Introduction
There always comes a time when something affects an industry on the whole. However, it is very uncommon to see something affecting every industry of the world similarly. Yes, we are talking about the biggest challenge that nations and enterprises are dealing with currently, coronavirus! If we talk about the legal industry specifically, most of its proceedings have come to a halt owing to reduced physical operations, shut down of courts, staff shortage due to lockdown, and more. Let’s dig deeper into the same with the help of our industry experts.
#1 Physical Presence Areas are Getting Affected
Micheal McCready, Managing Partner at McCready Law
The impact on the legal profession will vary depending on the area of practice. Practice areas that are heavily dependent upon court appearances will be especially hard hit, for example, criminal lawyers. The impact of the coronavirus will impact the cash flow of different practice areas. I am a personal injury lawyer, and all my cases are contingent fee-based. I will be receiving fees from cases that are already in the office. Where it will impact my business is 12-18 months down the line, because our intakes are down during this period.
My firm is using this opportunity to fine-tune our operations, review form letters, further streamline processes, put marketing plans in place for when business improves. We view this as an opportunity to do things we don’t normally have time to do.
#2 Businesses are Leveraging Technology
Victoria D. Miranda, Senior Associate Attorney at The Williams Law Group, LLC
There are several ways that the pandemic is impacting the legal industry.
For starters, it is requiring courts and many Law Firms to utilize technology in innovative ways that have never been seriously considered in the past. For instance, many proceedings are now becoming telephonic hearings, teleconferences, and video conference proceedings, and records are being created by digital media.
This innovation, if continued, will greatly increase the accessibility of the public to the court system because legal fees can be devoted to substantive legal work, rather than travel time to the courthouse, waiting time for your matter to be reached and processing time for court orders to be prepared as you are physically present.
Technology is also being accessed by business owners and employees who previously did not use it. The use of technology is increasing online learning at a rapid pace, enabling many lawyers to streamline operations and provide legal information in a digitized format for the consumption of the public. Lawyers will still be necessary for advocacy, legal strategy, negotiation, and the like, but a better-informed public can reduce the extent of litigation in many practice areas.
The virus will also have a significant impact on the economics of the country, including the legal industry. While the economic loss may be short term, The return of a “buyers market” to the legal landscape will require the overall improvement of legal service delivery by those who are in the top tier of talent and will increase the presence of Solo Law Firm owners by those who did not yet measure up when laid off due to the impact of the virus.
#3 COVID-19 has created Multiple Impacts
Dionnie Wynter Pfunde, Founding & Managing attorney at Wynter Law Practice
The impact of the coronavirus on my practice has not peaked yet – but will bound to I own, manage and operate a solo practice in Tampa, Florida. I focus only on Immigration Law with a specialization in Removal Defense.
My practice is virtual in nature- in that, I travel around the continental United States in order to gain business. My market is anywhere I can commute to. I use technology in the bulk of my representations – however, I do conduct face-to-face business periodically.
I have one staff member a Paralegal who currently is working from her home. As of the date of this email – USCIS has closed its doors to all routine face-to-face. In addition, many individuals have lost their only source of income and might be hesitant to pursue their immigration matters.
The Impact:
- I can no longer commute: Commuting to and from cities, was a major part of how I conducted business. I have tried to substitute this method with Zoom and other online technology.
- No Face-to-Face: I canceled all face-to-face interviews with clients. Some are open to this, while others would prefer to meet in-person.
- Staff: My paralegal currently works from home. We do the bulk of what we can do online – and then we have to exchange files or meet in person, the exchange is brief. I also sanitize the files that are being exchanged.
As a solo-practitioner, we have had to find new ways to continue to operate. This includes a lot of creativity. As an immigration practitioner, I have to convince individuals that even though – USCIS is physically closed that it is still important to pursue their immigration matter.
Suggestions: We remain optimistic as we brave and adapt to the changing of the legal landscape.
#4 Missed Medical Appointments on the Rise
Hank Stout, Member at Sutliff & Stout, PLLC
On Sunday, March 15th, we sent an email to all employees giving them the option to work from home for two weeks. At that time we were a few days ahead before mandates were issued. We remain fully staffed while our team works from home. Our law office is spread out across four cities in Texas and we continue to monitor the local news and Governor Abbott’s orders closely.
As a personal injury law firm our clients have not been able to attend their scheduled medical appointments. We continue to reach out to our clients and partners for general updates to make sure everyone is in good standing. An emergency order
#5 An Increase in Downtime & Technology Use is Being Witnessed
Matthew Ness, Esq. Partner, Worgul, Sarna & Ness
Until recently, I would have told you that criminal defense law firms were positioned nicely as recession-proof businesses, as the court systems have never really shown any vulnerabilities to outside factors. That said, COVID-19 is testing that philosophy.
First of all, I presume all law firms are experiencing more downtime than usual during this period as we are. Use this time as an opportunity to review current business practices! You may be able to find room for growth in new areas. Alternatively, you may use the time to audit your business and identify possible inefficiencies. In short, entrepreneurs often exclaim how little time they have in a normal week to address this or that, well now you have it, so use it wisely and make this time effective.
Secondly, we’re seeing a big shift in the legal profession, which has historically been slow to adopt emerging technologies. Much of this resistance has come from the system we work in, however, now with lawyers being required to adapt to the ever-changing COVID developments, we’re seeing the courts being forced to encourage the use of ‘advanced communication technologies’. This ensures the courts remain open and functioning, as we’ve seen smaller markets and some counties amending their statuses (such as https://www.newson6.com/story/41951173/oklahoma-supreme-court-orders-courthouses-in-all-77-counties-to-close-due-to-coronavirus-concerns).Video conferencing with Judges, opposing counsel, clients, and other parties have been instrumental through this crisis to discuss cases and will continue to be instrumental. This is a stark contrast compared to previous processes that required hours-long drives for 15-minute meetings while losing countless productivity hours. I see this as a big change and a positive result of the crisis. My hope is that this will have forced a new familiarity with modern communication technology that will lead to more efficient use of man-hours and resources for law firms across the country in the future.
For now, we’re just practicing work-at-home amongst the partners and support personnel, and checking in with our entire team daily, at a minimum (outside of work needs) to make sure they’re cared for and doing well. Communication has always been a key in legal, but now it’s going to be elevated to another level.
#6 Things are Becoming Postponed
Adam Ly founder and Principal of LY Lawyers
I’m not going to lie, it has been a tough few weeks.
Phone calls and work has dried up, almost overnight to the extent where I had to let one of our solicitors and support staff go. It was a difficult conversation to have and I expect more to come.
We specialize in criminal law and as non-essential and low-priority tickets are being postponed due to local courts being closed, the demand for legal representation has literally disappeared.
But I’ve weathered the GFC and although COVID-19 is inherently different, I am confident we can pull through by taking care of existing casework and our staff and being reception to marketing tasks that were previously relegated to the ‘too hard too busy’ basket.
No more than ever, we should double down on defending on Google visibility- whether this is from a local search or national level. We know there are many things we can do and I’m redirecting my focus on getting this deployed so that when we come out of this, and we will, we’re even stronger and can serve those who need criminal law representation in the best possible way.
#7 We are Experiencing a Significant Increase in Enquiries
Alex Monaco, Founder at Monaco Solicitors
Monaco Solicitors is an employee-side only employment law firm based in London. The coronavirus has had a noticeable effect on the number and type of inquiries we have received over the last few weeks. Pretty early on we identified there was a real need for clarifying the legal implications of the information coming out of the UK government. We set up a free email helpline and started posting video briefings on our YouTube channel.
The email helpline has been inundated with enquiries from employees forced to attend work by unscrupulous employers, when not strictly necessary, just for commercial gain. In response to this, we created a video plea to the UK government to enforce a stricter lockdown on employees attending work, so that only key workers are allowed to travel to work.
All our staff is working from home, lawyers and office staff alike. We are using a range of online tools (Zoom, Slack, Dischord, Google docs, WhatsApp, etc.) to keep in touch and collaborate.
#8 Legal Guidance is Becoming More Important than Ever
Matthew Nied, founder of Nied Law- Litigation Counsel.
I founded my own business litigation firm in February 2020, shortly before the pandemic became an issue in North America. Prior to founding my own firm, I spent nearly a decade at two of Canada’s leading national business law firms (first Stikeman Elliott and then Cassels Brock & Blackwell), most recently as a litigation partner.
While some might expect this to be a less than ideal environment in which to launch a new law firm, it has in fact been a favorable time to do so. Many businesses require legal guidance to help them navigate these difficult times, particularly in the business litigation and bankruptcy and insolvency practice areas which are my focus. In addition, as a lean firm, that relies on independent contractors rather than employees for practice support, my firm is not subjected to the challenges of being an employer in this environment. The result is greater agility, flexibility and capacity to focus solely on helping our clients navigate their challenges.
This is a very interesting time for litigation. While all or most of the courtrooms throughout Canada are now closed to matters with the exception of the very urgent, clients are increasingly turning to arbitration for dispute resolution. The current circumstances are also spawning a tsunami of litigation which will likely result in very significant strain on the courts once they reopen. Given that many courts were already under significant strain prior to the pandemic, I anticipate that these developments may make arbitration increasingly popular in the coming years.
#9 Need to Explore Innovative Ways for Working
Renata Castro, founder of Castro Legal Group
COVID-19 marked a shift in our business, but mainly because now prospective clients are not as resistant in conducting video/remote consultations.
In fact, my team’s reluctance in using reports has but vanished, now that the only way to work is by relying on reports. We have daily calls with different employers in accordance with their roles. The hiring of an Operations Manager 6 months ago really paid off now, as we must be organized in order to remain compliant and financially viable.
This is the time for law firms to stretch their muscle and explore innovative ways of doing business – either through legal outsourcing or remote work. In light of COVID-19, I decided to hire contract attorneys as opposed to an associate, as I believe it’d give me the lean profile I need to navigate the unique challenges of changing times.
#10 Work from Home came to our Rescue
Cline Carol, Paralegal at Cogneesol
As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, the government decided to impose a lockdown, resulting in the closing of our offices. We had no choice but to opt for the ‘work from home’ option since our company values its clients a lot and didn’t want any delays in serving our legal clients.
It was made possible with technology only. We got our entire work processes configured on our home computers/laptops. Initially, it was hard since a lot of distractions and difficulties came in the way of our employees. However, within a few days, our team was back on track and started providing the same output quality as in the office. Our meetings became virtual with video conferencing; communications became more text-based rather than speech. But, overall, we were able to manage it pretty well amidst the Corona crisis.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, the legal industry is struggling hard to win the coronavirus battle. However, they are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to looking for innovative solutions in the form of adopting technology, seeking legal support, remote working, and more. Legal professionals must choose the best methods to ensure the smooth running of legal processes to maintain work productivity and profitability.