling legal tech in a way that helps a buyer of these solutions understand the ecosystem that they are working within. Legal tech is a strange industry. Lawyers are not necessarily trained in how to purchase software, but they need to be heavily involved in the process in order to get something that works for them. The background provided should arm any future buyer with the knowledge to get the most out of conversations with stakeholders, vendors and other customers of tech solutions.

Following the steps set out in this book would go a long way to supporting an in-house team looking to bring in a technology solution, and would be very useful in avoiding the pitfalls to which many teams fall prey. The takeaways around properly spending the time to evaluate technology and not relying on others to tell you what you (as a buyer and subject matter expert) actually want are key principles that I have seen work well with clients that we support.

While some of my experience has differed from that of the author, as someone who has supported clients through similar projects from a law firm perspective, I thought this book captured the key challenges faced by in-house legal departments and provided solid advice on dealing with them.

I would recommend this book for legal ops professionals starting out on their journey. It is an ideal read for any in-house lawyers who have been tasked with a digital transformation project.

Michael Kennedy is head of research and development at Addleshaw Goddard LLP, Manchester