I’m excited to share these key takeaways with our community. These insights not only underscore the changing dynamics in client-law firm relationships but also highlight the strategic shifts law firms need to embrace to stay competitive and deliver superior value.
💼 While raising rates is a tactic that can be used to cover higher salaries (you will have all seen the alarmingly high NQ salaries released by a number of firms), demonstrating value to clients is another tactic that can be used to win more work and enhance profitability. Clients understand the need for law firms to achieve profitability but are more focused on the value and experience the law firms they work with will provide.
💸 Newly qualified salaries are at an all-time high, which is challenging the pay structure for more experienced lawyers.
🔑 Ensuring the right people are doing the right work is vital in the context of wage inflation. Correct leverage on a matter directly impacts profitability but the client still expects the most efficient delivery. This is something that law firms need to balance.
📋 Clients expect transparency on costs, profit, and team composition. Data is crucial for law firms to demonstrate their practices and trends over time.
📈 Basic reporting on large matters should be the standard, not something clients have to request.
🤝 The best relationships with outside counsel are founded on candid communication as clients seek commercial savviness and transparency from their legal partners.
📊 Clients now expect law firms to demonstrate DEI in staffing their matters and will often request DEI data on new instructions.
🌍 Client products are often global, and this necessitates diverse thoughts and ideas, which makes attention to DEI critical to success.
🌐 Resource Managers can enhance experiences for associates, partners, and clients by connecting HR, finance, DEI, and operations. They are the lynchpin to effectively, efficiently and objectively delivering legal work.
💡 The role of Resource Management is becoming increasingly important, potentially even chargeable, given their comprehensive oversight of matters. Whilst our panel had not experienced where a Resource Manager was put in front of a client, they did see a world where this would add value to the client experience.
🔍 Full transparency in team structure discussions, including involving Resource Managers, can lead to better outcomes. Clients want the best teams for their matters, even if it’s not the most obvious or cheapest setup.
🚀 Newer generations of lawyers prioritise growth over pay, making career direction conversations essential.
🛠️ Traditional methods of staffing matters, typically by Partners, should be re-evaluated for objectivity and efficiency.
⚖️ Utilisation imbalances across lawyers, influenced by practice area activity and seasonality, need proactive management to avoid hyper-specialisation.
Janice presented a crucial point: clients invest significant time in educating lawyers about their business. When a law firm cannot retain these well-informed lawyers, it creates a disruption for the client. This calls for a stronger focus on lawyer retention strategies to ensure continuity and deepen client relationships.
Whilst law firms have made some progress in these areas (it was highlighted that Resource Management and effective Work Allocation has been a thing in other Professional Services organisations for 10+ years) there are plenty of other tactics and strategies that can be employed that can help address retention, client pressures and the ever evolving salary dynamics within the industry.
At BigHand, we’re committed to helping law firms navigate these challenges to improve their operational efficiencies and client satisfaction. The BigHand Conference 2024 made it clear: the future of legal service delivery hinges on adaptability, data-driven strategies, and a genuine commitment to DEI and client-centricity.
BigHand Resource Management is a legal work allocation tool that allows law firms to identify resources, forecast utilisation, manage workloads and add structure to career development for lawyers. The solution delivers real-time visibility of team availability, improved profitability on matters and supports DEI goals and equitable allocation of work.
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