Legal technology, a once-obscure niche that few knew about and even fewer invested in, has come into its own. With the advent of generative AI, funding is about to flow into the space and birth a raft of new legal tech products, as well as improved versions of old ones.

If all of this sounds good for buyers, it is – in the long run. In the short run, however, we are likely looking at a “perfect storm” akin to the runup to the dotcom crash of 2000, when the market correctly surmised there were billions to be made on the internet, but utterly failed to discern how those billions would be made.

Industry veterans know full well that the legal tech market is already flooded with bad tech, particularly considering all the hype around contract lifecycle management, which has proven to be a much tougher nut to crack than anyone imagined. This bad tech has multiplied with the help of pandemic-era stimulus and then again with the advent of generative AI. Now, with the Fed poised to lower interest rates yet again, venture capital is rearing to go back to the casino and throw money at any legal tech idea that sounds plausible – especially if it incorporates, or purports to incorporate, Gen AI. The result will include some of the most thoughtful, innovative legal tech solutions the world has ever seen. It will also include a ton of rubbish.

How to Buy Legal Technology That Works is about how to cut through the grist and find practical solutions that work for you, regardless of marketing and sales hype. Written by Nathan Cemenska, an industry veteran who has represented both buyers of legal tech and a very prominent seller, it lays out a soup-to-nuts legal tech procurement approach that takes you through the entire process, from defining your needs, identifying relevant solutions, decoding marketing and sales narratives, performing full due diligence on vendors to figure out what they are really selling, all the way down to negotiating the final contract to obtain favorable pricing and assurances in case implementation goes less well than envisioned. While nothing is guaranteed, this book will lay out the building blocks to arm you with all the information you need to protect yourself from legal tech companies that, in their desperation to make a sale, have lost sight of what should be their goal – to provide practical, common-sense products that help move the legal industry forward.

Nathan Cemenska, JD/MBA, is the founder of Forthright Consulting, a boutique consultancy focused on legal operations, legal data, legal technology, e-billing, and outside spend management. A former practicing attorney, he got his MBA at night and transitioned into legal operations through his early volunteer work with the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium. He has worked in a consulting capacity for Elevate Services and UpLevel Ops, and most recently served in product management and thought leadership for Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions, one of the largest legal technology companies in the world. He also serves as a senior advisor to Unbiased Consulting, an independent consultancy focused on helping corporate law departments and law firms do better with people, process, and technology.