5 Steps for Evaluating Your Legal Tech Stack for the New Year

Lauren Burnside |

A Strategic Guide for Legal Departments to Optimize Their Technology Stack and Drive Efficiency in 2025

The start of a new year brings a fresh opportunity to take stock of what’s working and what’s not – especially when it comes to your legal tech stack. With technology playing a critical role in driving efficiency and cost savings, understanding how your tools are performing is essential.

Are there gaps where processes are falling through? Are some solutions overlapping and creating redundancies? Or is there room for improvement that could unlock untapped potential? These are all questions you are probably asking.

By taking the time to evaluate your legal tech stack, you can identify inefficiencies, streamline workflows, and make smarter investments. But it’s not just about cutting costs; it’s about empowering your team with the right tools to work at their best.

Dive in to uncover 5 steps to take when beginning your legal tech evaluation process.

Evaluating Your Legal Tech Stack

Step 1: Assess Current Performance of Tech Stack

To begin evaluating your legal tech stack, it’s essential to evaluate how well your existing legal tech stack has performed over the past year (and beyond!). This step helps you understand what’s working, what’s not, and where adjustments are needed to enhance efficiency. It will also help ensure that your legal operations team is aligned with company goals, addressing pain points effectively, and leveraging the right technology.

Start by analyzing the performance of your current tools against key metrics and benchmarks. Consider indicators such as:

  • Time saved: Have your tools streamlined processes and reduced manual work?
  • Cost reductions: Are the solutions delivering measurable value in terms of cost savings?
  • User adoption rates: Are your team members actively using the tools, or are certain systems underutilized due to complexity or lack of training?
Legal Ops checklist

Gathering feedback is another important component of this evaluation. Engage with your legal team and stakeholders to gain insights into their experiences with the current tech stack.
Consider questions such as:

  • Are there specific pain points or frustrations you’ve encountered?
  • Are certain tools falling short of expectations or causing inefficiencies?
  • On the flip side, are there standout tools that have delivered significant value?

This feedback, combined with performance metrics, provides a clear picture of where your tech stack is excelling and where it needs improvement. It lays the foundation for making informed decisions as you optimize your tools for the year ahead.

Step 2: Identify Gaps and Pain Points in Existing Tech Stack

To optimize your legal tech stack, it’s crucial to identify inefficiencies and bottlenecks that hinder performance. A common issue is the fragmentation of technology solutions, where disparate systems lead to disjointed processes and duplicated efforts. For example, do you have one solution for contract management and another for document generation, but still have to manually upload or input data to keep the process moving? This fragmentation can cause significant inefficiencies within legal teams.

When evaluating your legal tech stack, it is also important to understand and map out your workflows. Misaligned processes, (such as scattered client information across multiple platforms, for example), can lead to unclear communication and increase the likelihood of errors or lost data. By identifying these gaps, you can streamline workflows and maximize the value of your technology stack.

Common challenges include:

  • Poor integrations: Systems that don’t communicate effectively can create data silos, disrupt workflows, and force your team to rely on manual workarounds, leading to inefficiencies and potential errors.
  • Outdated systems: Legacy tools may lack the features or scalability required to meet current demands, slowing down processes and making it harder to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving legal landscape.
Evaluating Your Legal Tech Stack for the New Year
  • Security concerns: Unsupported or outdated software can leave your organization vulnerable to data breaches and compliance risks, especially as cybersecurity threats continue to rise.

By pinpointing these gaps and pain points, you can make informed decisions to enhance your tech stack, leading to improved performance and reduced operational friction.

Step 3: Evaluate Legal Technology Vendor Relationships and Support

Your relationships with your legal tech vendors is just as important as the tools and services they provide. A strong technology partner should not only deliver effective solutions but also empower you to use those tools to their fullest potential. As the saying goes, “give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” Similarly, the right vendor will go beyond quick fixes, equipping your team with the knowledge, training, and support needed to achieve long-term success and self-sufficiency with their technology.

A thorough evaluation of these partnerships ensures that you’re getting the support, innovation, and value you need to meet your legal team’s goals.

Take the following steps to evaluate your legal technology vendor relationships and support:

  • Determine how many vendors are being used: Are you managing (and paying for) a different vendor for 6+ different solutions? Are the solutions you are using even compatible with each other? You wouldn’t take different parts of your car to various auto shops and expect a unified service experience, so why should you trust segments of your business to many hands? You shouldn’t.
  • Assess current vendor performance: Have they been responsive to support requests? Are they proactive in providing software updates or addressing bugs? Evaluate whether their partnership aligns with your expectations and if they’ve been reliable in helping your team succeed.
  • Explore potential new vendors: If your current vendors aren’t delivering the value you need, it might be time to explore alternatives. Look for vendors offering innovative solutions, better integrations, or unique features that address your team’s specific pain points. Additionally, consider whether a new partnership could help future-proof your tech stack by leaving room for growth.
  • Negotiate contracts for more ideal terms: Determine whether your existing contracts are cost-effective, and if there’s room to negotiate better pricing or more favorable terms (such as flexible licensing options or expanded services, for example).

TIP: Strong vendor relationships often come down to open communication, so don’t hesitate to discuss how they can better meet your team’s needs moving forward.

Step 4: Consider Budget and Assess ROI

When evaluating your legal tech stack, there is always going to be one thing overlooking all of your decisions: your budget — and even more so, return on investment on that budget. Your tech stack should not only streamline processes but also deliver measurable value, such as cost savings, increased productivity, or reduced risks.

Consider the following when looking at your budget and ROI:

  1. Analyze your current tech spend:
    • Review your technology costs and compare them to the value and efficiencies gained.
    • Decipher tools that provide strong ROI and those that may not justify their cost.
  2. Evaluate high-performing solutions:
    • Determine where to reallocate resources to support tools that have the greatest impact on operations.
    • Consider scaling back or eliminating underperforming systems.
  3. Emphasize cost-effective solutions:
    • Seek tools that provide flexibility and scalability to adapt to your team’s future needs.
    • Opt for robust, user-friendly solutions that deliver strong value.

Make the most of your legal tech budget by ensuring you are adding the most efficient tools to your tech stack.

Step 5: Explore New Technologies

We hear about new technologies and advancements everyday, and it is easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer number of options available for your team. But evaluating new technology isn’t just about staying current or having the flashiest new models – it’s about ensuring your team has the right tools to remain efficient, adaptable, and competitive in the face of evolving demands.

Legal technology continues to grow in sophistication, offering solutions that can address common pain points, streamline operations, and drive better outcomes.

While evaluating your legal tech stack:

  • Find your why: Your first task is to understand the “whats” and “whys.” What is out there and what does it do? Why do you need it? From AI-powered tools to advanced automation and cloud-based platforms, the legal tech space is brimming with opportunities to improve efficiency. These innovations can help your team tackle repetitive tasks, enhance accuracy, and free up time for more strategic priorities. Staying informed about these advancements ensures you don’t miss out on tools that could transform your operations, and having priorities in mind ensures you stay on track.
  • Assess how new tools can enhance current operations: Look closely at areas where inefficiencies exist, such as document management, compliance tracking, or contract analysis. Could a new tool eliminate bottlenecks or reduce manual effort? Evaluate how potential solutions fit into your existing workflows and how they can enhance productivity (take notes for your business case).
Ready for Document Automation?
  • Future-proof your legal team: The technology you choose today should be flexible and scalable to adapt to tomorrow’s challenges. Cloud-based platforms, for instance, support hybrid work environments and provide the agility to grow alongside your organization. Investing in tools with built-in scalability ensures your team can meet future needs without frequent overhauls.

By evaluating what is new, you’re not just upgrading your legal tech stack – you are laying the groundwork for a more agile, productive, and future-ready legal team.

Empowering Your Legal Team for the Year Ahead

Evaluating your legal tech stack as you kick off the new year is an opportunity to ensure your team is equipped with the tools they need to thrive. By identifying gaps, addressing inefficiencies, and considering upgrades that align with your strategic goals, you can set your legal department up for greater efficiency, cost savings, and long-term success.

What should be on your radar as you plan for success this year?

  • Compliance Readiness: With changing regulations and heightened scrutiny, having a tech stack that supports compliance workflows and risk mitigation is critical
  • Performance Tracking: Tools that provide real-time insights into legal spend, matter progress, and team performance can help you stay on top of KPIs and justify departmental budgets
  • Collaboration and Process Automation: Streamlined collaboration with outside counsel and automated workflows can free up your team to focus on high-value work
  • AI and Emerging Tech: Assess how new technologies can enhance decision-making and increase efficiency without adding complexity

With the right technology in place, your team can stay ahead of evolving demands, improve collaboration, and focus on delivering maximum value to your organization.

Take the first step toward innovation and connection by joining us at Interact 2025, with our largest audience, session selection, and MitraTECH Expo to date. Gain insights from thought leaders, explore legal technology trends, and learn best practices for staying ahead. Don’t miss this opportunity to empower your legal team.

Ready to explore how upgrading your legal tech stack can drive efficiency, productivity, and future readiness? Get in touch to learn how we can help you build a smarter, more agile technology foundation for your legal team.

Evaluating Your Legal Tech Stack