This year’s In-House Tech Survey report was published last spring, but the information is just as relevant now as we head into the last quarter of the year. According to the Corporate Counsel article accompanying the survey report, when one Fortune company slashed its roster of outside counsel from about 400 to 23 law firms in 2005, it quizzed the firms about their tech offerings and capabilities.

As one director of legal operations put it, his legal department assumed that the firms they use are full of highly-qualified attorneys. So they decided that "we wanted to take it to a higher level, and the most successful firms were the ones that told us how they'd help us do what we do better, with technology."

Once considered “the hardware and software stepchildren of the legal profession,” according to the article, corporate legal departments have begun to catch up with their law firm colleagues. The 2007 In-House Tech Survey, the fourth such survey conducted by Corporate Counsel, shows that corporate counsel have had a “technical awakening.”

Eighty-five Fortune companies participated in this year’s survey, which captured information about the size of the IT staff; whether the legal department uses e-billing and whether they require their outside counsel to use e-billing; the wireless technologies used; the securities systems used; and much, much more.

In the LTMAS Survey, 6% of the respondents were from corporate legal departments, and it’s interesting to compare those results with that of law firm lawyers—the differences in technologies used, as well as the differences in having access to those technologies.

For instance, only about a third (36%) of in-house lawyer respondents said they had access to document management products, compared to 75% of the respondents from large firms and 62% from midsize firms. However, when asked how likely they were to implement a document management solution in the next 12 months, almost a fourth (24%) of in-house counsel reported they were planning to make such a purchase, while only 7% of large firm respondents and 15% from midsize firms had such plans.

The 2007 In-House Tech Survey is available through the ALM Research Store in spreadsheet format for non-subscribers. Subscribers have access to the spreadsheet, as well as all archived data from the survey. For more information contact almresearch@alm.com.