Profits under pressure
magazines|July 2026INSIDE THE ISSUE
Several finance leaders tell Briefing assistant editor Celeste Rivas how their firms are balancing rising pressure to invest in technology with the need to protect margins
Attendees at a recent Briefing roundtable discussed the challenges of identifying AI use cases, and why firms that fail to take calculated risks and embrace experimentation may be left in the dust in the AI adoption journey
Lucy Johnson, chief operating officer at HGF, reflects on the firm’s journey as a private equity-backed organisation and shares how this step has reshaped its operational performance
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ISSUE IN BRIEF
Welcome to Briefing July!
Technology has become one of law firms’ biggest strategic bets, and the latest Briefing/HSBC UK Law firm strategy and investment data — which shows firms’ average tech spend has risen to a high of 6.5% of annual revenue in 2025 — indicates that law firms continue to up the ante.
However, against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, inflationary pressures and rising client expectations around pricing, every investment decision, including the hefty tech spend, faces greater scrutiny. As such, firms now face a tough question: how do you fund digital innovation for the future without affecting profitability today?
This edition’s cover story explores how leading UK law firms are approaching that fine balancing act between technology investment and profitability. Several finance leaders share how they are refining tech budgets, reassessing priorities and directing investment towards initiatives that eliminate costly inefficiencies, increase capacity and deliver measurable business value — without eroding the bottom line.
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What’s inside Briefing JULY?
UPFRONT
- Shepherd & Wedderburn‘s new managing partner Andy Hall discusses the essentials for authentic leadership and sustained firm growth.
- Briefing analyses where cybersecurity lies on law firm leaders’ list of organisational challenges, and what they are doing to mitigate these growing risks.
- Stephen Allen, director of strategy and AI technology, Clyde & Co shares the key checklist every law firm must go through when purchasing AI solutions to find the right tool for your business.
- Dana Denis-Smith, founder of the Next 100 Years, CEO at Obelisk Support and deputy vice president at The Law Society highlights why stemming the exit of women lawyers mid-career is key to improving gender diversity.
FEATURES
- Finance leaders from Bates Wells, Flint Bishop, Mills & Reeve and Payne Hicks Beach outline how their firms are balancing rising pressure to invest in technology with the need to protect margins.
- Attendees at a recent Briefing roundtable discussed the challenges of identifying AI use cases, and why firms that fail to take calculated risks and embrace experimentation may be left in the dust in the AI adoption journey.
BRAIN TRAINING
- Lucy Johnson, chief operating officer at HGF, reflects on the firm’s journey as a private equity-backed organisation — following its transition to this model in October 2024 — and shares how this step has reshaped its operational performance.
- Robert Kang, professor of cybersecurity and AI at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and Loyola Law School of Los Angeles, highlights why cyber risk outcomes are not determined by tools; they are defined by decisions leaders make before a crisis.
INDUSTRY VIEWS
- Stuart Whittle, chief technology officer at Weightmans, explains why the people factor was key to the firm’s decision to adopt Clio Operate (formerly ShareDo) as its new case management system.
- CMS’ chief AI and innovation officer John Craske explains how the firm moved from early genAI experimentation to a global Harvey rollout — and why adoption, governance and client value are shaping its next phase of AI-enabled legal work.
- DAC Beachcroft’s knowledge director Susan Ford, and practice improvement manager Louise Heathcote, share the rationale and action behind the Thomson Reuters CoCounsel Legal pilot that is empowering service delivery and helping upskill the firm’s people.
- Grant Hewlett, VP of product and firm intelligence at Litera, explains why counting the hours saved by AI shows an incomplete picture — and firms who take this approach may find themselves in the dark, unable to see the true value this technology delivers.
- Paul Foster, head of product at sa.global, outlines how data-led insight can turn operational complexity into clearer commercial direction.
Tech spend: testing the margins
Technology investment and profitability can no longer be treated as separate conversation. Given the high costs of tech tools, finance leaders face a delicate balancing act: investing enough to stay competitive and boost efficiency while ensuring new tools strengthen profitability rather than erode margins. Several finance leaders tell Briefing assistant editor Celeste Rivas how their firms are balancing rising pressure to invest in technology with the need to protect margins.
AI: the great use case search
Several leaders at our recent roundtable agreed that experimentation is key to identifying the use cases that have commercial and operational viability: giving people free rein to test AI tools is the path to uncovering meaningful applications — from triaging incoming email to building personal agents — that have real impact and build confidence with a technology that’s constantly changing.
The PE effect: sharper focus, sustainable value
Moving from the traditional partnership model to a private equity-backed structure has been one of the most significant changes for HGF, Lucy Johnson, chief operating officer at HGF, writes. In many partnerships, decisions can be slow and consensus can sometimes stand in for progress. PE brings clearer accountability and a stronger expectation of delivery — that can feel uncomfortable at first, but it is also one of the most powerful catalysts for moving the business forward.
