Collaboration has always been central to the work of small and medium-sized law firms. Seldom do matters move from instruction to completion through one person, or team, alone. Fee earners, support teams, counsel, experts, clients and other external parties may all be required to contribute at different stages.
Collaboration is not a new challenge for firms – but the way in which firms collaborate has become increasingly complicated in recent years.
Documents are shared across more systems and channels, teams work across offices, homes and court deadlines. And all this while clients growing demand for faster updates. External input needs to be gathered quickly, while firms must maintain control over their documents and data.
This can be a difficult balance for firms who need to support more connected ways of working but cannot afford to add further complexity to already busy workflows.
Start with the pressure points, not the platform
Legal technology adoption should not begin with the question: “What can this tool do?” It should begin with a more practical question: “What is slowing us down?”
For many firms, those pressure points are easy to recognise. Documents are sent back and forth by email, feedback arrives in different formats. Versions are saved locally, renamed, downloaded and re-uploaded. Someone must then reconcile comments, check which version is current, confirm whether all parties have responded and make sure the final document reflects the latest position.
Individually, these tasks may seem manageable but together, they create a significant administrative burden, taking time away from higher-value work and increasing the risk of missed updates, duplicated effort or document confusion.
This is particularly important for leaner teams, where capacity may be limited and dedicated innovation, project management or IT resources may not be available.
Research from the Solicitors Regulation Authority has shown that while smaller firms recognise the value of technology, they can face barriers around cost, confidence, training and selecting the right tools. That reflects a wider reality across the market: firms are open to better ways of working, but the solution needs to feel practical, proportionate and relevant to the work they are doing every day – not just progress for the sake of progress, but real, value adding contributions.
Make collaboration easier to manage
For collaboration to improve, it must become easier to manage.
That starts with simplicity. If a process requires people to step outside their normal workflow, duplicate information or maintain another layer of admin, it is unlikely to be adopted consistently. The most effective improvements reduce the number of steps involved and make it easier to see what has happened, what still needs attention and who is responsible for the next action.
Control is just as important. Easier collaboration does not mean open-ended access. A partner, associate, paralegal, external counsel, expert or client may all need to contribute to a matter, but not in the same way or at the same level. Firms need to involve the right people at the right time, without exposing sensitive information or losing oversight of the process.
Shared visibility is the final piece. Many collaboration issues arise because people are working from different information. A single source of truth can reduce chasing, clarify decision points and make progress easier to manage by keeping the right documents, comments and actions in one place.
Adoption depends on everyday usability
Technology like this does not succeed simply because it is technically capable, but because people can see how it helps them do their work more easily.
If a tool is intuitive, aligned to the task and clearly improves the working day, users are more likely to engage with it. If it feels like another system to maintain or another tool to update, adoption will always be a challenge.
This is where SME firms can have an advantage. Smaller teams can often identify workflow issues quickly and make practical improvements without the layers of complexity found in larger organisations. However, that only works when change is targeted.
Rather than trying to transform every process at once, firms can start by identifying the points where collaboration most often breaks down. Is it gathering comments from counsel? Managing document versions? Coordinating input across a team? Preparing files for court or completion? Tracking who has reviewed what?
Once those pressure points are clear, firms can make more informed decisions about the tools, processes and behaviours needed to improve them.
The goal is less friction, not more technology
The wider legal sector is moving towards more digital, connected and collaborative ways of working. ILTA’s 2025 Legal Technology Survey points to cloud migration, AI integration, cybersecurity and document management systems as key areas shaping law firm technology planning. However, for SME firms, the value of this shift will not be measured by how advanced the technology sounds, but whether it removes friction from daily work.
Collaboration should not mean more emails, more versions or more uncertainty. Done well, it should give teams a clearer way to move matters forward, with greater control over documents, decisions and next steps.
For law firms, the opportunity is not to adopt technology for its own sake. It is to reduce friction in the document-heavy processes that sit at the centre of legal practice, helping teams work with greater confidence, consistency and control.
