The 2018 Clio Legal Trends Report is out and if you haven’t read it yet, you can download your copy here. Every year this report digs into legal trends and data affecting solo practitioners and law firms of all sizes. This year’s report is based on data from nearly 70,000 legal professionals and has a strong focus on the consumer experience.
Here are three fascinating trends we found in the report, along with ways that LAWCLERK’s freelance lawyers can help busy attorneys.
Trend #1 – Flexible Staffing. The Clio 2018 Legal Trends Report found that 77% of law firms want to hire more staff but 58% want to reduce spending. How can a law firm hire more staff while at the same time reducing spending? These seem to be conflicting desires.
What’s the solution? LAWCLERK – where busy attorneys can hire from our network of 1,400+ freelance lawyers on-demand when they need help without the high overhead they would incur from the traditional model of hiring associates or paralegals.
Trend #2 – Legal is Going Virtual. The third annual Legal Trends Report also found that a growing number of consumers favor virtual lawyers. 23% of the general population favors virtual lawyers and 32% of consumers who have actually had a legal issue in the last two years favor virtual lawyers. Further, Clio reports that 20% of the general population prefers to “never meet their lawyer in person” and 31% of people who have had a legal issue within the last two years feel the same.
This data is fascinating and also encouraging to attorneys who may be considering building a virtual law firm or switching their traditional bricks and mortar style firm to a virtual platform. Perhaps we don’t have to have the traditional legal office in the years ahead? Perhaps this trend will continue and give lawyers more flexibility to work where and when they want to work. The data certainly confirms that consumers are growing more and more open to working with attorneys in evolving formats.
Trend #3 – Need More Hours in the Day. It’s no secret that the law is a demanding profession and 75% of lawyers surveyed in the Clio report state that they work outside of regular business hours. Of those who work outside of “regular business hours” (what are those anyways?), 77% do so to catch up on work that didn’t get done during business hours, 58% do so because that’s what it takes for their business to succeed, 51% do so to be available to clients, and 45% do so to get ahead in their firm or practice.
Not surprising, based on the data above, 39% of lawyers say that “work negatively affects their personal life.” Its time for the legal industry to evolve and adopt new tools and technology that allow attorneys to find more time to do more of the things they enjoy.
Feel like you’re always hustling to play catch up? Wish there were more hours in the day? If so, now’s the time for you to take back more time for yourself by delegating time consuming legal projects to the nationwide network of freelance lawyers available through LAWCLERK.
You can hire from our U.S. based marketplace of over 1,400 freelancers on demand when you need extra help around the office. There are no sign up or monthly fees. You only pay the flat fee price that you set when you post a project. Our LAWCLERK Care Team is here for you to help you get started.
At LAWCLERK, we share a common goal with Clio: helping attorneys achieve greater success with their practices. In fact, we have even built an integration so that you can connect your LAWCLERK and Clio accounts to streamline your work even more –read about the integration here.
Chart your own legal career with technology tools provided by Clio and LAWCLERK!
