How legal teams create value through connected people, processes, and tech

Legal departments are investing in tech faster than ever. Yet many are discovering that tech alone doesn't improve how legal work gets done. Our 2026 Global Survey Report found that 61% of in-house legal teams intentionally redesigned how they use AI over the past 12 months, while 44% invested in workflow or process automation. These findings show a clear commitment to modernising legal operations, but the challenge is ensuring those technologies enhance the way legal work is actually delivered.

Legal work rarely happens within a single team or system. Matters move across legal, procurement, finance, compliance, HR, IT, and the wider business, often involving multiple handoffs and decisions along the way. Technology creates the greatest value when it supports those connections, rather than operating alongside them.

Legal dealings are connected by design

Legal work moves through a series of connected stages. Requests come in, priorities are assessed, work is allocated, review and negotiation take place, approvals are completed, and outcomes are shared with the business. Maintaining context throughout that process is essential to keeping matters moving efficiently.

When teams have access to the right information at the right time, they can make better decisions, avoid unnecessary duplication, and respond more effectively to changing business needs. Tech can support those interactions, but it’s the people using it who interpret risk, apply judgment, and guide outcomes. The quality of those connections often shapes how efficiently work moves through the system.

Clear governance, defined responsibilities, and consistent ways of working support that flow. They give teams clarity around how work progresses, who is responsible at each stage and how decisions are made, reducing friction while helping legal teams deliver more consistent outcomes.

Integration across people, processes, and systems

Most legal teams operate across multiple tools and platforms. Information sits in different places, and work moves between systems as it progresses through its lifecycle.

Integration is often thought of as connecting tech platforms, but effective integration goes much further. It's about connecting the way legal work is delivered so that people, processes, governance, and systems operate together rather than in isolation.

When legal work moves seamlessly, information remains connected, context is preserved, and decisions can be made with greater confidence. Legal operations improve when these elements work together in a consistent way. Teams spend less time searching for information or reconciling updates and more time focusing on legal outcomes.

Our 2026 Global Survey Report, The Integration Imperative, found that 61% of in-house teams are actively redesigning how they use AI within their function, while 46% cite fragmented systems are prompting them to rethink how legal work is delivered. At the same time, 54% of all respondents report that responsibility for legal tech decisions now sits within the in-house legal function, reflecting the growing role legal leaders play in shaping not only tech adoption, but how tech supports the delivery of legal work.

How teams work shapes how tech performs

Tech adoption depends heavily on how well it fits the way people work, day to day. Over time, teams naturally develop different ways of working based on experience, preference, or practical need. Even the most capable platforms deliver limited value if they add friction, disrupt established workflows, or fail to support the practical realities of legal work.

Some rely on structured systems. Others continue to use spreadsheets, email, or informal workarounds that fit their day-to-day work These patterns tend to develop over time and reflect how work has traditionally been done within the organisation.

Supporting adoption involves understanding those workflows, involving users in process design, and creating systems that align with current working practices. Small improvements in usability and consistency often have a greater impact on adoption than large-scale system changes alone.

Professional judgment remains central throughout this process. Legal professionals interpret risk, apply experience, manage relationships, and guide decisions across complex matters. These moving parts working together shape how legal work is delivered in practice.

Building flexibility into legal teams

Creating a connected legal function also depends on having access to the right expertise at the right time. As legal functions continue to evolve in response to changing business demands, many are complementing permanent teams with specialist expertise and flexible talent to support this shift. Our 2026 Global Survey Report found that 52% of in-house law workers have embedded flexible talent into their operating models, reflecting a broader shift towards building teams that can scale and adapt to changing business needs.

When incorporated into a legal operating model, flexible talent supports continuity during peak demand, provides access to niche expertise, and helps legal teams respond more quickly to shifting priorities. Like tech, its value is greatest when supported by clear governance, established workflows, and the way legal work is delivered across the organisation.

When considering how flexible talent can benefit a legal team, it’s key to ask the following questions:

• How does legal work move through our company today?
• Where do handoffs create delays or duplication?
• How do people across the business access and share legal information?
• How consistent are ways of working across teams?
• Howdoes our operating model support changing demand?

These questions can highlight practical opportunities to improve how legal work is structured and delivered.

Bringing it all together

Legal departments will continue to invest in AI, automation, and new tech as expectations from the business continue to grow. These tools can play an important role in improving how legal work is delivered, but tech alone is rarely what determines success.

The strongest outcomes come from aligning tech with people, processes, governance, and systems so that legal workflows in a consistent and connected way. When information flows seamlessly, context is preserved, responsibilities are clear, and workflows are designed around the needs of the business, tech becomes an enabler of better legal delivery rather than another layer of complexity.

Teams that focus on how work is organised, how decisions are made, and how people collaborate are better positioned to use the tools available to them and adapt as needs evolve.

For more insights into how legal teams are shaping their operating models, explore the 2026 Global Survey Report.

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