The pressure is on in law firms these days. Clients are demanding more information about how their case is progressing. Expectations are increasing that work will be completed in shorter and shorter timescales. Discounts to charge-out rates are being negotiated.
New regulations in areas such as money laundering and the increased risk management procedures required by the professional indemnity insurers are adding to the amount of non-chargeable work required for each matter. All of these factors add up to one thing: lawyers are having to become much more efficient at what they do in order to maintain profits. All firms are looking at their back-office teams and administrative tasks done by fee earners to decrease the overheads, but what about the fee earning work itself?
