The lawyer plays a balancing role in the evolving legal landscape, with a new trend towards managing legal affairs. The report “2021 – The Global Legal Market Outlook” by the Center on Ethics and Legal Profession at Georgetown University Law Center, in collaboration with Thomson Reuters, explores the mix of fear and optimism in the current global legal market amid the sudden changes brought about by the pandemic.
We share our perspectives on the major developments that impacted legal management in 2020 and the key factors that are expected to shape the market in 2021 and beyond.
Data in this report was supplied by Peer Monitor® and Acritas, divisions of Thomson Reuters, and is derived from information submitted by 162 U.S. law firms.
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Legal management’s pivotal moment
The challenges of 2020, including a worldwide pandemic, financial difficulties, and political instability in Brazil and other countries, made it a particularly tough year for future lawyers.
Law firms faced significant disruptions in their operations and had to rapidly adjust to market changes in the past year. The successful adaptation of most offices to these challenges highlights the innovative leadership and promising future of the legal industry.
Lessons learned from comparing uncertainties and insights
The length of pandemic-related disruptions and the time it will take for companies to resume regular operations remain uncertain. Additionally, there are doubts and speculations about what normal operations will look like in a post-pandemic era.
2020 marked a significant shift in the transformation of legal services delivery on a broader level.
Customers’ role and expectations are being altered.
Fluctuations in lawyer service fees.
– In competitive expansion, which includes non-traditional legal firms.
In the realm of technological advancements.
These trends contribute to making services and legal management more efficient, predictable, and cost-effective, thereby advancing technology in legal offices for the future. Implementing these insights in the legal market in 2021 could be informative.
The market’s power and the law’s future
Many companies have embraced innovation in reaction to market pressures, but others have not due to resistance from some lawyers who are hesitant to adopt new legal management methods.
The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened and sped up these developments, raising the possibility that it may have weakened resistance to fundamental changes enough to push for a significant overhaul in legal management systems, including law firms.
Law firms’ performance in 2020
Over the course of ten years, the law firm services sector demonstrated satisfactory performance, with firms sustaining profitability levels that enabled them to stay competitive in the market.
- Your fees will significantly rise.
- Decrease in capital partners and rise in professionals receiving fees.
- Aggressive management of expenses.
The strategies mentioned resulted in strong financial results across the market in 2018, 2019, and the initial two months of 2020. However, challenges began in March.
The daily average demand closely followed the previous two years’ averages in January and February, but began to show significant differences in March, impacting all law firm practices except for bankruptcy and reorganizations.
Market innovation: Comparing liberals and statesmen
There is currently a global agreement that the state should be involved in economic reconstruction, marking a ceasefire in the ongoing conflict between statesmen and liberals.
More than half of businesses, including a majority of small companies and almost half of large companies, sought and received financial assistance from the government in the form of loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration Payroll Protection Program in 2020, as reported by Thomson Reuters Law Firm Business Leaders Report.
Capital Partners – Business Associates
The measures implemented by businesses in 2020, along with substantial expense reductions due to office closures and operational restrictions, resulted in a considerable profit increase for stakeholders despite the challenging and unpredictable year.
All market segments have seen a notable rise in equal profit increase among PPEP capital partners in 2019, with a strong likelihood of all sectors finishing the year with a PPEP growth exceeding 10%.
The lawyer who maintains equilibrium
In 2020, legal management faced challenges but managed to navigate them successfully with the help of lawyers’ resilience and technology in office routines.
Thomson Reuters created the report “2021: Global Legal Market Overview” for you to download and stay informed about the legal market, enabling you to make well-informed decisions.
