I recent returned from the annual Clio conference, at which it released its 2022 Legal Trends Study. This Survey of Clio lawyer customers and others comes out every year.
In addition, Aba Practice Forward Group also recently realized its own Survey of some 2000 members.
The two Surveys are interesting both because they offer a look at the post-pandemic (we hope) world and because the findings are in many ways similar. Since the studies presumably were not of all the same people, the similarities give a lot of credibility to both results.
The Clio Legal Trends Report
First, the Clio study. One big takeaway: 49% of those surveyed want to work from home. Of the 1 in 5 lawyers who changed jobs in the last five months, many did so for the better work life balance and flexibility that remote work provides. More evidence the world of work has changed: before 2020, 40% of those surveyed worked exclusively from the office. Now it’s 30%. 86% of lawyers surveyed say they frequently work outside the traditional 9-5 hours, 69% work weekends, and 74% work after regular hours. (It’s unclear whether these statistics show lawyers are working harder or at different times or both).
In a nutshell, it seems clear that to keep and attract talent, law firms will have to be flexible, at least as long there is more work to do than bodies to do it. 19% of lawyers left for new jobs in the past year, and 9% more say they are planning to leave. Most of these lawyers aren’t necessarily leaving because they want to work less; they just want to work on their terms. 76% want to be able to choose their own hours.
Says Jack Newton, Clio CEO, “The past two
