To those of us who have worked in the legal sector for a while (20+ years in my case), it’s clear that we are in a time of considerable change. As with most industries, the legal world shifted dramatically in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, but there are changes beyond this. For a long time, legal professionals have struggled with long working hours, high burnout and workplace models that have gone largely unchanged for decades. What we are seeing now is a reaction to this.
In 2023, firms are seeking out new ways of working that promote better work-life balance, make smart use of legal technologies and capitalise on outsourcing to legal Virtual Assistants (VAs). So, here are my predictions for the legal world in 2023.
1 The drive for better work-life balance in the legal sector will continue
In their 2022 Legal Trends Report (see bit.ly/3XH9aT6), Clio identified that 86% of lawyers worked outside of the typical work day and 73% worked at weekends. The pandemic led many lawyers to rethink their working lives, while the swelling cohort of Millennial and Gen Z lawyers in the workplace have brought with them higher expectations of a work-life balance and expectations of more technological working practices.
2 Remote working for lawyers and legal professionals will continue to grow
Traditional assumptions about how lawyers must work have shifted rapidly. 49% of lawyers in Clio’s survey reported preferring to work from home and 45% preferred to meet clients virtually. The majority of lawyers now see the benefits of remote working.
3 More virtual, boutique and specialist law firms will be established
The rise in remote working has also contributed to the ongoing growth of the ‘virtual law firm’. These operate on a dispersed model with lawyers often working as self-employed consultants under an umbrella legal brand. The number of lawyers working at virtual law firms has increased by 38% from 2020 to 2021 (in actual terms an increase from 1,355 in 2020 to 1,875 in 2021). See bit.ly/3I3nKyf.
We’ve also seen a continued expansion in boutique and specialist law firms, with more lawyers moving into niche spaces (for example working with start-ups or entrepreneurs) and choosing to start their own practice on their own terms.
4 Law firms will become more creative in the recruitment and retention of staff
Retaining good legal staff is more cost-effective than trying to recruit new team members. Currently, demand and competition for talent are at an all-time high. Nearly 20% of the lawyers in Clio’s market trends survey (see bit.ly/3XH9aT6) had left their firm in the period April 2021 to April 2022 and a further 9% indicated they planned to leave a firm in the following six months. Firms will need to adapt by offering favourable working patterns and managing workloads as well as offering competitive pay.
5 More law firms will outsource business support work to legal Virtual Assistants (VAs)
The International Legal Technology Association estimate that as much as 40% of lawyers’ time is spent ‘scheduling meetings, searching for relevant documents and managing volumes of case history databases’ (see bit.ly/3EepVxR). Outsourcing to a legal VA can be an effective way to resolve this issue.
Loney Stewart Holland LLP, who outsourced to a legal VA said: ‘Particularly as a small business, as partners, we were trying to do the work, run the business and grow the business. We were very time-poor. We were spending a lot of time on tasks that were better done by other people.’
They reflect on how we’ve helped them by taking on their admin and business support work: ‘For a business like us, the expertise that you offer is exactly what we need… Going back to the value of our time and what it would take us to do certain jobs, it’s certainly money well spent.’
An experienced legal VA knows the sector, is familiar with legal terminology, legal technology and software, and how law firms operate. They can ably assist law firms with critical admin and support functions such as client onboarding, CRM, invoicing, legal document management, transcribing, legal marketing and business development.
As a business providing legal VA support, we’ve noticed a big growth in demand for our services in the past two years. Law firms are recognising the value of freeing up their lawyers in favour of outsourcing this to more affordable VA resources.
According to one of our clients, RW Blears LLP, ‘the great thing about this kind of virtual setup is, you only pay for the support that you need. So… this means I don’t have to recruit a full-time VA or PA. The cost of it scales up and down in accordance with our support. So, if we do have a month where we might be quiet from a work perspective the cost of Kellie’s support drops significantly so it’s a really flexible way of working.’
6 The legal technologies market will expand and more firms will utilise legal tech
Cloud-based software has facilitated remote and virtual working and made secure document sharing more accessible. This has benefits for firms, lawyers and clients. There has also been a rise in demand for integrated CRM systems. As an Affiliate Partner for Clio, we have helped several law firms in the last year to embed their onboarding and client relationship workflows into Clio Grow. This has helped them to streamline their processes and work more effectively. Find out more about our client onboarding packages at bit.ly/3lGMDIs.
As Richard Tromans, founder of Artificial Lawyer & Tromans Consulting, explains: ‘Using legal tech can help reduce the burden of “process work” eg high frequency or high volume activities that can be mentally draining, but rarely mentally stimulating to do those tasks.’ (See bit.ly/3KaiuLS)
We provide more detail on the technologies and tools that could benefit the legal sector in our free eBook: 11 essential actions to make you and your law firm more organised. (See: bit.ly/3YQgpZJ)
So, what does this all mean for law firms in 2023?
The clear message is firms need to adapt in order to attract and retain strong legal talent. Big opportunities around outsourcing have arisen. Flexible working conditions, legal technologies and different law firm operating models can all make a law firm more attractive to work for and also offer some cost savings to firms.
