Lawyers at small law firms spend too much time on admin, bureaucracy, and management, and not enough time actually practicing law. A suggested, for example, that the average lawyer works only two-and-a-half hours per day on client-facing tasks.
Legal consultants at platform law firms, on the other hand, spend almost all of their time working on client solutions. It is perhaps unsurprising, therefore, that so many lawyers are abandoning traditional law firm structures in favour of platform law firms.
The stats are clear. According to , the number of UK lawyers in platform law firms increased by 29% in 2018. And that number will continue to grow. , for example, that as many as 3000 of the UK’s 10000 law firms could close or merge in the next five years. Platform law firms are likely to absorb the majority of that departing talent.
Small law firms need to change in order to grow and compete. They need to become more attractive for lawyers. And perhaps the biggest change they can make is around working culture. Small law firms need to banish bureaucracy, automate admin, and free up time for lawyers to work efficiently and effectively with their clients.
Traditional law firms are often held back by too many meetings, hierarchical structures, bottlenecked sign-off processes, complex billing targets, office politics, and all the other tedious and frustrating elements that we can broadly define as bureaucracy.
A recent ½Û×ÓÊÓƵ report looking at the rise of platform law firms found that one attractive part of platform law was the absence of bureaucracy. And the reason lawyers want less bureaucracy is simple: it means more time spent focussing on client work.
Take corporate lawyer , for example. Ducker explains why he swapped a traditional law firm in favour of going self-employed at : ‘The whole [platform law] model made perfect sense to me,’ Ducker says. ‘The profession has a certain reputation of billing every minute of every day but being in gunnercooke on a fixed-fee basis allowed me to engage better with my clients.’
Small firms need to rid themselves of bureaucracy – and fast. We often talk about work life balance as an essential driver for job retention, but the enjoyment of the work lawyers do is equally important. Bureaucracy is tedious and keeps lawyers away from meaningful work, the reason that they decided to practice law, the stuff that matters – supporting clients.
Another route to more client time is automation. A in 2019 found that nearly two thirds of in-house legal work is repetitive or routine. Small firms should start by evaluating processes, finding the most time-consuming, and consider potential solutions.
Popular targets for automation are , , payment collection, and billing. The right choice for automation depends on the individual firm, so put in the time during the early stages, do your research, and reap the rewards later.
That absence of admin is one reason lawyers are moving to platform law firms. In the ½Û×ÓÊÓƵ report, for example, Ian Cooke said that after three decades in private practice he felt increasingly bogged down with management tasks, which prevented time with clients.
‘I didn’t become a lawyer to be a manager,’ he explains. Cooke joined and found the platform model provided better working practices ‘You just work with your clients and prioritise deals…I have never been happier at work. And the clients are thrilled because they have my attention.’
Over half of firms say their use of tech increased since the start of the pandemic, according to a . The shift to tech has shifted client expectations. Lockdowns and closures meant new forms of client interaction – largely by screen, largely in peoples' homes – which meant an emphasis on results.
‘During lockdown you had the lawyer on the screen…so the theatre of the big law firm gets stripped away,’ said Andrew Cooke, General Counsel at . The emphasis was on results and non-traditional firms seemed suddenly attractive.
One reason platform law firms fared better during the pandemic was because the revenue-share structure gave clients a greater level of access and service. Legal consultants' earnings were directly tied to the success of the client relationship, which often resulted in a successful client relationship. In essence, legal consultants spent more time ensuring client satisfaction.
‘You get direct access to an expert in their field,’ said Mark Swann, an client and contributor to the ½Û×ÓÊÓƵ report. ‘The price is more competitive because people are working remotely…And because of the way [platform law] firms are structured, because we are a source of income for the lawyer, [legal consultants] care much more.’
Small law firms need to meet client expectations. That means flexible working to improve access and reduce rates. That means focussing on results and developing stronger lawyer-client relationships. Ultimately, meeting client expectations means ensuring lawyers have more time to work with clients.
More and more lawyers are opting to become legal consultants to spend more time practicing the law and have a better work life balance. Read our new report Rise of the legal consultants for fresh insights on the pros and cons of becoming a legal consultant.
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