The legal technology industry is celebrating record funding rounds, AI breakthroughs, and cloud adoption rates that would make any SaaS founder jealous. Meanwhile, in conference rooms across America, partners are still tracking billable hours in Excel spreadsheets and managing client relationships through email folders organized by last name.
This isn't a failure of the legal profession—it's the biggest opportunity in legal tech.
Recent industry surveys reveal a startling reality: while 73% of law firms have adopted some form of legal technology, the majority still rely on Excel for core business functions. The 2025 Legal Industry Report found that among the 2,800+ legal professionals surveyed, traditional tools like Excel and email remain dominant for client management, matter tracking, and financial reporting.
But here's the contrarian insight that most legal tech founders miss: this isn't a problem to solve quickly—it's a $31 billion market opportunity to approach strategically.
The legal technology market tells two different stories depending on how you measure adoption.
The Optimistic Headlines:
The Reality in Conference Rooms:
The gap between these narratives reveals the truth: legal tech adoption is broad but shallow. Firms are using technology, but not transforming their operations.
Understanding why lawyers stick with Excel reveals the real barriers to legal tech adoption—and the strategic opportunities for founders who get it right.
Barrier 1: The Trust Account Complexity Legal billing involves trust funds and trust transactions that must be managed in specific ways. You can't take credit card processing fees off the top of a trust account transaction the way you would with a normal merchant account. If a lawyer charges $100 for a trust transaction and only $97 is deposited due to processing fees, that lawyer is essentially committing malpractice.
Excel feels safer because lawyers understand exactly what's happening with their money. Legal practice management software must not only replicate Excel's transparency but exceed it with compliance features.
Barrier 2: The Learning Curve Economics A 2024 study revealed that 84% of law firms saw increased efficiency using legal technology—but that implies 16% saw decreased efficiency during implementation. For a solo practitioner billing $500/hour, spending 20 hours learning new software costs $10,000 in opportunity cost.
Excel requires no onboarding, no training, and no subscription fees. The switching cost isn't just financial—it's educational.
Barrier 3: The Customization Advantage Excel adapts to any workflow. Need to track which clients pay late? Add a column. Want to calculate profitability by matter type? Create a formula. Legal practice management software, by contrast, often forces firms to adapt their processes to the software's structure.
This explains why the ABA 2024 Legal Technology Survey found that larger firms are more likely to adopt comprehensive legal tech—they can afford dedicated IT staff to handle customization and training.
The persistence of Excel usage isn't a market failure—it's a product design problem. The legal tech companies that understand this are building the next generation of category leaders.
The Market Math is Compelling:
But the real opportunity lies in the segment distribution. Solo practitioners and small firms (1-10 attorneys) represent the largest volume of potential customers but have the lowest adoption rates. This segment requires solutions different from those of mid-market and enterprise firms.
Segment-Specific Strategies:
Solo Practitioners (52% increased adoption in 2022): Need simple, affordable solutions that require minimal training. Success metrics: time-to-value under 1 hour, monthly pricing under $100, mobile-first design.
Small Firms (2-10 attorneys): Require collaboration features but maintain simplicity. Success metrics: multi-user functionality, basic automation, integration with existing tools.
Mid-Market Firms (10-50 attorneys): Demand comprehensive platforms with customization. Success metrics: workflow automation, detailed reporting, compliance features.
The companies winning in legal tech aren't trying to replace Excel immediately—they're building bridges from Excel to comprehensive platforms.
Strategy 1: Excel Import/Export Functionality Clio, MyCase, and other leading platforms allow users to import existing Excel data and export reports to Excel formats. This reduces switching anxiety and provides a familiar backup option.
Strategy 2: Gradual Feature Adoption Instead of forcing users to adopt entire platforms immediately, successful companies allow firms to start with one feature (often time tracking or billing) while continuing to use Excel for other functions.
Strategy 3: Excel-Like Interfaces Many legal tech companies now offer spreadsheet-style views within their platforms, allowing users to interact with data in familiar formats while gaining the benefits of database structure and automation.
The Excel persistence reveals five strategic opportunities for legal tech companies:
When 67% of law firms still use Excel for client management, that's not a market failure—it's market research. These firms are telling us exactly what they need: familiar interfaces, transparent processes, flexible customization, and gradual adoption paths.
The legal tech companies that will capture the biggest share of the $31 billion market aren't those building the most advanced AI or the sleekest interfaces. They're the ones building platforms that respect why lawyers chose Excel in the first place while providing compelling reasons to evolve.
The opportunity isn't to eliminate Excel from law firms—it's to build the next generation of legal technology that makes Excel obsolete not through force, but through undeniable value.
For legal tech founders, this means the market is more accessible than it appears. Rather than competing with billion-dollar platforms, you're often competing with spreadsheets. The barrier to entry is lower, but the requirement for legal industry expertise is higher.
The firms still using Excel aren't laggards—they're your biggest opportunity.