‘Law firms need to be more diverse and flexible’

The legal profession has reached a critical point and needs to reform in order to attract the best talent, according to a new report.

The report from Obelisk Support says law firms are facing a number of challenges which are hitting their profit margins.

It cites figures showing nearly 30% of UK law firms reported a decrease in profits in 2018, on top of 48% from the previous year and the fact that top 100 firms predicting a decrease of 0.1% in fee income for the 2019-2020 period.

It says the top issues are driven by millennials and include diversity and a demand for upskilling, flexible workspaces, greater flexibility generally, collaborative working structures and access to the latest easy-to-use technology.

The report says future law firms will need to focus on optimising creativity, collaboration and productivity – and fast. It says: “In this world, agility, speed and creativity will drive the competitive advantage.”

It calls on the legal profession to be more flexible to attract millennials, promoting flexible workspace options that can be tailored to the worker’s needs; foster a future lawyer that is entrepreneurial and adaptive to a variety of situations; strategically adopt technology for specific, clearly defined objectives; and “reset” the corporate climate to be more accepting of differences in people and how they work.

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