The Talent Gap in Legal Tech

One theme that emerged throughout ILTACON 2025 was this: the legal industry cannot truly transform unless its people evolve alongside its technology. Cloud platforms, AI tools, and governance frameworks are advancing rapidly, but their impact hinges on professionals who can bridge law, technology, and business in practical ways.

Yet beneath the technology buzz ran a sobering reality: the talent pipeline isn’t keeping pace. Cloud platforms, governance frameworks, and AI are advancing faster than most firms’ ability to hire or train professionals who can bridge law, technology, and business. According to Big Hand’s 2024 Emerging Trends in Law Firm Management Report, 98% of support services managers expect to lose up to 50% of support staff to retirement over the next five years.

Without that human layer of expertise, even the most sophisticated systems risk falling short.

Firms that place equal priority on cultivating talent and advancing technology will set the pace for the future of legal innovation.

Cloud Talent as the New Bottleneck  

Sessions on multi-cloud strategies highlighted cloud sprawl as one of today’s most pressing technology challenges. When workloads proliferate across various platforms without transparent governance, firms face increased costs, wasted resources, and heightened security risks.

Skilled cloud teams are essential to taming the complexity of cloud sprawl. Automation and orchestration can streamline processes and strengthen security, but only human expertise can design governance frameworks, oversee integrations, and adapt strategies as new risks arise.

Many firms face a widening talent gap, struggling to hire and retain professionals with cloud technology skills and legal expertise. Without a robust pipeline of legal IT talent, even the most advanced systems leave firms vulnerable to inefficiency, compliance failures, and operational blind spots. By contrast, high-performing cloud teams – whether fostered in-house or hired as consultants – become the linchpin of secure, resilient, and scalable multi-cloud operations.

The takeaway is clear: firms that invest as deliberately in people as they do in platforms will be best positioned to turn complexity into competitive advantage.

Governance Needs People, Not Just Policies

Information governance (IG) was another focal point, with panels like From Firefighting to Future-Proofing and What Tech Leaders Want from IG underscoring an everyday reality: frameworks are only as strong as the people who make them work.

As regulations multiply and risks evolve, firms can no longer afford to treat governance as a reactive compliance effort. CIOs and IG leaders are shifting from “firefighting” to building resilient, future-ready governance models. And at the center of that shift is human judgment; professionals who can anticipate emerging risks, balance client expectations, and operationalize frameworks that stand up under scrutiny.

Policies alone don’t safeguard firms; people do.

The Human Factor in AI Risk

GenAI is expanding opportunities for efficiency, insight, and client service, but it’s also amplifying risks. Hallucinations, deepfakes, and data leakage are real threats that clients are watching closely. And, while technology creates these risks, the responsibility of mitigating them falls to people.

Cultivating teams with the skills to critically assess AI outputs, enforce data privacy, and guide lawyers in responsible adoption is imperative to minimize exposure to risk and earn client confidence. In an era of fast-moving innovation, firms that pair technological ambition with human accountability will emerge as the most trustworthy.

The Path Forward

ILTACON 2025 underscored the simple truth that technology alone doesn’t transform the legal industry; keeping pace with transformation requires people.

To realize the full potential of cloud, AI, and other advancements, firms must prioritize talent with the same discipline they apply to technology investments. That means hiring strategically, reskilling existing teams, and creating environments that retain top performers. The payoff is more substantial client confidence and transformation that endures well beyond the rollout phase.