Tech Adoption, Staff, and Software: Where Modern Law Firms Focus Their Resources? 

Let’s face it: the rules of the game have changed in the post-pandemic world. And the law industry as a whole changed with them. 

For instance, finding and retaining talent in Big Law is much harder today than it was a year ago. Why? A lot of experienced associates are going solo after experiencing remote work burnout while the new generation of legal professionals values their time over compensation. As little as 17% of millennial attorneys put money as their top priority and 25% would prefer a flexible schedule to a higher paycheck. 

Curiously enough, this seemingly massive shift is merely the tip of an iceberg. For instance, clients have changed their preferences when it comes to working with a lawyer. They opt for a much more flexible approach to communications and are much more willing to work remotely than ever before. 

Both of these changes gave birth to a new business necessity – modern law firms need to be more tech-savvy than ever before as they no longer compete among themselves but also with the availability of accessible-in-a-click legal software services. 

All of these changes bring along a series of questions with the most prominent among them being – how does one adapt to a brave new world? 

Well, the recent Legal Trends Report by Clio offers us a sneak peek into how lawyers are investing in their firms. 

Spending on legal and non-legal staff is skyrocketing

This may sound a bit corny, but the legal industry is perfectly suited for the man’s man (or woman). A great attorney is fast at building bridges and relationships as it is the only meaningful way of both winning cases and landing returning customers. 

Moreover, while great lawyers can do a lot on their own, they are neither omnipotent nor omnipresent. In simpler words, they need help to continuously deliver satisfying results.

These simple truths, when multiplied by the aforementioned situation on the job market lead to an easily predictable result – legal professionals believe that investing in associate lawyer staff and non-lawyer staff should be the number one priority for a law firm. 

Source: Clio

Software

As a whole, the legal industry is rarely viewed as a tech-dominated niche. And, truth be told, it was indeed the opposite until a recent couple of years.

Nowadays, the situation took a turn one might only call dramatic. 

I’ll let the numbers make my point for me.

• More than $1 billion in private equity has been invested in legal tech companies in 2021
• In comparison, the sum was $510 million in 2020

Yes, one might say that the dynamic has been disrupted by the COVID-19 crisis but this year’s investments have already surpassed the $989 million in 2019, and 2021 is not over yet.

Clio’s Legal Trends Report proves this point by showing that law firms are more likely to invest in hardware and software. 61% stated that they will be spending more on these solutions. 

Source: Clio

The catalyst for change

One might ask what caused the growing interest in IT and software technologies – and it would be a fair question. 

And a one with no simple answer at that. 

Then again, the big picture makes a lot more sense when all of the aforementioned factors are taken into consideration.  

For once, law firms are reluctant to invest more in office space as it is slowly, yet steadily becoming more of a nuisance than a business asset. In fact, the new generation of legal professionals finds working in an office burdensome. As such, what was once an asset is no longer a playing card in the race for new talent.

I don’t need to be spending time traveling and I don’t need to be spending this amount of money. So the office went.

Rose, Solo Attorney, NY

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Secondly, the clients themselves have changed. People stopped showing interest in personal meetings with their lawyers unless a matter of severe importance is involved. As a result, 71% of law firms are prioritizing remote interaction over in-person.

Lastly, there’s the need for help most lawyers experience when they can’t put as much time towards billable hours as they’d prefer. As such, they are more likely to rely on software that automates repeatable processes in favor of getting more valuable time. 

The combination of these factors is currently reshaping the industry as we know it. Are you ready to enter the brave new world?