Reimagining the Legal Industry: Insights from the Pathways Project

Today, The LegalTech Fund (TLTF) released the first-phase findings of the Pathways Project, developed in partnership with Harvey. Pathways convened a group of industry leaders, with Leaders’ Quest supporting facilitation and program design and ALM serving as the data and media partner, to examine how the legal industry may evolve through 2040 under the impact of AI and technology. The report is intended as a strategic guide for law firm leaders navigating AI transformation, hybrid talent models, and changing legal economics.

The Pathways findings indicate that the legal industry is at a true inflection point. While firms continue to perform well, AI and data are reshaping how work is done and how value is created, placing pressure on traditional leverage models and elevating client expectations around transparency, predictability, and advice tied directly to business priorities. Using the Three Horizons Framework to shape the workshop, the report identifies six key shifts shaping this transition, including movement from billable hours to outcomes-based value, from bespoke work to scalable platforms, and from static documents to dynamic data models. Together, these shifts provide a framework for understanding how the legal market is evolving.

For law firms, the report highlights both pressure and opportunity. As the industry enters a transition period in which new forms of scalability are emerging alongside established approaches, firms face choices about where to invest and how to adapt. Pathways underscores that firms remain central to shaping what comes next, identifying how leading firms can move from labor-intensive production toward platforms of trusted, multidisciplinary expertise that deliver speed and confidence at scale.

Download the full report HERE