Firms of the Future

by Thomas Brownrigg

We hope the Innovation Group’s Modern Work survey will give members an opportunity to pick up ideas or learn from the changes others are making, and also identify areas and ways of working which they may prefer to focus on.

Resolution’s Innovation Group was formed two years ago. The Innovation Group was set up to work with other providers of innovative products and services which may assist family lawyers, and to proactively identify new ways of working in family law.

When the pandemic hit, the most immediate problem many firms or partnerships faced was putting in place systems to allow staff to work from home and to continue to meet and advise clients. Whilst some had good IT infrastructure in place already, for others it was a fast learning curve. How were they going to meet clients? Did staff need laptops? What would happen at Court? How could staff access files and would they be able to work paperlessly? Whilst it may have been forced progress, it was still progress, and in many instances progress which would otherwise have taken far longer to achieve.

Covid has brought countless negatives to many people’s lives and careers, however we felt that having some of the innovative changes made by businesses, there was an opportunity for Covid to leave a legacy of positive change and development to how we work and the services we provide. Before we slip back into old practices, the Innovation Group wanted to capture the thoughts of Resolution members on some of the changes they have made and their thoughts on how we work in the future. What is innovation? What were members focusing on? Could we get some insights into what people or firms were doing that was genuinely different and progressive? We therefore prepared a questionnaire which was shared with all Resolution members. We now want to share the results of that questionnaire and highlight some of the standout results. This will hopefully give members an opportunity to pick up ideas or learn from the changes others are making, and also identify areas and ways of working which they may prefer to focus on. It is, after all, helpful to understand what changes others are making whilst you are considering changes yourself.

As we hopefully see light at the end of the Covid tunnel, there is an opportunity to rethink what services we provide to clients, how we react to or embrace changes in technology, and maybe even get to revisit the fundamentals on which Resolution was founded on working constructively and amicably together for the benefit of our clients. The outcome of the questionnaire suggests there is a real appetite for positive change in the way we work.

We will be running a series of articles on the findings of the questionnaire and some of the examples of changing practices provided. This article will focus on the main findings of the questionnaire, and there will be others looking in more detail at how we may change how we work and also at the results on how we deliver the services we provide.

Key findings from the survey

  • 69%

    said it was 'extremely important' to have a good CMS

    Other important technology included online legal research databases (82%), cloud-based operating systems (73%) and internet telephone systems (58%).

  • 2 in 3

    professionals associate technology with innovation

    This included the use of technology to help them work (67%) or helping clients (65%).

  • 75%

    felt their firm had an innovative approach to family law

    Participants also felt that their firms harnessed technology well to the benefit of both clients (79%) and staff (80%).

What is innovation and how can we innovate?

We were interested to understand individuals’ perception of whether their firms were innovative and how they used technology. Reassuringly, 75% of the participants in the questionnaire felt that their firm was innovative in its approach of family law. Of those more than a quarter ‘strongly agreed’ (28%). Participants also felt that their firms harnessed technology well to the benefit of both clients (79%) and staff (80%). Particular headway seems to be made in utilising technology to the benefit of staff with over a third of people strongly agreeing their firm did so (34%).

‘Innovative’ is a term often bandied around, but what does it actually mean to family lawyers? Did participants think that clients perceived it differently to family law professionals? Around two-thirds of professionals associate technology with innovation, be it in helping them work (67%) or helping clients (65%). The attribute most professionals associated with innovation though was their working environment (creative use of office space, flexible working or remote working) with 68% of those answering identifying that as an innovative attribute. This appears to be one attribute that can be a real legacy of Covid if it is embraced and pursued by professionals and law firms. Honourable mentions also go to using different forms of dispute resolution (56%) and working with a team of multi-disciplinary professionals to provide a holistic service to clients (46%).

Interestingly what we feel is innovative is very different to what we thought clients felt. The overwhelming attribute we thought clients associate with innovation was technology to assist them. That was flagged up by 86% of professionals, with the next closest answers being using different forms of dispute resolution, working with a team of multi-disciplinary professionals, or offering bundled/low cost services, all of which were just over 50%.

Technology

It is clear that we overwhelmingly see technology intrinsically linked with innovation, and believe clients hold the same view. We will be looking at this in more detail in future articles, including examples of some of the products or services Resolution members have found most helpful.

We asked Resolution members to identify what technology was most important to them. Probably rather predictably, a good case management system was the priority, with 69% of those answering highlighting it as ‘extremely important’. The other technology which was prioritised as being either ‘important’ or ‘extremely important’ was all technology used by professionals as opposed to clients, being online legal research databases (82%), cloud-based operating systems (73%) and internet telephone systems (58%). The latter two show the importance placed on being able to work away from the office.

Where we work

When Covid hit, the vast majority of professionals who continued to work found themselves having to work from home. For some this was a bind, for many it was a change in working that came with many benefits. Many firms and professionals alike are trying to plan for the future and strike a balance between harnessing some of the benefits of professionals working from home, whilst not losing the positives of having individuals present in an office environment. In order to find that balance there no doubt needs to be a dialogue between those managing a firm and those working there. The Innovation Group wanted to assist that conversation by giving an idea as to the trend amongst the wider profession of their expectations on working in the future.

We asked where people had been working, and where they think that they will be working in the future. Over the year to July 2021, 40% of participants had been working mostly from home, and 38% had been working solely from home. Just 14% had been working mostly in the office.

Post-restrictions being lifted, 67% of participants anticipated spending at least half of their time working from home. Less than 6% envisaged working solely from the office (5.7%). The fact that 94% of participants anticipate spending some of their time working from home certainly shows that remote working is here to stay, and 30% of participants anticipate being mostly or solely based at home. These are changes which were arguably unimaginable before Covid hit. The comments showed a real trend of participants identifying very important, positive aspects to being based in the office at least part of the time. Having an office space is clearly important, but working from home seems here to stay. We will look at this in more detail in future articles, but these results will hopefully give firms food for thought, and professionals a better idea as to how their contemporaries are likely to work.

Where we work - survey findings

  • 2 in 5

    are working mostly from home

    Over the year to July 2021, 40% of participants had been working mostly from home, and 38% had been working solely from home. Just 14% had been working mostly in the office.

  • 94%

    anticipate spending some time working from home in the future

    Demonstrating that remote working is here to stay, 30% of participants anticipate being mostly or solely based at home

How we work

Arguably the individuals who have seen the biggest change in the impact of the pandemic on family law are our clients. How clients liaise with professionals is intrinsically linked to client satisfaction and the standard or service we provided. We asked how professionals expected to meet with clients after restrictions were lifted. A quarter of participants anticipated meeting mostly by video, although most thought that there would be an even mix between face to face and video meetings (62%). Those who thought meetings would be mostly or solely in person were in the definite minority. This is a huge shift in how we anticipate working, although it remains to be seen what clients’ expectations are.

Whilst not directly linked to Covid, we also took this as an opportunity to explore what processes participants thought they may be using in two years time. We asked this from the perspective both of what they anticipated using and what they hoped to be using. The results suggest that the way family law professionals actually anticipate resolving disputes is very different to how they would like to resolve them. Whilst a huge majority of participants anticipated using Court and written negotiation to resolve disputes (88% and 87% respectively), these were the least popular options for how professionals hoped to resolve disputes in the future (12% and 13%). Practitioners showed that they were keen to embrace different ways of working, with more than half hoping to focus on resolving disputes through the collaborative process, providing a service to both clients, and arbitration.

What will the future look like?

Hopefully the results of this questionnaire and some of the tips and tricks shared by participants which we will explore in future articles will help our profession revisit and question how clients’ best interests are served in resolving disputes, and how we work as a profession both to innovate and to find a healthy work-life balance. Resolution has done a considerable amount of work in exploring how we work differently and avoid working in silos to meet our clients needs. It is now up to us as a profession whether the legacy of Covid will be as a catalyst to evolve and improve how we work.

Download PDF of survey results here.