Pondering how to position legal tech? (published Summer 2020)
Comfort factor Traditionally, law firms haven’t strayed too far from the corporate brand. Sector and practice area groups are happy to co-exist under one name: that makes it easier to cross-sell, too. But tech has begun to challenge the status quo. New products, services and competitors are putting pressure on the model of the traditional law firm. So far, most firms have resisted this movement. From a commercial, cultural and political perspective, they’ve contained their tech within the corporate brand (although some do adopt a sub-branding approach). At the moment, GravityStack is one of the few standalone tech brand from a law firm, and it’s now free to establish its own (Shoreditch? Silicon Valley?) culture and credentials. So what – if any – is the right approach? As with so much else, it depends on many factors. In identifying what part of the market you want to grow and prosper in, and just how you do that, it’s important to consider strategy, audiences, competitors, competencies and aspirations. Managing risk plays a part, too. Reed Smith’s decision to spin off its tech credentials and plans was bold. But naming it GravityStack – a modern, edgy, corporate identity – is a good start for standing out in a pool of similar legal tech companies. Positioning is not static. Your position will evolve and adapt to market dynamics. Right now, the debate is hotting up on how to release tech from the boundaries of a traditional law firm model. How far firms react, and how quickly they might change.
When selling tech solutions, how do you make a law firm look not like a law firm? Increasingly, as tech and innovation professionals in law firms plan how to position their tech and resourcing credentials, they ponder this question. For most, the answer is close to home. Positioning tech as part of, or adjunct to the corporate brand. Firms see clear benefits in leveraging the reputation and awareness of a corporate brand, particularly among existing clients. Ashurst, for example, simply adds ‘Advance’. Ashurst Advance looks and feels very much like its mothership. A few, however, see it differently. In the opposing camp is Reed Smith’s GravityStack, which looks and feels nothing like its parent. And that’s deliberate – because it is different. GravityStack was born out of Reed Smith as “the next-stage evolution of Reed Smith’s in-house legal technology team”. It positions itself as a data solutions company that focuses on connecting “people, data and technology” in law and beyond. With a different name and corporate identity, it has a real tech feel. Close to GravityStack’s positioning is Nakhoda, from Linklaters. In between, Condor (from Fieldfisher) has the look and feel of a law or professional services firm, as do Denton’s offspring Nextlaw Labs and insurance specialist Kennedys’ tech arm, Kennedys IQ.
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