In an increasingly competitive and cost driven market, law firms need to optimize efficiency and maximize the value of existing talent. In 2023, the demand for legal services is falling, especially across key sectors, including tech, corporate and bankruptcy practices. With the immediate outlook poor, the pressure on profits has become even more serious. To better support our clients and the wider legal market through these challenges, BigHand gathered a total of 825 responses from law firm leaders, operations teams and support services managers from firms of 50+ lawyers in North America and the UK. The five-part report, covers a range of topics including:
- Changes in legal clients, demand and how firms are responding.
- Recruitment, retention, reductions and retirement of support teams.
- Hybrid working/return to office requirements, obstacles and strategies
- Support staff structures – current and future plans
- People, process and technology for support
