The American Bar Association recently released the 2019 TECHREPORT and Legal Technology Survey Report on legal tech trends. There are many trends that are picking up pace regarding an attorney’s ability to work from somewhere other than the typical law office.
The report states that “most firms offer flexible working hours for their lawyers (77%). This percentage is roughly the same regardless of firm size and most lawyers report taking advantage of the flexible hours that their firms offer (75%), though taking advantage of flexible hours was less at firms of 500+ lawyers.
Roughly over 50% of lawyers across all firms report telecommuting. Among those who telecommute, most say the most common place they work is home (88%). The flexibility of the schedule and family obligations are the main reason for telecommuting, especially for younger lawyers (29% and 24% respectively). About 20% say telecommuting boosts productivity.
In fact, 11% of respondents that telecommute said they work from a public place and 10% from coffee shops/cafes. The numbers are down from previous years (14% in 2018, 16% in 2017 and 15% in 2016 for public places; and 15% in 2018 and 11% in 2017 and 2016 for coffee shops/cafes).”
Let’s do a deeper dive on a question that is confronting many firms now: Could telecommuting/working from a remote location actually help your bottom line?
A look at the data shows that over 50% of all firms report telecommuting, yet only 20% say that it boosts productivity. This is alarming.
The issue that arises is record keeping and confirming that work is being done to the best of the attorney’s ability without distraction. For those firms who are using spreadsheets and many non-digital records, the potential loss or use of records outside of the law office certainly presents an issue.
The reality is that firms who are looking to attract the best and brightest young attorneys are going to need to adapt to the benefit of telecommuting, while still ensuring that this serves the best interests of the firm. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a product available to help ensure that balance was being monitored?
firmTRAK was designed to solve these problems (and many more).
firmTRAK will sit on top of your current practice management system to automate reporting and analysis of key performance indicators that will help drive the success and growth of your law firm. No more spreadsheets to analyze using a team of people. The information is instantly configured and available at your fingertips. Attorneys can work from remote locations and firmTRAK will be able to make sure that the time spent working remotely is effectively tracked and recorded.
You went to law school to follow your passion for helping people with their legal needs, not to become a business analyst. That’s where we come in.
To see how simple it is for us to help your law firm, please check out this short video:
We are so confident that firmTRAK can help your firm, that we are offering you a FREE 7-day trial of our program. Please click here to register for your FREE 7-day trial today.
