Each year we analyze hiring trends within the legal niche, including compensation and benefits in order to best serve you. It’s important to us to keep our finger on the pulse so that we continue to understand what law firms and legal technology professionals uniquely want and need and can help you make the best decisions for your law firm or legal technology career. Here are ESP Legal’s 2025 Legal Technology market insights:
Retention & Hiring
Fear of a recession in 2024 led to a 14% decrease in job postings while at the same time, leaving employees feeling nervous about their own job security. Out of the same fear and a desire to minimize or avoid layoffs, employee annual raises, bonuses, and merit raises were lower or not offered in 2024. This led to compensation satisfaction reaching an all-time low.
While fear of job insecurity can lead some individuals to stick loyally to their employer, it can also drive some to seek other employment, especially when coupled with dissatisfaction with their current compensation or career trajectory. With low unemployment and skills gap still impacting hiring, law firms will need to compete for highly skilled technology professionals.
Employers seeking to retain their staff should focus on messages about job security, advancement opportunities, and strong benefits. Creating a strong corporate culture, offering flexibility through remote work or schedule options, and offering fair compensation will also help your hiring efforts.
Benefits Snapshot
Benefits continue to be an essential factor for legal technology professionals’ decisions about employment. But some law firms are rolling back employees’ most valued benefits, including remote work and training. According to Dice, gaps remain between what is valued by legal tech pros and what is offered by employers, including commuter assistance (39% want it, 13% receive it), training and education opportunities (71% want them, 41% have them), remote work options (78% want it, 65% have it), and flexible work hours (75% want them, 54% have them).
Benefits Legal Tech Professionals Value Most:
- remote work 3-5 days a week
- low family medical premium costs
- 4 weeks of paid vacation/PTO
- bonuses reflective of strong performance
- 401K with match or profit-sharing contribution
- training and education
- flexible schedule for avoiding traffic if possible
- paid onsite parking
Despite 26% of technology professionals ranking remote work in their top two desired benefits, law firms are moving forward with policies that require 3 or more days a week in the office. These policies may make it hard to attract and keep the best talent, especially tech professionals with children in their household. Tech professionals may feel more amenable to a required commute if offered compensation in the form of paid onsite parking, a flexible schedule that allows employees to avoid peak traffic hours, or a commuter stipend.
Access to training and certification is also highly valued among tech professionals for both their career and compensation trajectory. Employers who provide—and ideally pay for—training and certifications not only improve their current tech teams’ skills, but may also see an increase in employee loyalty and retention.
The rising cost of health care remains a concern for employers and employees alike. Law firms that are able to keep premium costs low while providing good medical coverage will gain an edge in hiring and retention.
Artificial Intelligence & Automation
The impact of Artificial Intelligence on the job market, compensation, and job satisfaction is significant. According to Dice, tech pros who design, develop, and implement AI solutions receive 17.7% higher pay than their peers who are not involved in AI work and—unrelated to salary—they also have higher job satisfaction. Job postings requiring AI skills have grown at an annualized rate of 28.5% since 2010, with over 80,000 job postings between April 2024 and March 2025 including AI skill requirements.
AI is also having an impact on the hiring process. A recent article from The New York Times discusses the challenges posed by both job seekers and recruiters using AI tools. In response to recruiters’ use of automated screening, some job seekers are using AI to tailor their resumes to specific jobs, making it easier to apply, but causing a flood of thousands of applicants who may or may not be qualified.
While AI creates some fear of job replacement, it is also creating job opportunities for tech professionals. And when used well, it frees up a law firm’s employees from repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on work that requires more skill, expertise, and creativity, such as strategic planning, system design, and problem-solving.
High Demand and Growth Areas
In the last year, we’ve seen increased demand in the following areas:
- User & Desktop Support
- Security Analysts/Engineers
- Systems & Network Engineers
- Leadership: IT Directors & Mid-level Managers
- eDiscovery Project Managers
In addition, several positions within technology have unemployment rates below 2%, including Information Security Analyst, IT Manager, Systems Analyst, and Systems Administrator.
More insights can be found in our 2025 Legal Technology Salary Guide, along with salary ranges for legal technology professionals working at law firms:
