In the UK, two-thirds of lawyers gave the opportunity to work in an intellectually stimulating environment as a key reason for their choice of profession, and more than a third became lawyers to do ‘rewarding work’, according to a survey of 258 lawyers (125 in the UK and 133 in the USA).
The survey, conducted by legal industry cloud provider Intapp, revealed that three-fifths of UK lawyers are satisfied with their work-life balance. However, 45% of UK lawyers complain they do more administrative tasks than they expected and nearly a fifth (18%) say either the majority or nearly all of their time is spent on low-value work.
Asked about technology and their expectations for the future, 30% of UK lawyers wanted their firm to modernise the workflow process and 29% felt their firm should provide services to make elements of their legal work more efficient.
Some 44% of UK lawyers want to see their firm invest in content or document management systems, 28% want to see investment in mobile-enabled technologies and 41% feel that artificial technology (AI) could help improve conflicts clearance.
Chris Turk, regional vice president, EMEA of Intapp, said: ‘These survey results have shown the impact that tools and processes available can have on the daily life of a lawyer.
‘Modern firms―those that take into account the environment of a firm, and the impact of technology on its employees―are the ones that will see the most positive change.’
