Disruptive Innovation Within the Legal Services Ecosystem.

Many law firms have done little to address the opportunities and threats presented by potentially disruptive technology (DT), such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. The purpose of this multiple-case study was to explore strategies that some law firm leaders use to address the potentially detrimental influences of DT on their organizations. The systems approach to management was employed as the conceptual framework. Data were collected from six participants at two international law firms with offices in California, using semistructured interviews and organizational artifacts. Data were analyzed using inductive and deductive coding and thematic analysis, resulting in four themes: (a) recognizing the legal ecosystem and legal firms are open systems, but organizational subsystems often function as semiclosed systems; (b) acknowledging that although DT represents the most significant potential challenge in the near future, the immediate challenge is improving technology, which requires organizational adjustments; (c) recognizing the need for firms to invest more heavily in innovation generation activities; and (d) realizing the need for increased utilization of augmenting technologies, such as artificial intelligence or machine learning, to streamline nonadvisory outputs. The findings of this study suggest that, while disruptive innovation may pose a moderate threat, there are also significant advantages to adopting disruptive innovation as a formal aspect of organizational strategy. The results of this study may contribute to social change by outlining ways in which firms can lower costs to clients while increasing access to legal services for those in underserved communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]