Abstract

The paper discusses innovation within the traditionally conservative legal sector as a diverse service improvement mechanism that models positive firm change. A resource-based view and practice-based view blend provided a systematic theoretical benchmark for the study. Fifty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted with law professionals from seven countries capturing their day-to-day work experiences and identifying the barriers that hinder and the opportunities that support innovation adoption in legal firms today. A data-intensive thematic analysis uncovers six core themes: human factor and culture, client and market, technology, organizational transitions, legal processes, and education. The paper contributes to the state of art by (i) contextualizing each of these themes and their diverse underpinning dimensions; (ii) developing an evidence-based conceptual framework that critically assesses legal innovation uptake barriers and opportunities; and (iii) advancing the theoretical and empirical understanding of law service operations demonstrating the rationale for legal firms to invest in technology, multidisciplinary education, and training, and to adopt leaner, hybrid and more client-driven management approaches.

摘要

本文将传统保守的法律部门内的创新作为一种多样化的服务改进机制进行了讨论，该机制模拟了积极的公司变革。基于资源的观点和基于实践的观点相结合，为研究提供了系统的理论基准。对来自 7 个国家/地区的法律专业人士进行了 53 次半结构化访谈，了解他们的日常工作经验，并确定阻碍当今律师事务所采用创新的障碍和支持创新的机会。数据密集型主题分析揭示了六个核心主题：人为因素和文化、客户和市场、技术、组织转型、法律程序和教育。这篇论文通过 (i) 将这些主题中的每一个及其不同的支撑维度背景化；(ii) 开发一个以证据为基础的概念框架，批判性地评估法律创新吸收障碍和机会；(iii) 推进对法律服务运营的理论和实证理解，证明律师事务所投资于技术、多学科教育和培训以及采用更精简、混合和更多客户驱动的管理方法的理由。