The UK legal tech mission: What Indian companies need to know about market entry

"We consider ourselves the aggregator of demand for legal tech," the partner at the Scottish firm told me matter-of-factly. "Most of our clients don't have the front capital to buy these tools themselves, so we buy them and offer them as add-on services."

I had to pause. Here was a law firm essentially becoming a legal tech distributor, not because they wanted to get into the software business, but because their clients couldn't afford the upfront costs. They'd purchase contract lifecycle management tools, then bundle them into their service offerings. Clients could use them without long-term commitments, and if they wanted to switch, no problem. But it created a natural stickiness to the relationship.

This wasn't in any of the market research reports I'd read before our trade mission. This was the kind of insight you only get from sitting across a conference table from someone explaining how they actually run their business.

Five intensive days meeting with Magic Circle firms, Scottish legal leaders, government officials and incubator managers revealed that the UK legal market is evolving in ways that desk research simply cannot capture.

Scotland turned out to be the real revelation of our trip. While London gets all the attention, the Scottish legal ecosystem is quietly building something remarkable and it's being driven as much by government strategy as by private innovation.

LawscotTech, the Scottish Law Society's technology initiative, operates on four distinct pillars: education, community engagement, digital economy impact and innovation grants. The execution proved as impressive as the framework. They're running proper AI conferences, creating an "accredited legal technologist" certification program and actively mapping legal tech skills into postgraduate course curricula.

The numbers demonstrate the commitment. One legal AI startup received a £2.4 million government grant specifically for creating 80 jobs in Scotland. The government has developed several enabling instruments, including "smart grants" specifically designed for product-market fit research and testing. Beyond funding, the government functions as a talent connector, linking companies with universities for AI research and establishing apprenticeship programs.

Scottish law firms regularly conduct roundtables with their clients to understand pain points and advise on transformation strategies, going beyond simply sharing what technology they're implementing. This collaborative approach to innovation adoption felt fundamentally different from the top-down tech implementations I've seen elsewhere.

Our meetings with A&O Shearman's Fuse program and Slaughter & May's Collaborate initiative shattered several assumptions I had about how elite law firms approach innovation.

At A&O Fuse, we watched demos of solutions that addressed what seemed like surprisingly basic problems - redlining tools for emails, simple redaction software. This reflected a recognition that even Magic Circle firms have operational gaps that smart technology can address. 

What surprised me most was their "support, don't invest" philosophy. A&O Fuse doesn't take equity in the companies they work with. They instead provide access to senior management, pilot opportunities and real client feedback. It's partnership-focused rather than financial return-focused.

Slaughter & May revealed a dual-track approach that's becoming increasingly common among top-tier firms. While their Collaborate program provides operational support to legal tech companies, they've created a separate venture fund pooling money from individual partners who want to make direct investments.

One of the most fascinating discoveries was how these firms are restructuring their human capital strategies around technology adoption.

Job descriptions for new lawyers now routinely include phrases like "young lawyers capable of AI operations." But more interestingly, several firms are implementing buddy systems - pairing AI-native junior lawyers with senior partners who have deep legal expertise but less technological fluency. It's creating a two-way mentorship model: seniors provide legal wisdom while juniors teach technology integration.

Learning and development departments are completely overhauling their programs because the required skillsets have fundamentally changed. Firms are actively building multidisciplinary teams, hiring people with computational and data science backgrounds to work alongside traditional lawyers.

At Slaughter & May, innovation work has become part of the formal appraisal process. Lawyers are expected to explain what innovation initiatives they've contributed to and it factors into their career progression. Since they don't have billable hour targets, there's actual time and incentive for this kind of work.

One pattern that emerged across our meetings was the distinction between investment and support. While some firms are putting partner capital directly into legal tech startups, most Magic Circle firms are choosing a different path.

They're becoming sophisticated pilot partners rather than financial investors. They provide something potentially more valuable than money: access to real legal workflows, senior stakeholder feedback and the credibility that comes with being used by a top-tier firm.

This model actually offers advantages for startups. There's no equity dilution, no investor governance complications and no pressure to prioritise financial returns over product development. Instead, there's focused feedback on product-market fit and genuine partnership opportunities.

Perhaps the most significant discovery was the level of government interest in UK-India legal services collaboration. At the government reception hosted by Great Legal Services (the UK government's legal services division), we had extensive conversations about collaboration pathways.

Since direct foreign law firm entry into India remains restricted, the UK government is actively exploring alternative engagement models. They have identified two primary pillars: Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Legal Technology. A formal study examining these opportunities was sanctioned by the UK government early this year, and the Indian LegalTech Network was invited to provide feedback on the framework.

The UK government sees legal tech collaboration as a pathway to maintaining engagement with the Indian legal market while regulatory restrictions remain in place.

Having the Indian LegalTech Network booth at the LegalTech conference for two days provided an unexpected window into UK market interest. The questions weren't just "do you have great tech talent we can tap?" but "how can we sell into your market?" and "when will it get liberalised?"

There's genuine recognition that India is becoming a knowledge capital for legal innovation, not just a service delivery location. The investment flowing into Indian legal tech, combined with the sophisticated products emerging from Indian companies, has shifted the conversation from outsourcing to partnership.

But our mission also revealed the complexity of actually entering the UK market. The procurement processes are lengthy, compliance requirements are extensive and relationship-building takes time. Success requires understanding not just the technology needs, but the cultural and business rhythms that govern decision-making.

Nonetheless, the government support infrastructure provides legitimate entry points through established programs.

What impressed me most about our five days in the UK was the level of ecosystem thinking. From LawscotTech's accredited technologist program to the government's smart grants for job creation, there's a recognition that building a sustainable legal tech ecosystem requires more than just funding startups.

It requires changing how legal education works, how law firms hire and develop talent, how government policy supports innovation and how the legal profession engages with transformation. The UK is building this systematically, with clear roles for different stakeholders and measurable outcomes.

For Indian legal tech companies looking at international expansion, the UK offers something rare: a sophisticated legal market that values innovation but demands genuine partnership. 

The handshakes and business cards from our trade mission were just the beginning. The real work is building the trust, demonstrating the value and proving that Indian legal tech companies can be genuine partners in transforming how legal services are delivered in one of the world's most sophisticated legal markets.

Shreya Vajpei is the Founder and Chief Ecosystem Officer of the Indian LegalTech Network (ILTN).