Cloud, Systems Integration Due in Time and Billing Applications

The Achilles' heel in cloud computing is reliability: What happens when network connections break? "If one of those things goes down for a couple of hours or a day, that's traumatic. I think what people are going to want is a fail-over mechanism between the clouds," Barry explained.

Elite plans to first expedite its software development cycle. The current version of its flagship product, 3E, is 2.6, which shipped early in 2011. Mobile applications for Apple iOS devices and for HTML5-compliant web browsers are due before long, followed by version 2.7 early in 2013.

Way for law firms to adopt de facto industry standards

Lexis sees its Microsoft focus as a way for law firms to adopt de facto industry standards and to future-proof their innovation systems, Fraser said.

Beyond that, Seeger said, it will be an uphill battle for software companies to lead lawyers in new directions. "There actually haven't been huge innovations in the course of time and billing innovation. You innovate at the margins," he said.