Law firms spent 2.4% of revenue on technology in 2024 but still FAR less than their knowledge industry peers.

The 2026 Citi Hildebrandt Client Advisory put together by Gretta Rusanow and Brad Hildebrandt has a lot of great data points but the tech spend number really jumped out.

The legal industry ranks 6th out of 9 major sectors in technology investment.

Just above construction and retail.

Yes, tech spending grew 9.7%.

The fastest real growth in the sector's history.

But is that the right trajectory for an industry that undergoing a massive transformation and has lagged its peers for decades?

Also, remember that technology is only part of the equation.

Change management. Innovation personnel. Training. Process reengineering.

None of that shows up in the 2.4%.

There seems to be consensus that corporate legal departments lag law firms in transformation today.

But board pressure to reduce external legal spend is accelerating.

Ask any CLO if there is more pressure to leverage tech to reduce spend then there was before AI.

The answer will almost certainly be yes.

80% of legal professionals expect transformational AI impact within 5 years.

Clients are already demanding efficiency gains.

The question isn't whether law firms are investing more.

They are.

The question is whether we're investing in change fast enough to stay ahead in this transformation?