Law firms may be the trusted legal advisers for many corporate legal departments, but alternative legal service providers, or ALSPs, are working to establish themselves as the go-to authority on the right tool for the job in a vast and sometimes confusing landscape of legal tech solutions. But the process of vetting those technology providers may not be an exact science just yet. 

“It really comes down to things like functionality, fit for purpose and scale, right? … If you’ve got amazing functionality but [the solution] isn’t going to scale to the nature of the task, or it’s going to break down, or it’s not mature, etc., then that’s a problem,” said Ed Sohn, senior vice president, head of solutions at new law company Factor.