The Global Legal Tech Report for Asia and NZ reveals a buoyant and growing legal tech sector despite COVID-19
The latest research reports from the Global Legal Tech Report research initiative reveal a buoyant and growing legal tech sector in Asia and New Zealand – despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Global Legal Tech Report is a research initiative of the Australian Legal Technology Association (ALTA) and Alpha Creates, backed by research sponsors Macquarie, KPMG, the Law Society of England and Wales, Baker McKenzie and Toro Digital. The project’s Asian and New Zealand reports will be launched at the virtual ALTACON on Friday 29 May.
“As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded across the region, it is unsurprising that Asian and NZ Legal tech companies identified COVID-19 as a key challenge but they were also bullish about their hiring, growth and international market expansion opportunities,” the report’s Global Director, board director of the Australian Legal Technology Association and CEO of Legaler, Stevie Ghiassi said.
According to the reports, the top three revenue challenges for legal tech companies in Asia and New Zealand were:
| Asia | New Zealand |
|---|---|
| 1. COVID-19 pandemic | 1. Long sales cycle |
| 2. Long sales cycle | 2. COVID-19 pandemic |
| 3. Staffing | 3. Funding |
Despite these challenges, eighty two percent of Asian legal tech companies and 77% of New Zealand legal tech companies planned to expand internationally.
“To weather the pandemic and also fund growth and operations in the current environment, fund raising becomes an important source of financing for Legal Tech companies,” Alpha Creates Principal, Graeme Grovum observed. “It is interesting to see more Asian Legal Tech companies have raised capital compared to their New Zealand counterparts.”
Global Collaboration
The project is being undertaken in collaboration with global legal technology associations. The Asian report was produced in collaboration with ASEAN LegalTech and the Asia-Pacific Legal Innovation and Technology Association (ALITA).
“ASEAN has a digital economy-ready population that creates the right conditions for the consumption of online legal services. In a legal market with 248,067 lawyers dispersed across the 10 Southeast Asian countries there are opportunities for Legal Tech companies to help address access to lawyers and access to justice issues that characterize the relatively under-lawyered region,” ASEAN LegalTech Founding Board member, Eric Chin said.
“As countries pick up the shattered pieces of their economies, clients worldwide will be calling for a technological revamp of the legal industry,” Josh Lee Kok Thong, Chairperson, ALITA Steering Committee said.
“Many will want to see the drastic adaptations implemented outlast the present crisis, and the old reasons for relying on time tested practices will see their force greatly diminished. Once again, all eyes will be pointed towards legal technology,” he said.
“While history books will remember 2020 as the “COVID-19 Year”, let texts like the Global Legal Tech Report represent 2020 as the start of legal technology’s renaissance.”
The New Zealand report was produced in conjunction with Legal Tech NZ.
“Turmoil and uncertainty as a result of COVID-19 is forcing many law firms and businesses to re-structure their operations and reevaluate their plans,” Ben Winslade, Chair, Legal Tech NZ said
“To do that successfully, you need good data. Up until now, data on the Legal Tech sector in NZ has been both sparse and inaccessible,” he said.
“The Global Legal Tech Report fills that gap, as it allows benchmarking with other local companies and reveals common trends and challenges and enables a comparison of NZ to other markets, where many of our local vendors are planning to expand.”
Participating organisations
The reports “Asia 2020: A Report on the Business of Legal Tech” and “NZ 2020: A Report on the Business of Legal Tech” are available for purchase for $USD 399 from Friday 29 May. The Australian report was released in April.
Each report details:
- The makeup of local Legal Tech company founders
- The team composition of local Legal Tech companies
- The underlying technologies that power solution developed by local Legal Tech companies
- The growth outlook for local Legal Tech companies
- The cost composition of local Legal Tech companies
- The business models and pricing models local Legal Tech companies have deployed to commercialise the solutions they developed.
Further regional reports will be released for Africa, North and South America, UK and Europe in the coming months, culminating in a Global Report in November. Legal tech firms in these regions are invited to participate in the research via online survey.
Participating legal technology companies will receive their regional report free and a substantial discount on the global research which will see a cross-jurisdictional comparison of the trends from each jurisdiction.
Ends.
Stevie Ghiassi
ALTA Director – International,
Project Director, Global Legal Tech Report & CEO, Legaler
Tel: +1 212 810 7540
Email: gltd@alta.law
Nicki Hauser
Project Manager
Global Legal Tech Report
Tel: +61 3 0410 439276
Email: gltd@alta.law
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