On October 7, HBR Consulting premiered the sixth annual 2022 Benchmarking + Legal Information Services Survey (“BLISS”) results exclusively on our interactive dashboard website for the 71 participating firms. We want to extend another sincere thank you to all the firms who continue to contribute their time and provide insights by completing the survey.  Participating in the survey helps to support and inform the larger law firm library community with key benchmarking data.

The BLISS results dashboard is replete with insightful data that we hope will be used by respondents to make strategic decisions for their libraries.  Due to the breadth of data in the survey, we offer this summary analysis of the results and provide key takeaways from our perspective.  The key takeaways are focused in the areas of Technology (this year’s “Hot Topic”), Print & Digital Resources, and Staffing.

The “Hot Topic” segment of the survey sheds light on the immense opportunities that exist in legal technology.  Leveraging technology will be key in remaining competitive in the changing landscape.  The survey results offer a window into how firms are approaching innovation through technology and what solutions are being investigated.  The #1 technology being advanced by respondents is Application Programming Interfaces (“APIs”).  APIs have been under review by firms for over 10 years, indicating development in this area has been slow, but now appear to be taking hold based on survey results around consideration and implementation.

In addition to Technology, Print & Digital Resources and Staffing were two other sections we felt important to highlight with key takeaways.  Print & Digital Resources and Staffing are two areas of the survey directly tied to firm budgets.  Collection and staffing budgets have been consistently increasing over the past 6 years.  The current economic environment and negative outlook has put budgets under additional scrutiny causing firms to be even more strategic with each dollar spent.  

For the survey participants, we hope that these takeaways inform your review of the overall dashboard and provide maximum benefit to your participation in the survey.  For those that did not take part in the survey this year, we hope that the takeaways are useful and encourage you to sign up for the survey in 2023!