When the pandemic upended traditional ways of working, law firms across the nation threw their rule books out the window and discovered new ways of achieving their goals. Among the pleasant surprises to come from this easing of long-held traditions were that attorneys could indeed be successful working from home and that law firms could benefit significantly from bringing in contract attorneys to fill gaps wherever they might exist.

Since the pandemic began, we have experienced a steady stream of calls from law firms that never before considered hiring contract attorneys. In fact, more than a third of the deals we’ve closed at Tower Legal Solutions since March 2020 have been with first-time users of an ALSP, with 60% of those clients seeking staff augmentation. And law firms aren’t just more aggressively seeking contract talent; they are more often keeping that talent. In the second half of 2020, we saw 25% of the contractors we placed in law firms convert to full-time associate positions. That compares with 10% in the second half of 2019.