Spend by law firms on legal IT is robust and getting stronger. It is not an option to cut back here, quite the reverse. This exhaustive and definitive report maps the 190+ suppliers of legal IT solutions to law firms alongside those specialising in document automation, GC systems and eDiscovery and litigation support.

Taking economic data from 1995 to date and using that to project the market conditions to 2020, you'll find here answers to questions such as the cost of market entry, the barriers to entry, what are the main challenges for the coming 5 years?. Is Unberisation in legal services or disruptive technology a major factor? If so, by whom? Where? When? What role will AI and court digitisation play? Is replatforming on the horizon again? How did the market react to previous business cycles and re-platforming challenges and when will it face these again? How have disparate teams like K2, Riverview, Axiom, Peppermint, Ravn or Slicedbread fared in terms of investment to make headway here? Just what is the cost of gaining critical mass here in cash and time?

The market addresses the macro issues for law firm software developers compared to other development sectors in legal services, and it explores the benchmarks for employee cost ratios over the long term. It shows detailed benchmarks for each sector in terms of sales, growth rates, profitability, what good looks like and what great looks like.

The sectors mapped in detail are The Big Law sector, the Mid-market, and the Small law firm software developers. Leading players (not necessarily just the biggest) are highlighted, and second rank players are identified. Bright boutiques and go-to brands are clearly highlighted. The market share position for 70 of the top suppliers are then summarised so you can see who is outperforming the market especially.

A pivotal market to the future of legal services in the UK, all of the key strategic issues are highlighted, time frames applied and the issues quantified based on real examples from the market.

An unmissable support for M&A, strategic planning and business development, here are the facts - the foundations on which all of the rest sits. To assess the impact of M&A for LEAP, Advanced, Civica, Elite, BT, Lexis and others, start here.

Uniquely this Report also applies the NED market share data to assist in drawing up the NED Shortlist Rankings. For each sector 1st Rank and 2nd Rank suppliers are highlighted. The factors involved are sales, profit, growth rates, net new sales growth over the long term and market share trend - all over the long term. The results may surprise some, as Big is not always best, but these rankings do reflect the best commercial and corporate finance performance for suppliers of all shapes and sizes. Buyers of Legal IT in a world where increasingly teams are swapping out one supplier for another will be looking here to see who is the most reliable, not just the most creative or the biggest.

'We found the information extremely interesting and would like to discuss it with you further'. CD, The Competition and Market Authority. Economists almost never use the word 'extremely'; high praise indeed.

See the shape of the market for yourself here now.