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WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
NEW ADMINISTRATION - Despite law firms’ attempts at stealth layoffs, it’s no secret that staff restructurings and layoffs are spreading during the pandemic. So what will law firm administrative roles look like when the dust clears? As Dan Roe reports, paralegals and legal assistants are among the most vulnerable positions right now, as attorneys become more autonomous while working remotely. The same can be said for file clerks, mail clerks and administrative and hospitality jobs tied to offices that, for many firms, may not be coming back. But that doesn’t mean all law firm staff is endangered. Among the most essential duties in the pandemic—those least likely to be outsourced or cut—are those that produce revenue or generate or maintain client relationships, such as business development and client intake specialists, competitive intelligence experts and data analysts, as well as diversity and inclusion professionals. “We’re seeing positions being added that are looking at making sense of the data across a law firm so that firm leaders can make decisions based on facts as opposed to hunches,” legal consultant and Calibrate Legal CEO Jennifer Johnson.
