Latest news – Slow response to new legal services era; Technology helps work-life balance; Pro bono work up in North America

Firms reacting ‘too slowly’ to change: survey

The Australasian legal profession has been slow to adapt to the fast-changing legal landscape, according to a new survey. The preliminary findings from the 2016 ALPMA/InfoTrack research, called Adapting to the Changing Legal Landscape, reveal that most respondents (74 per cent) believe the legal industry is reacting only when necessary, too slowly or failing to respond effectively to the external and internal factors transforming the sector. Worryingly, almost half of the firms do not have an effective firm-level blueprint to adapt to the new environment.

A total of 163 law firms were surveyed for the research from across Australia and New Zealand. ALPMA president Andrew Barnes warns legal leaders not to be complacent about change. “The one thing we can be sure of is that the change we have seen in the Australasian legal industry over the past five years will not abate,” he says. “Change can test your mettle. If your firm is not already adapting to change or you are not thinking about how to compete in what is essentially a new playing field, your risk compounds over time.”

Other findings in the study include:

• managing people is seen as the biggest challenge for law firms to address, with only 5 per cent of respondents reporting that they have no people-related issues in their firms;
• succession planning is the most common ‘people-related’ issue for firms, particularly for small to medium-sized firms;
• most firms (78 per cent) believe there is ample opportunity to change their firm’s businesses processes, with manual, inefficient and old-fashioned processes holding back many law firms; and
• 38 per cent of respondents believe they are at the head of the pack for technology adoption compared with other firms, but the majority of firms believe they are in the middle or at the back of the pack.

Tech tools help keep lawyers happy

New legal technology solutions are helping to keep lawyers happy with their work, despite demanding hours and the pressures of the job. The finding, based on new research conducted by GlobalX Legal Solutions, indicates that tech tools which offer the flexibility to work from home and help practitioners be more productive have been well received by lawyers. Although they work long hours, three out of four lawyers are happy with their work-life balance, according to the survey, which investigated the attitudes of more than 130 Australian legal professionals.

“More than 65 per cent of participants said they regularly work overtime, with one third of those surveyed working 50 to 70 hours per week,” said Peter Maloney, chief executive of GlobalX, a productivity solutions and services business for Australian legal professionals. “It is significant to observe, however, that despite lawyers continuing to work long hours, the majority are content.”

Maloney says there is no doubt that useful technology tools have contributed to the career contentment of lawyers who took part in the survey. “Purpose-built solutions – those that make regular and repeatable processes easier and more efficient – not only have a significant impact on productivity but the lawyers’ experience as they get through high volumes of work every day,” he says.

North American pro bono hours rising

A new survey provides an insight into the pro bono commitments of our lawyer peers in North America. The research by Robert Half Legal, a legal staffing and consulting solutions firm, found that one in three lawyers reports doing 80-plus hours of pro bono work annually. This trend emerged despite busy schedules and rising caseloads for lawyers.

Almost one-third (30 per cent) of lawyers say they donate more than 80 hours to pro bono or volunteer service each year, up seven points since the survey was conducted in 2014. Sixteen per cent of survey respondents contributed fewer than 10 pro bono hours a year.

The average number of annual pro bono hours lawyers reported is 64, an 8 per cent rise from 2014, which exceeds the minimum goal of 50 hours recommended by the American Bar Association. Lawyers employed at law firms donate an average of 70 hours to pro bono service each year, while their corporate counterparts log 36 volunteer hours.

The survey was conducted by an independent research firm and is based on 350 telephone interviews with lawyers at law firms and companies in the United States and Canada.