A Shift In Paradigm: Clients Expect More From Their Communication With Lawyers

Petro Krasnomovets
By Petro Krasnomovets,
1st November |
47

Clio has recently revealed their 2021 Legal Trend Report. The paper is based on a survey of more than a thousand legal professionals as well as a thousand clients. Clio was gathering insights throughout May and June 2021, so the insights are valid and correspond with the current situation in the legal industry. One of the more peculiar findings of the report is the fact that clients have started to opt for new and meaningful ways of communicating with lawyers via digital means.

[Resiliency] is just learning how to change with the times, learning how to be okay. Doing something different and being okay interacting with your clients like you never have before.

Steven, Solo Family Attorney

There’s no denying that COVID-19 was (and is) a game-changer. The epidemic has turned our world upside down. And while the fallout is heavy, the optimist in me is desperately trying to find something that’s remotely positive in the situation. 

And so I cling to advancements in the adoption of technology that has made countless processes simpler for both legal professionals and their clients. Fortunately, Clio’s annual Legal Trends reports are here to help me in my goal. 

Law firms and tech

Low adoption rates have been the bane of legal tech for as long as I can remember. The industry as a whole relies on nuance, differences in wording, and variability of clauses and, as such, is barely a good fit for serious automation. Or so most of the lawyers believed until the pandemic stroke. 

The adoption of technology has rapidly become a necessity in late 2019. 

  • 85% of law firms have started using operations management software in 2020. 
  • 83% of them have reported meeting with clients virtually. 
  • Moreover, 93% of law firms state that they will continue to use new technology past the pandemic as it has proven beneficial to their business processes.  

Source: Clio

These numbers seem to be rather dramatic. What could have possibly caused the shift in the paradigm? 

The client!

What do clients want from lawyers in 2021? 

Lawyers are not the only ones who were dismissive of the seemingly all-consuming tech trends back in the day. As little as 23% of clients were open to online communications with lawyers in 2018. Nowadays, the number of clients who are willing to engage with law firms digitally has skyrocketed to a whopping 79%.

More on the matter, all of these people are not simply willing to engage. They are actively looking for more remote opportunities, the Legal Trends Report states. 

Video conferences, for once, have grown in demand as a preferred means of communication from 4% in 2018 to 50% in 2021. 

Don’t try to read too much into these numbers though. The shift is there, but it is definitely not an all-or-nothing deal.

People are not willing to let go of a more personalized, face-to-face approach. 67% of clients expect to find a lawyer capable of offering them both of these options. In fact, personal communications or at least a phone call is much more preferable to people who are in the early stages of a legal matter. This sounds more than rational as clients prefer to keep their finger on the pulse of a lawyer’s activities when it comes to making key decisions. 

The scale keeps tilting

COVID-19 or not, the legal industry will soon work with Gen X and Millennials. The majority of these people, (72% and 69% respectively), have never worked with a lawyer. Yet all of them are quite adept at digital age tech. Their expectations and preferred means of communicating with brands are quite different from what we are used to. That’s why a lawyer needs to futureproof for tomorrow, starting today.

  • Design your workflows and communication experiences around the mediums your client base prefers. Invest in secure and reliable video conferencing software. Think about introducing a chatbot, online portal, or ticketing system that’s easily accessible from a smartphone. 
  • Never stick to just one communication format as you’ll be missing out on potential opportunities. 
  • Be mindful of the growing complexity of communications. Sharing and storing personal information online is a slippery slope both in terms of potential security threats and external regulations.