2022 Dye & Durham and ALPMA Legal Industry Report
What if people belonging to the Legal diaspora could lay their hands-on data statistics that offer valuable insight into some of the major challenges faced by the legal industry with measures to overcome them?
Lately, the legal industry has been quick to answer the rapidly transforming challenges of digitisation, competitive markets, time scarcity and human resources. So, to know, how to put the best foot forward Dye & Durham and the Australian Legal Practice Management Association (ALPMA) came together to share valuable regarding the aforementioned. The Legal Industry Report developed from the 2022 survey by Dye & Durham + ALPMA, checks the preparedness of the Australian Legal Industry for the challenges.
The survey has taken place after a gap of two years due to the pandemic and covers the challenges that were unknown before the outbreak of COVID-19. The survey conducted by this partnership delves into important issues and challenges faced by the legal industry. With over 175 participants from 160 law firms it encompasses the following aspects:
- People and Productivity: The survey focuses on the growth of the legal industry and also looks to understand and enhance the mental well-being of the resources that drive the industry. Some of the questions cover how firms manage employees’ mental health, whether to increase or decrease the headcount in the coming years along with the trend of induction of recruits in the past years.
- Technology and Workflow: The focus of the survey shifts to whether technology improves work-life balance, the practice management system, document management system and financial accounting solution used by the law firms. The grave concern for law firms is the threat of cyber-attacks on the data. The survey further inspects the time taken by the firms to train and tackle such threats. Lastly, the big question that arises regarding the organisational structure and policies of the firms is whether technology comes as an aid to their rescue, and how firms are planning on investing in this area.
- Business strategy and Investment: Furthermore, the survey provides the methodology and challenges faced in retaining staff and the areas in which new strategies need to be worked upon such as approaching clients, adoption of legal innovations and office policies.
The report provides a detailed analysis of the above-mentioned questions and delivers statistics across various viewpoints, thus giving out results of the current trends which are being followed. The report includes survey results of a large contingency of firms which have been in practice for more than 30 years. More interestingly it draws out the facts:
- Real estate and commercial practices have seen a massive boom during the past years
- The risk of cyber-attacks which always persists has lately dropped by certain levels
- Work-from-home culture has helped in retaining employees
- Firms are investing in information technology and marketing to boost profitability
The report has a more in-depth analysis of questions that forward-looking and growth-oriented professionals need answers to.
Though the projections received from the survey may give a healthy portrayal of the law firms, the matter that needs serious consideration is whether these law firms maintain an equilibrium, and all that we see is apparently black and white! There still seem to be certain grey areas which need contemplation and deliberation, and how technology may act as a ray of hope to deal with the same.
The survey focuses on the Australian legal industry however similar trends are observed in legal firms around the globe. Contemplating and preparing along these lines will undoubtedly help legal professionals across geographies deal with the problems discussed.
Follow the link to gain access to a free copy of the report for the forward-looking law firm professional.
Also read top viewed Ai Legal article: The Role of AI in Legal Research.
