Legal technology horizon scanning

Written by Christina Blacklaws, chair of LawtechUK Panel

Christina Blacklaws discusses the dominant trends emerging in the lawtech sector in 2025.

2024 was also a huge year for mergers and acquisitions in UK lawtech, with acquisitions like Lawtech 365 and Office & Dragons fuelling growth, and in 2025, we expect that trend to continue. Over the next year, we expect four dominant trends to emerge, including a move from the focus on B2B to B2C, increased global appeal in UK lawtech, diversification into new sectors and regional growth of legal tech companies outside of London. 

More of a focus on B2C

From our Ecosystem Tracker Report last year, we saw a strong focus on B2B solutions, with 68% of UK lawtech companies catering to business-to-business needs, such as managing business functions and creating tools to perform work like legal research and case management.

Today, there is untapped potential in B2C markets, particularly in areas addressing unmet legal needs and we’re hoping to see greater investment in B2C solutions, which will improve access to justice for all. This will alleviate the enormous problem we have in the UK with over a quarter of the adult population in England and Wales having an unmet legal need in 2024.

A handful of lawtechs are tackling unmet legal needs, but more action is needed. To drive progress, LawtechUK has been bringing together law firms, tech companies and charities, to collaboratively develop ideas that address unmet legal needs.

Increased global appeal 

We anticipate that UK legal tech ventures will continue to attract increased interest from international investors, underscoring the sector’s growing global recognition. Additionally, there are significant outward opportunities for many lawtechs to explore, particularly in attracting US investment, where Y Combinator has seen a huge rise in legal tech representation in its cohorts. US-based venture capital firms like Accel have already established themselves as some of the most active investors in the UK legal tech space.

Sector Diversification

Another key trend is likely to be diversification. There’s a prominence of lawtechs operating in the documents and contracts space, currently 24% according to LawtechUK’s Ecosystem Tracker. We expect the sector to expand beyond this to focus on compliance and risk, particularly as companies aim to stay ahead of AI developments and implementation approaches.

Regional growth 

Lawtech is a vibrant ecosystem in the UK and London is at the epicentre, hosting 43% of lawtech firms. In its drive for growth, the UK government’s industrial strategy will take advantage of the UK’s unique strengths and untapped potential, enabling our already world-leading services and manufacturing sectors to adapt and grow, and seizing opportunities to lead in new and emerging sectors. A core objective of the industrial strategy is unleashing the full potential of our cities and regions. Jobs will be at the heart of this strategy, supporting growth sectors to create high-quality, well-paid jobs across the country, backed by employment rights fit for a modern economy.

The government is committed to devolving significant powers to mayoral combined authorities across England, giving them the tools they need to grow their sectoral clusters and improve the local business environment through ambitious local growth plans. In 2024, LawtechUK was busy fostering innovation beyond London by supporting local hubs and establishing regional partnerships. This is expected to contribute to developing more sustainable legal tech ecosystems across the UK in 2025.