Selecting an alternative legal service provider (ALSP), which will often deploy technology more broadly than most law firms, can conjure fears straight out of a 1980s sci-fi film.

“You’re putting your case in the hands of a machine, where you really don’t know how good it is,” says Bassi Edlin Huie & Blum partner Noel Edlin. “So that always makes me nervous, maybe I’ve seen too many ‘Terminator’ movies.”