LegalTechTalk 2026 London: LegalTech at an inflection point

"If you were starting your law firm today, what would you do differently and why aren't you doing it now?"

Across multiple discussions at the LegalTechTalk this year, this question has somehow stayed with me. Perhaps because it perfectly captures where the LegalTech industry finds itself today.

We are living through the period of extraordinary transformation in the legal sector. Going by the numbers, around 85% of the legal leaders believe that AI will fundamentally reshape the service offerings of a law firm. To add to this, there are 10,800 LegalTech startups today with around 20 unicorns, with companies like Harvey and Legora leading the way.

To match this pace of innovation, an entire ecosystem has emerged. Communities and conferences have become essential spaces for the industry players to come together to collectively reflect on how this pace is evolving and what should they be doing differently.

I have been fortunate to attend and speak at some of the world’s leading LegalTech events. It is exciting to see how many high-quality events are now taking place around the world. That brings me to the LegalTechTalk in London, one of the industry's leading gatherings. This year I had the opportunity to speak on LegalTech Investor’s Playbook and on Women in Private Equity & Entrepreneurship.

The event is larger than life and is almost fantastical. There is music, food extravaganza, goodies being sprawled out. Everyone is there: startups and scale-ups, investors, legal professionals, tech professionals, and the community keeps on expanding. Attendance topped 5000 this year and the number is only set to climb next year.

Of course, the event also benefits from the industry's own momentum. The global LegalTech market, estimated at around USD 38.7 billion in 2026, is expected to almost double to nearly USD 72 billion by 2031, growing at over 13% annually (Mordor). Yet it remains only a fraction of the broader legal services market, which already exceeds USD 1 trillion globally and is projected to grow by another 30–40% by the end of the decade (Mordor).

There is still enormous room to grow, particularly because generative AI has made law one of the most compelling domains for innovation. Much of legal work is fundamentally text-based, making it well suited to advancements in the large language models.

And this was reflected during the conversations at the LegalTechTalk too. For me, three ideas were impossible to ignore. A) Agentic AI is set to be even more disruptive. It will have serious impact on the economics of a lawfirm and the role of a (human) lawyer, B) AI-native lawfirms will increasingly challenge in incumbents and C) compliance is becoming a dominant area of innovation and investments. To add to this, business-to-consumer legal technology is finally beginning to receive the attention it deserves. While AI tools for law firms continue to dominate headlines, I am convinced that some of the biggest opportunities lie in making legal services more accessible for citizens and small businesses.

Many firms have invested in AI and continue to do so, but the conversation has shifted from whether to adopt LegalTech to whether it is delivering value. Questions around user adoption, behavioural change and return on investments on LegalTech adoption were recurring themes too.

There was also the recognition that the pace of change is only going to galvanise raising newer questions and risks. At the same time, the market is becoming increasingly noisy, and the challenge now is not about building another AI feature, but more about solving problems that customers genuinely care about. And this is where relationships matter, especially in a traditional industry like legal service delivery.

There is also a recognition that successful AI adoption is ultimately a people and culture challenge. Several speakers reminded us that AI may automate workflows, but trust, judgement and human connection remain difficult to replicate. Also, change management can be shaky and it inevitably creates uncertainty and discomfort.

Although still a relatively small part of the programme, access to justice felt far more visible than in the previous year. It is an important reminder that innovation is not just about making legal teams efficient but that which makes it easier for people and SMEs to navigate and access the law.

Another welcome development was the growing visibility of women building, investing in and leading LegalTech companies. Though again, there is still considerable progress to be made in their visibility, the landscape is changing for the better.

One area where I continue to hold a slightly different view from some of my peers is geopolitics. I think that AI is inherently geopolitical. The models we use, the jurisdictions that regulate them and the companies that control them will inevitably shape the future of many industries, including LegalTech. This conversation requires more thinking beyond technology to also include sovereignty, regulation and strategic autonomy.

Conferences like the LegalTechTalk demonstrate what is possible when an industry comes together. The next challenge is ensuring that this momentum is not confined to Europe or North America but reaches the jurisdictions where legal innovation has the potential to make the greatest societal impact.

It would be great to see an event like this in India too and more broadly, across much of the Global South. Our legal systems face different challenges, serve different users and have unique constraints. These realities deserve communities and conversations of their own and with the right talent, entrepreneurial energy, and growing LegalTech ecosystem hopefully this is not too far in the future.

Authored by Kanan Dhru

Affiliations: The Hague University of Applied Sciences; Lawtoons; Nano Pocket Ventures