Case study: Digital Strategy
Modernising a legal practice from the systems up.
A respected legal practice, every business-critical system at end of life, and half of its work going out the door to external firms. The digital strategy that maps the way to a digital-first, AI-enhanced and trusted practice by 2029, and to $20 million to $30 million a year in work kept in-house.
Organisation
An established Australian legal practice
Engagement
Digital and ICT strategy, 2026 to 2029: discovery, current state assessment, roadmap
Move FWD role
Our consultant led the discovery, current state assessment and strategy, working within the delivery team, from findings to a sequenced, fundable roadmap
Status
Strategy delivered, 2026
Where the practice started, and where the strategy takes it.
The challenge
Half the work was leaving the building.
This is a legal practice with a legacy of service and a reputation to protect, facing the same pressures as every institution of its kind: more demand, more complexity, and clients who expect the experience they get everywhere else. It wanted to evolve so it could support those clients better. Its systems were holding it back.
Every business-critical system was at end of life. The platforms the practice ran on were more than ten years old and built for general administration rather than for a legal practice. They performed poorly, they blocked the move to Windows 11, and keeping them alive meant extended support contracts. The IT team, which the practice relied on for strategic advice as well as day-to-day operations, was spending its time keeping the lights on.
The cost showed up in the work itself. With limited automation and data that was collected but rarely used, tasks like redaction and setting up a new matter were done by hand, by people employed to do them. The practice could not keep up with demand, and around half of its matter work was being handed to external firms every year. Some clients had started doing the work in-house, or taking it somewhere else.
Senior executives were candid about the pressure. The practice was seen as too expensive to run for what it produced. The external firms it worked alongside had said its systems were hard to use and did not meet the security standards they expected. Leaders were worried about what that did to the practice's reputation, and to its ability to recruit and keep lawyers in a competitive local market.
The running joke inside the practice: when you start the systems in the morning, you have time to get a coffee before they are ready to use.
Discovery
What we found when we looked properly.
Our consultant led the digital strategy, working within the delivery team. The work started with discovery across three groups: senior executives, the people running front line operations, and the IT department. Each saw a different part of the problem, and the strategy needed all three.
- Every business-critical system was legacy, on-premises and rated poor. The newer subscription tools were healthy. The systems the practice actually depended on were not. All of them needed modernising.
- The systems were built for administration, not for law. Matter and document management ran on tools never designed for a legal practice, which meant manual effort and, inevitably, human error.
- Subscription tools bought to cover capability gaps had grown the digital footprint, added technical debt, and multiplied the places sensitive information could be exposed.
- Systems holding sensitive information did not meet the industry standards that information requires, and one legacy system alone was blocking baseline cyber controls and the desktop upgrade.
- Data was collected and rarely used. It sat in application silos with almost no integration, and analytics never went beyond a single system.
- Digital maturity was rated critical for document and case management, and functional for data, AI and external collaboration.
The strategy
Five themes, one destination.
The strategy sets one destination: by 2029, a digital-first legal practice on fit-for-purpose, modern systems, with AI-enhanced workflows, trusted and compliant records management, and faster, more responsive legal support for its clients. Five themes get it there, and every initiative on the roadmap belongs to one of them.
- Modernise core platforms. Replace the end-of-life document, matter and practice management systems with sustainable cloud-based solutions built for a legal practice, and decommission the legacy platforms behind them.
- Integrate and secure data. Records management that is trusted, performant and compliant, with the document, records and case platforms integrated so information flows instead of being re-keyed.
- Digitally enable services. Secure document exchange with external firms and clients, and AI-assisted automation of the manual work, starting with redaction and matter setup.
- Strengthen cyber and resilience. Every system meeting baseline cyber controls, every desktop on Windows 11, continuous monitoring and tested continuity plans.
- Empower the workforce. Digital capability uplift, low-code workflow tools, and training on every modernised application.
The road to 2029
Foundations first, then everything that depends on them.
Every initiative was plotted on business value against urgency. Three became the immediate focus: a legal document management platform, a records platform, and a modern case management system. AI, automation and every service improvement depend on them, so the roadmap puts them first and says so in writing.
Foundations
Funding aligned, governance reset, the document management project established, and business processes defined and client journeys mapped before any technology is overlaid on them.
Modernisation
Transition to the new document platform, case management set up, the cyber baseline met, and the first AI-assisted quick wins in the hands of lawyers.
Integration
Case management transitioned and the old system decommissioned, document, records and case platforms integrated, AI-assisted workflows embedded, and every desktop on Windows 11.
Transformation
Connected platforms, consolidated systems, digitally confident staff, and the legacy estate retired. A practice whose systems are the reason lawyers join, not the reason they leave.
What it is worth
The numbers behind the plan.
Around half of the practice's matter work goes to external firms because of internal capacity and system constraints. The ambition the strategy is built around is to bring that down to around 30 per cent by 2029, the number leadership agreed it should be aiming for. Against the outsourced spend in the strategy, that is in the order of $20 million to $30 million a year in work retained, every year, before counting what automation gives back in people's time. With the strategy delivered, digital maturity moves from critical to maturing across the board.
The strategy is written to be funded. It baselines the effort each legal task takes today, so every digital investment can be traced to work retained and revenue protected. Funding is tied to readiness and measurable outcomes, and a plain-language scenario spells out what a single cyber incident on the legacy platforms would do to service continuity, revenue and reputation. Executives can see what each dollar buys, and what not spending it costs.
Move FWD's role
Strategy written by people who deliver.
Our consultant, working within the delivery team, led the discovery, the current state assessment and the strategy itself: the interviews with executives and front line staff, the review of every system with the IT team, the findings, the prioritisation, and the roadmap that turned them into a destination the practice can fund and build towards.
The result is a strategy the practice can act on, not a deck to admire.
Contact
Every system at end of life?
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