In 2019, small-firm lawyers have incredible amounts of opportunity. Technology has leveled the playing field allowing them to find success on their own terms.
Of course, the path to success for small-firm lawyers is varied and no lawyer’s is exactly the same. In fact, according to the results of three recent reports, small-firm lawyers’ career paths and opportunities run the gamut, and vary greatly depending on geographical region, practice areas, earnings, and more.
How many lawyers are there and where are the majority of them located?
For answers to those questions, you need look no further than the data found in the 2019 ABA National Lawyer Population Survey. According to the survey results, the five states with the highest number of resident active attorneys living in the state are:
- New York – 182,296
- California – 170,117
- Texas – 91,244
- Florida – 78,448
- Illinois – 62,720
- D.C. – 56,135
Interested in learning more about lawyer demographics? If so, there are lots more lawyer statistics available in updated 2019 Legal Profession Statistics released by the ABA last week here.
How much are lawyers earning and what are their billing practices?
The results of another recent survey from Matindale-Avvo show that there is a clear geographical disparity when it comes to compensation. Lawyers in the Western region (CA, HI, AK) lead the way and earned the most. The Mid-Atlantic region was next followed by the Southeast, and then the Northeast.
Here are the earnings derived from billing legal services for lawyers in each region:
- West ($222,000)
- South Central ($203,000)
- Mid-Atlantic ($194,000)
- Southeast ($194,000)
- Northwest ($189,000)
- Great Lakes ($186,000)
- North Central ($184,000)
- Southwest ($178,000)
- Northwest ($170,000)
According to the Martindale-Avvo report, the vast majority of lawyers continue to rely on hourly billing for their cases, with 75 percent reporting that they bill by the hour. Next up was flat fee billing at 44 percent, followed by contingency billing at 33 percent.
Also of interest from the report is that the majority of lawyers (75 percent) reported that less than 20 hours per week was spent meeting with or appearing in court with their clients. Criminal defense lawyers spent the most time each week meeting with clients (on average 20+ hours), and intellectual property lawyers spend the least (on average less than 10 hours).
Billable work that did not include client interaction constituted more than 20 hours of a typical lawyer’s work week, at 75 percent. Next up was 18 percent of lawyers who spent 10-19 hours on that type of work, with only 6 percent reporting that they spent less than 10 hours on billable work of that nature.
Finally, when it came to non-billable work, a whopping 70 percent of lawyers reported that they spent less than 10 hours of their work week on that type of work. Next up was 22 percent of lawyers who spent 10-19 hours, followed by 5 percent who spent 20 or more hours, and then 3 percent who reported that their entire working day was billable.
What challenges do lawyers face on a daily basis?
According to the Marindale-Avvo report, the top challenges faced by the lawyers surveyed ran the gamut, with 23 percent of lawyers reporting that difficult clients topped the list. Next up was business development/generating new clients (17 percent), long hours worked (17 percent), administrative tasks (12 percent), collecting money owed (10 percent), going to trial (6 percent), and marketing (6 percent).
And last but not least, many lawyers find that their client relationships are what motivate them the most. 33% reported that the most rewarding aspect of their work was gratitude/relationships with their clients. Also important for 12 percent of respondents was knowing that they helped to make the world a better place.
How are lawyers adapting to technology and a rapidly changing legal landscape?
Now let’s move on to lawyers and technology. What are the forces that are driving them to adopt technology — and why are they so slow to adapt? A recent report released by Wolters Kluwer, a global information services company, provides lots of interesting insight into these issues.
According to the report, the top issues that are impacting law firms in 2019 are, in order of importance:
- Coping with increased volume and complexity of information
- A need to improve efficiency and productivity
- Determining the types of legal technology that will be of the highest value for their organization
- Meeting changing client and leadership expectations
- Financial issues, including greater price competition, new and alternative fee structures, and cost containment pressures
The survey results also show that lawyers are reluctant to adapt to change. The top reason lawyers report for resisting change (that they readily acknowledge is needed) is the lack of technology knowledge, understanding, or skills. More than a third of survey respondents (36 percent) cited this as the top obstacle to change in their organization.
In other words, lawyers know they should change and adopt 21st century technologies into their practices, but resistance grounded in fear and lack of understanding prevents them from doing so. This resistance to change isn’t necessarily unexpected. After all, change is never easy. And lawyers tend to be more change averse than the average technology consumer, a fact that was borne out by this report.
So there you have it! Lots of data on small-firm lawyers. Did any of the statistics surprise you? How does your firm compare?
Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and the Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase, web-based law practice management software. She’s been blogging since 2005, has written a weekly column for the Daily Record since 2007, is the author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York. She’s easily distracted by the potential of bright and shiny tech gadgets, along with good food and wine. You can follow her on Twitter @nikiblack and she can be reached at niki.black@mycase.com.
