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Within weeks of the shutdowns last March, those of us who follow legal tech trends were cautiously watching as attorneys who were displaced from their brick-and-mortar offices began to use cloud-based software out of necessity. Seemingly overnight, lawyers were intensely focused on learning as much as they could about the remote working tools that would help them get work done in the short term, at least until things “returned to normal.” Notably, at the time, it was expected that the stay-at-home orders would be in place for a few weeks, at most.
I described this evolving situation in my Above the Law article from March 19 of last year:
(T)he focus in online lawyer discussion groups changed overnight, with lawyers sharing their concerns about whether their firms would survive the mandated closures. Others sought advice on the remote working tools that would be necessary to set up a remote law firm, such as video conferencing platforms, VOIP phone systems, and law practice management software. Not surprisingly, the same phenomenon was occurring offline as well.
Now, nearly a year after I wrote that column, we’re nowhere close to any semblance of what we once defined as “normal,” and there’s no immediate end to the pandemic in sight. A lot has changed in the past year, and the continued unpredictability caused by the pandemic has resulted in a newfound mindset about technology that no one could have predicted prior the the pandemic. Lawyers are now embracing some forms of technology and relying on it to stabilize — and monetize — their law firms for the long haul.
But don’t take my word for it. After all, my literal job title is “Legal Technology Evangelist” so perhaps I’ve got too much skin in the game to make such a sweeping conclusion. Instead, let’s take a look at some of the statistics and conclusions from Thomson Reuters’ 2021 Report on the State of the Legal Market. This is an annual report, issued by the Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession at Georgetown University Law Center and the Thomson Reuters Institute, that reviews and analyzes the data and legal market trends of the prior year in order to provide predictions and insight on what to expect in the future.
A Pivotal Moment For The Legal Industry
This year’s Report opened with an apt analogy that offers a really interesting lens through which to view the impact of the pandemic on legal tech adoption. The authors explained that the pressures of the pandemic had the effect of reducing the legal profession’s historical resistance to fundamental change, thus ushering in a period of accelerated technology adoption that will ultimately lead to an overall redesign in the way that legal services are delivered. In other words, the pandemic was a “tipping point” for our profession, as defined by Malcolm Gladwell in his book “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference“:
Gladwell notes that the process of change begins with “clear examples of contagious behavior” — i.e., with a build-up of ideas and activities that appear to be moving in a particular direction. Once the build-up reaches a certain level, the acceleration of these behaviors can be influenced by little changes that have big effects. And, at that point, change can happen very fast. “The name given to that one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can change all at once is the Tipping Point…”
I believe that anecdotal evidence, combined with the results of this survey and other recent surveys, clearly indicate that our profession has indeed reached a tipping point and that many aspects of the practice of law, ranging from how and where work gets done and the footprint of law firms, will look very different on the other side of the pandemic.
Remote Work Can Work
The most obvious effect of the pandemic, and one that is sure to be long lasting, is the increased acceptance of working remotely. Before the pandemic, remote working was looked upon with suspicion, and even derision. Most lawyers didn’t believe that work could be accomplished effectively from home, and the value of face time was of paramount importance.
It’s strange, but not surprising, how that perception changed once there was no other way to get work done. This newfound acceptance of working from home was all the more amplified by the fact that everyone was working remotely and thus on level footing when it came to typical work-from-home interferences, like barking dogs or screaming children.
In other words, as explained in the Report, attitudes have changed and the work-from-home phenomenon is here to stay, in one form or another:
Most firms now acknowledge that remote working — though clearly different from in-person operations — can work. Indeed, the disruptions resulting from work-at-home arrangements were less serious than most firms expected. Interestingly, Acritas reports that the proportion of U.S. lawyers who now want to work remotely at least one day a week has doubled from the pre-pandemic period. While 37 percent of lawyers expressed an interest in remote work prior to the pandemic, 76 percent now favor the remote work option.
Newfound Acceptance And Appreciation Of Tech
For than a decade, I’ve been yelling from the rooftops (and writing into the ether) about the need for lawyers to both understand and use technology in their day-to-day practices. Some lawyers listened — many didn’t — and it was slow going for most of that time, although the rate of tech adoption and acceptance began to increase a bit starting in 2015 or so.
Even so, it was far too slow for my taste, and I often struggled to figure out how to get through to lawyers, both locally and nationally, and encourage them to appreciate and take advantage of the many benefits of technology. Little did I know that all it would take was a global pandemic.
After the pandemic struck, during a meeting of the technology committee that I chaired at our local bar association, one of the members commented on the unexpected and rapid adoption of technologies like Zoom and efiling tools, and jokingly accused me of unleashing the pandemic on the world, with the sole purpose of getting lawyers to use technology.
While I wish it hadn’t taken a catastrophic event like a pandemic for this to happen, I can’t deny the end effect that COVID-19 has had on the legal profession’s willingness to adapt. Not surprisingly, the authors of the Report likewise acknowledged this phenomenon:
Partners in most firms probably now have a broader acceptance of the role of technology in the effective delivery of legal services than before the pandemic began. Indeed, 84 percent of partners surveyed by Acritas expected their firms to increase investments in technology. … This is not to say that resistance to future change will disappear, but the experience of adapting to the radically changed market conditions in 2020 may well create more openness to experimentation in other forms of service delivery.
Rethinking Work And Work Spaces
Last, but not least, work spaces. Real estate has always been one of the top overhead expenses for law firms. Costly, impressive offices were deemed a necessary part of doing business and attracting clients. The pandemic completely flipped that narrative on its head. Law firm leaders realized that working from home worked (see above), there was still profit to be had regardless of where the work was performed, and expensive office space and “face-time” requirements were simply a waste of resources.
As explained in the Report, that realization will undoubtedly result in a very different concept of “office space” for law firms once social distancing requirements are a thing of the past:
Almost all firms have significantly reduced costs by making fundamental changes in their operations. These include:
- Adapting to more efficient use of office and administrative space,
- Rethinking changes in staffing and work patterns,
- Altering levels of secretarial support,
- Reducing expectations for in-person meetings,
- Increasing the efficiency of digital connections, and
- Reducing business travel.
And many of these changes are likely to remain even after the pandemic ends.
Have We Reached The Tipping Point?
I believe that all signs point to “yes.” A tipping point has indeed been reached. Lawyers aren’t going to suddenly incorporate all forms of technology into their practices. But mindsets — even of diehard curmudgeons — have been altered and the rate of technology adoption has increased tenfold. The vast majority of lawyers are no longer scared of the idea of “technology” and are even beginning to appreciate the convenience and flexibility that cloud-based tools offer them.
The authors of the Report aren’t in complete agreement with me on this, but are definitely cautiously optimistic that we’re on the precipice of the elusive “tipping point”:
It remains to be seen whether the cataclysmic events related to the COVID-19 pandemic will indeed prove to be a tipping point for the legal industry, the time when the redesign of the legal service delivery model (both for law firms and others) firmly takes hold. It seems fairly clear, however, that — whether it is a tipping point or not — the experiences of 2020 and 2021 will accelerate important changes in the way law firms operate and relate to their clients, lawyers, and staffs moving forward. Firms that take these changes seriously and respond to them proactively will undoubtedly emerge as the market leaders in the “new” post-pandemic normal.
So what do you think? Have we reached a tipping point? And if so, what will the practice of law look like on the other side of the pandemic?
Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and Director of Business and Community Relations 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 at @nikiblack and she can be reached at niki.black@mycase.com.
