The legal industry may face increased turnover among non-billable professionals and support staff, according to recent reports. There has been a substantial increase in the number of lateral movements among law firm staff, which has created potential issues for law firms.
The reporters indicate there has been longing issues arising from office attendance policies from the pandemic and also a greater demand for tech tools to help legal professionals, which has also increased the turnover among support staff at big law firms.
A Thomson Reuters summary of law firm office attendance policies found that paralegals were much more dissatisfied with rigid return-to-office mandates compared to lawyers, although the ‘back to the office’ demands from big law firms and others continue to drive some staff turbulence among the lawyers.
Bill Josten from Thomson Reuters stated that dissatisfied employees were more likely to leave their firm within six months.
And another legal recruiter, Jennifer Johnson from Calibrate Legal Recruiting warned that firms without clear talent strategies and flexibility will lose talented staff to competitors.
A survey from BigHand showed that half of the firms believed lateral moves by support staff had risen over the past year.
Briana McCrory from BigHand noted support staff turnover leads to lower billable hours as lawyers have to pick up administrative work.
While law firms cut staffing levels recently amid declining demand, the rise of AI creates new roles for tech experts that firms may struggle to fill.
