Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the “Legal Technology Horizons: Multi-Perspective Predictions for 2025” webinar, where industry experts from Array and Relativity shared their insights on the evolving landscape of legal technology. In case you’ve missed it, I’ve summarized some of the valuable perspectives shared by the speakers and some of my own predictions for the coming year.
Meet the Speakers
The webinar featured experts from both Array and Relativity:- David Horrigan (Moderator) – Discovery Counsel and Legal Education Director at Relativity
- Julia Helmer – Director, Client Solutions at Array
- Katie Hegarty – Manager, Sales for Legal Services at Array
- Chris Haley – VP, Practice Empowerment for aiR at Relativity
- Jim Witte – Group Product Manager at Relativity
Key Predictions and Insights
Our moderator, David Horrigan, set the stage by discussing AI in discovery workflows. He predicted a pullback on courts trying to legislate the use of AI through rules, noting the “reactionary orders” being issued by courts on AI usage. David mentioned his conversations with judges who consider these orders “perhaps reactionary and perhaps a little overkill.” He also referenced research data about the large uptick in generative AI usage, particularly among legal ops professionals and paralegals. Our panelists then explored four critical topics shaping the legal technology landscape in 2025. Here’s what they shared:AI & Workflow Evolution
Chris Haley started this segment with an optimistic viewpoint: “This is the worst the technology is ever going to be. It’s only going to get better from here.” He emphasized that generative AI can build on existing machine learning workflows that have been in e-discovery for many years, noting that document review is an ideal place to start with generative AI because of the established validation techniques. Julia Helmer predicted that “the legal industry is going to adopt generative AI faster than we’ve adopted other technology assisted review solutions.” She explained that while the legal industry has traditionally been cautious with new technologies, adoption of generative AI will be quicker due to increasing data volumes and static discovery deadlines. Julia shared a notable data point: “Before generative AI, I was probably seeing a CAL project maybe once a month. Now, I’ve seen continuous active learning use jump, and I’m seeing about 6 projects at the same time,” representing a five-fold increase. Jim Witte discussed how workflows will evolve to be more natural language-driven: “It really comes down to being able to build out much more natural language-driven workflows – how do we get these workflows to be more flexible, to be more iterative and probably frankly more personalized.” He emphasized that different attorneys have different working styles, requiring more adaptive interfaces. Katie Hegarty offered insights from the Canadian market, noting that clients have been interested in discussing AI for the past year, but are now moving toward proof of concepts: “We’re starting to see more interest in proof of concepts to really start to test and kind of get into the technology.” She predicted that by the end of 2025, organizations will begin truly adopting these technologies for live matters.Implementation Excellence
Julia Helmer focused on how new roles will emerge to support AI implementation: “Implementation of these technologies is heavily going to rely on specialized consultants or people that really understand this technology.” She introduced the concept of “Legal Data Intelligence” (LDI) and discussed how prompt engineers will emerge as key roles, working in-house, at law firms, or with service providers like Array. Julia predicted that technology differentiators will become more workflow-centered as generative AI capabilities equalize across platforms. Chris Haley emphasized the importance of gaining experience with these technologies early: “There’s no shortcut to being an expert, right? It’s experience that gets us there.” He discussed how organizations should “get on the bus early” to build expertise, and emphasized that successful AI implementation requires partnership between legal and technical professionals: “This is not a legal or technical problem. This is a combination problem.” Jim Witte addressed the importance of handling diverse data types, predicting there will be growing importance in “the interconnectivity of different data systems.” He highlighted how AI implementation will need to address not just increasing volumes but also increasing variety of data types, requiring systems that can “be nimble” in handling different data formats.Market Transformation
Katie Hegarty led this segment with predictions about pricing models: “Customers are going to be asking their law firms and service providers for a little bit more price predictability, especially around expanding volumes of data.” She noted that as data volumes increase while budgets remain static, there will be greater demand for fixed fee arrangements and technology-driven efficiency. Julia Helmer reiterated her prediction about new roles emerging: “I’m calling it the rise of the legal engineer role. It’s somebody who really, truly is that interplay of understanding the legal and kind of understanding the strategy, but also completely understanding the technology.” She predicted these roles would become standard across legal organizations by 2025. Jim Witte discussed the need for data normalization and context-aware products: “From a product perspective, one of the things that’s really important is this idea of context.” He explained how different users need different entry points and interfaces depending on where they are in a matter lifecycle. Chris Haley predicted AI would become mainstream for routine tasks: “AI for e-discovery is going to really become mainstream.” He shared a powerful example: “We had a project recently where a single lawyer was able to review a million documents in a day with Relativity aiR for Review.” He emphasized how AI doesn’t get tired or miss important details, and how it can help corporate legal departments handle routine matters with limited resources.aiR Suite Innovations
Chris Haley detailed how Relativity’s aiR products are “faster, better, and cheaper” for document review, emphasizing their accuracy and the transparency they provide: “We’re generating meaningful, transparent results that tell you why it thinks it’s relevant, giving you specific citations into the document.” He highlighted additional benefits in privilege review through social network analysis and AI-generated privilege log descriptions. Jim Witte explained how aiR tools will extend beyond review to case strategy. He described how these tools can help “generate a chronology in a matter of minutes” and build deposition kits, removing manual effort from workflows. Julia Helmer emphasized that AI would complement rather than replace existing technology: “It’s a tool in your toolbox. I don’t think search terms are going to go anywhere. I don’t think CAL is going anywhere.” She predicted integrated workflows combining human expertise, CAL models, and generative AI to create “cohesive, comprehensive, and predictable workflow for our clients.” Katie Hegarty concluded by discussing organizational AI strategies: “Law firms and corporations are all really working on what their AI strategies are moving forward.” She predicted that adoption would be driven by business requirements, particularly when organizations face matters with tight deadlines and large data volumes. Though she wasn’t present at the webinar, I recently connected with Hannah Baxter, Lead Account Executive, aiR at Relativity, who works closely with me on product roadmaps. In 2024, she shared this prediction about Relativity aiR’s future direction: “By 2025, we’ll see Relativity aiR deeply integrated throughout the entire e-discovery lifecycle—from identification through production. The most significant transformation will be in the early case assessment phase, where AI will help legal teams understand the true scope and risk profile of a matter within days rather than weeks. This shift will fundamentally change how cases are budgeted, staffed, and strategized. Our close collaboration with trusted partners like Array is essential to this vision, as their implementation expertise and workflow innovations help ensure these advanced capabilities deliver real-world value to legal teams.” The Relativity and Array partnership continues to strengthen as both organizations align their technological innovations with practical implementation expertise. This collaboration allows us to build comprehensive solutions that address the full spectrum of client needs—from cutting-edge AI capabilities to the workflow consulting necessary for successful adoption. As these technologies mature, this partnership model will become increasingly important in delivering end-to-end solutions that truly transform legal workflows.Emerging Roles in Legal Technology
An intriguing theme throughout the discussion was the emergence of new specialized roles in the legal industry. Julia Helmer emphasized this in her final prediction: “The emergence of this legal technologist or this legal engineer role and how critical that role is going to be in advising case teams… understanding both the legal strategy and where the goals of the case team are but how to get those goals accomplished through the technology.” This evolution points to a future where technical knowledge becomes increasingly valuable in legal environments, creating new career paths and opportunities. Chad Hoffman, Chief Operating Officer at Array, shares this perspective: “As the legal technology market transforms, the organizations that thrive will be those that strategically integrate AI technologies with human expertise. At Array, we’re already adapting our talent acquisition strategy to identify and recruit professionals with this hybrid skill set. We’re looking beyond traditional legal technology backgrounds to find candidates who can also understand the nuances of legal workflows. We’re also investing in upskilling our current team members to ensure Array remains at the forefront of this transformation. The legal professionals who can effectively bridge technology and practice will be the most valuable assets in our industry over the next five years.”Looking Ahead: My Predictions for 2025
While our panelists offered tremendous insights, I’d like to share my own perspective on where legal technology is heading in 2025:Back to the Drawing Board: The GenAI Renaissance
I predict that legal technology companies will return to the drawing board with their existing technology stacks, integrating generative AI capabilities and relaunching products with transformative enhancements. This isn’t merely adding AI as window dressing—it’s a fundamental reimagining of what legal technology can accomplish. The integration of generative AI will change the value proposition of legal technology in several profound ways:- Transforming historical data into predictive assets: Beyond simply organizing case data, generative AI will transform repositories of past matters into strategic assets that can predict case outcomes, estimate costs, and identify winning strategies based on historical patterns.
- Bridging the expertise gap: Generative AI will democratize specialized knowledge, allowing junior attorneys to leverage the collective wisdom of an organization through intelligent systems that guide their decision-making and work product.
- Unlocking unstructured data: Most legal data exists in unstructured formats that traditional systems struggle to analyze. Generative AI will unlock insights from communications, transcripts, and documents that were previously accessible only through labor-intensive manual review.
- Enabling conversational interfaces: The shift from complex, menu-driven interfaces to natural language interaction will dramatically reduce the learning curve for legal technology, increasing adoption across the profession.
