How to improve CRM adoption in law and accountancy firms

The research backs this up. A 2023 survey of marketing and business development staff at more than 70 US law firms, published by the Legal Sales and Service Organization (LSSO), found that over 80% of firms have a CRM. Yet fewer than 4 in 10 lawyers use it at all, and more than 4 in 10 still track their business development in spreadsheets, paper notes and Outlook reminders.

The pattern is familiar. The firm buys a CRM, sets it up, runs some training and launches it. For a few weeks, people log in. Then use drops off.

Contacts stay in Outlook. Notes stay in notebooks. Some partners keep their own spreadsheets. A year later, the CRM holds data nobody trusts.

The cause is rarely the software. Most CRM systems are designed for sales teams, and most professional firms don’t have one.

Partners are not salespeople

In a sales team, selling is the job. Salespeople have targets and often earn commission. They’re measured on calls, meetings and pipeline. Logging activity in a CRM is part of the role, and their manager checks it.

Partners in law and accountancy firms work very differently:

• They are experts first. Clients hire them for their knowledge and reputation, not because of a sales process.
  
• New work comes through relationships. Existing clients, introductions, referrals from other firms, and people they’ve known for years.
  
• Their time is billed. An hour spent updating a CRM is an hour not spent on fee-earning work.
  
• They’re senior and independent. In a partnership, no one can simply tell a partner what to do.
  
• Many don’t like the idea of selling. It can feel at odds with being a trusted adviser.
  
• Confidentiality matters. Partners are wary of putting client information anywhere they’re not sure about.

The LSSO survey reflects this. When it asked why lawyers don’t use CRM, the top answers were lack of time, no requirement to use it, too much data entry, and not seeing the value.

Todd Miller, chief executive of legal CRM provider TRĒ, made the same point in the ABA Journal. Lawyers, he said, didn’t train to become salespeople: “They went to law school to become lawyers.” On getting partners to change how they work, Lee Blakemore, chief executive of Introhive, was just as direct: “You’re just not going to dictate that to law partners.”

Some larger firms have business development teams. They help a great deal, but the partners still win most of the work.

So when a firm gives its partners a system full of leads, pipelines and sales stages, it’s no surprise they don’t use it. It wasn’t built for them.

This isn’t only true of lawyers and accountants. The same challenge comes up whether you’re choosing a CRM for accounting firms or a CRM for a law firm partnership. Architects, engineers, surveyors and management consultants face it too. So do specialist consultancies, similar to our own.

What works instead

CRM adoption for law firms and accountancy firms alike comes down to a handful of practical choices, not a bigger system or more training.

1. Use their language

Partners think in terms of clients, contacts, referrers and introductions. Set the CRM up to match. Most systems let you rename modules and fields, so “Leads” can become “Introductions” and “Deals” can become “New Instructions” or “New Engagements”.

2. Take the effort away

The less partners have to type, the more likely they are to use the system.

• Connect it to Outlook or Gmail, so emails and meetings are logged automatically.
  
• Use the mobile app to add a note after a meeting in under a minute.
  
• Keep required fields to a minimum.
  
• Let PAs, secretaries or the business development team update records for partners.
  
• Pull client and fee data in from the practice management and billing systems.

In the LSSO survey, the most common way firms boosted adoption was having marketing and business development staff update the CRM on lawyers’ behalf.

3. Give partners something back

A CRM has to be useful to the people who put information into it. For example:

• A simple view of their key clients and recent fees
  
• A one-page client summary before a meeting
  
• A clear picture of who else in the firm knows a client or contact
  
• Referral tracking: who sends work to the firm, and whether the firm sends work back
  
• A reminder when an important relationship has gone quiet

4. Start small

Successful law firm CRM adoption rarely happens all at once. Pick three or four things the CRM must do well. Try them with a small group of willing partners. Share the results, then roll out more widely.

International law firm Fasken took this approach. It tried its new CRM with one receptive group first and focused on a single feature: seeing who else in the firm knows a contact. It never formally announced a launch. Word spread, lawyers started asking for access, and the firm reached around 60% of its lawyers using the system.

“Relevancy should be your goal,” says Oliviana Mingarelli, Fasken’s Head of Business Development & Marketing.

5. Lead from the top

If senior partners don’t use it, no one else will. Run business development discussions in partner meetings from CRM reports. Give one person responsibility for keeping the data clean.

The LSSO research found that firms getting a good return from their CRM were three times more likely to hold lawyers to a high level of accountability for using it.

6. Train the way partners work

Keep sessions short, around 20 to 30 minutes. Use their own clients and contacts, not demo data. Offer support after launch, not just a one-off course.

7. Build trust in the data

Clean up and remove duplicates before you go live. Set clear rules on who can see what, so partners feel confident about client confidentiality.

Where AI helps

AI is starting to change this. For years, a CRM only worked if partners spent time in it. AI means the system can do more of the work itself, and prompt partners with what to do next as part of their normal day.

It also matches what partners say they want. In an October 2026 survey of 123 partners at law, accounting and other professional firms, by relationship intelligence company Introhive, the top request was help finding new business in relationships the firm already has. Yet 78% said their firm’s relationship data is hard to act on.

Here’s how AI in a CRM can help:

• Capture activity. Log emails and meetings, and pick out new contacts and follow-ups, so partners type less.
  
• Summarise. Give a short briefing on a client’s recent history before a meeting or call.
  
• Nudge. Flag when an important relationship has gone quiet, and suggest a follow-up with a draft email.
  
• Spot opportunities. Point out clients who may need another service, or contacts who could make a useful introduction.
  
• Keep data clean. Find duplicates, fill gaps and update contact details.
  
• Answer plain questions. For example, “Who in the firm knows the finance director at X?” without building a report.

Most major CRM platforms now offer features like these. The same survey found 68% of partners using AI for business development rely only on general chatbots, which can’t see their firm’s own data. AI built into the CRM, working on the firm’s data with the right permissions, is far more useful.

A word of caution

AI only helps if it’s used safely. In August 2026, the Solicitors Regulation Authority warned that both paid and free AI tools may not have the safeguards needed to protect client confidentiality. ICAEW has told accountants that putting client data into AI tools is very likely to breach client confidentiality.

So check where the data goes, use tools with proper data protection terms, set clear firm rules, and keep a person checking what the AI produces.

AI won’t fix poor data or a lack of buy-in on its own. Even Introhive’s chief executive says the real challenge is changing how people work. The steps above still matter.

The aim

The goal isn’t to turn partners into salespeople. It’s to make the CRM fit the way they already win work.

When it saves them time and helps them look after their most important relationships, they’ll use it.

If your firm has a CRM that isn’t being used, or you’re thinking about choosing one, we’d be happy to talk. Zed Consulting is a vendor-agnostic CRM consultancy specialising in CRM for professional services firms. We help firms choose, set up and get real value from a system their partners will actually use.

David Nandhra Founder & CEO, Zed Consulting

Sources

• The State of CRM in 2023: A Symptom of a Bigger Problem (Legal Sales and Service Organization, April 2023)
• What lawyers should know about customer relationship management (ABA Journal, May 2024)
• Partners want AI to help them find new business, Introhive survey finds (LawSites, October 2026)
• What drives CRM adoption in law firms (Fasken webinar, September 2026)
• SRA warns profession over AI misuse amidst investigations (Legal Futures, August 2026)
• Don’t let AI tools land you in hot water (ICAEW, February 2024)