Video Transcript: 

What Statistic stood out to you and why?

The ones that really jumped up to me were the 93% of firms have made changes to their support structures in the past two years, and then the 63%, that are planning to make further changes to their support structure over the next few years. This tells a story that in the past couple of years, since the pandemic and introduction of hybrid work we've had an up and down economic situation. Firms have recognized this and are introducing centralized support teaming structures, attorney resource centers, and are starting to think differently about their support structures.

I think this going to be the new standard moving forward where firms are trying to adjust their support models to make their attorneys and their firms more efficient.

How does the data from the report compare to what you're seeing in the market?

Now that we're seeing less support staff doing more of the work, you want to have a better idea of who's working on what and when, and how long tasks are taking. Firms want visibility into the work on a given practice group or an office, this is a big need for our clients. Of course this problem is not just in the legal industry, but everywhere. When you're trying to talent that have been with firms for decades, finding like for like replacements can be difficult. You want to make sure the attorney's don't face any disruptions in the service they're receiving from the support teams.  

How can firms mitigate these challenges? 

Introducing technology is the fastest and easiest way to help facilitate these changes. How are you going to identify skill gaps in the current staff that you have? Similarly, how are you going to get visibility into who's working on what when you have half of your support team in the office on a given day and some working remote? With a tool like advanced workflow, you can really centralize the universe of work that is going on in any given practice group or office. This really helps managers. This really helps managers, attorneys and support staff coordinators with visibility into what's going on. With the reporting functionality, that's included in the software, you can really dig into, who's working on what.

What is your key takeaway?

Firms realized during the pandemic that because of hybrid working and the changing needs of law firms that changing the structure of your support staff was a necessity. 

I think firms will really start to lean into introducing technology and becoming creative on how they utilize support staffs and support their attorneys. I think technology is going to continue to be a big part of this change.

To learn more about how law firms are evolving their support structures and what management teams need to consider in their approach, read our market research report, evolving support structure best practice now and in the future.