Hand Arendall Harrison Sale deployed new document software across its Alabama and Florida offices in recent weeks. The result? Zero complaints and a single help desk call. For a firm with more than 85 lawyers, that silence speaks volumes.
The Southeastern firm had wrestled for years with document comparison tools that frustrated even its most experienced attorneys. Redlining created friction. Version control sparked confusion. Lawyers grumbled about clunky workflows that pulled them out of Microsoft Word and Outlook dozens of times daily.
Then the firm’s technology team rolled out Litera One as part of a broader modernisation push. They braced for the usual barrage of support tickets and complaints that accompany any new system.
Nothing came.
“Litera One just runs circles around Word, and the Outlook integration is a game-changer,” said Deborah Savadra, Application Support Specialist & Trainer at Hand Arendall Harrison Sale. “Having Litera One directly within Word and Outlook makes the user experience seamless, and the iManage integration removes friction so that the DMS remains our source of truth for client matter documents.”
The timing matters. Litera announced the results Tuesday at Legalweek 2026 in New York, where legal technology vendors are competing for attention amongst thousands of law firm decision-makers gathered at the North Javits Center through 12th March. The conference has become the industry’s annual battleground for document management, AI tools, and workflow platforms.
Hand Arendall’s swift adoption reflects a broader pattern reshaping legal technology. Firms are abandoning standalone comparison tools in favour of unified platforms embedded directly where lawyers already work. The approach eliminates what industry analysts call “context-switching”—the productivity drain that occurs when attorneys toggle between multiple applications throughout the day.
Litera One consolidates drafting, document comparison, and collaboration into Microsoft 365, extending workflows to web and mobile environments. The platform integrates with iManage and NetDocuments, the dominant document management systems used by large law firms, allowing governance protocols to remain intact whilst improving attorney experience.
The firm’s technology team tracked one metric obsessively: support tickets. Before implementation, document comparison tools generated steady complaint volume. After Litera One went live, that volume dropped to one. A single call.
For context, law firms typically brace for weeks of support headaches when deploying new document tools. Lawyers resist change. They’ve memorised keyboard shortcuts. They’ve built muscle memory around legacy systems. Technology teams budget for training sessions, troubleshooting, and inevitable pushback.
Hand Arendall saw none of that.
The platform includes Lito, Litera’s AI legal agent, which transforms firm knowledge into real-time intelligence. Lito helps lawyers navigate drafting and review workflows, understand intent, and recommend next steps. TMCnet recognised the technology with a 2025 AI Core Technology Award for applications that turn AI potential into measurable impact.
“Law firms are under more pressure than ever to do more with less, and experiences built on the Litera One platform delivers on that promise from day one,” said Joey Benedek, VP of Product at Litera. “What we’re seeing with firms like Hand Arendall Harrison Sale isn’t just faster document workflows. It’s a fundamental shift in how lawyers work – with less friction, more confidence, and more time for the work that matters. When you combine that with the intelligence of Lito, our AI orchestration layer, you’re not just modernizing a process. You’re transforming a firm.”
Litera claims more than two million daily users and counts a majority of the world’s largest law firms as clients. The company has spent three decades building legal technology, positioning itself against competitors like Thomson Reuters and smaller workflow specialists.
Savadra’s team had worried most about the firm’s senior partners—lawyers who’d spent decades mastering whatever system came before. Those attorneys adapted fastest, she noted, because the new tools worked inside applications they already used every day. No new interface to learn. No separate login. No disruption to established routines.
The iManage integration proved crucial. Hand Arendall relies on the document management system as its source of truth for client matter files. Litera One’s direct connection meant lawyers could draft, compare, and collaborate without leaving their familiar environment or compromising document governance.
Industry observers have tracked similar patterns at other firms throughout 2025 and early 2026. As legal AI tools proliferate, successful implementations share common traits: deep integration with existing systems, minimal disruption to daily workflows, and measurable impact within weeks rather than months.
Hand Arendall’s experience suggests immediate return on investment remains possible even as law firms face mounting pressure to control technology spending whilst improving efficiency. The firm achieved what technology teams dream about: silent adoption that requires no explanation because it simply works.
Litera is demonstrating the platform live at booth 401 throughout Legalweek. Whether competitors can match that one-help-desk-call metric remains to be seen.
