{"id":9566,"date":"2023-02-20T12:19:30","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T12:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/?post_type=press&p=9566"},"modified":"2024-09-10T14:21:55","modified_gmt":"2024-09-10T13:21:55","slug":"uk-legal-industry-to-raise-fees-and-work-longer-hours-in-2023","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/about\/press\/uk-legal-industry-to-raise-fees-and-work-longer-hours-in-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"UK legal industry to raise fees and work longer hours in 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

Read the latest Legal Trends reports here<\/a>, including the 2024 Legal Trends for Solo and Small Law Firms<\/em><\/a> and<\/strong>\u00a02024 Legal Trends for Mid-Sized Law Firms<\/a> reports.<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

Research found UK law firms concerned by rising costs and inflation, expected impact to profitability throughout all of 2023.<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/em><\/h3>\n

Amid a turbulent economic landscape in 2022, involving a looming recession and rising inflation, 64% of UK law firms said they were planning to raise their fees. The research, conducted by <\/span>Clio<\/span><\/a>, the world\u2019s leading cloud-based legal technology platform, also found that 67% of legal professionals were still working longer hours than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, despite saying they had more \u2018flexible\u2019 working arrangements.<\/span><\/p>\n

Clio conducted this research to complement the release of its <\/span>Legal Trends Report<\/span><\/i><\/a>, <\/span><\/i>a substantial study of the working lives and legal trends among lawyers, to highlight the impact that a worsening economy was having within the UK specifically\u2013 both on individual lawyers and firms as a whole. The trends observed in the UK were ultimately reflective of broader global shifts, with law firms worldwide grappling with similar economic challenges and technological transformations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seven in ten UK lawyers (68%) felt that they had a better work-life balance than before the pandemic. However, almost the same number (67%) also reported working longer hours due to flexible working and working-from-home arrangements, according to Clio\u2019s research. These figures reinforced the results of the <\/span>2022 Legal Trends Report<\/span><\/i>, which highlighted the challenges felt within different territories and revealed that 86% of lawyers say they still work outside the nine-to-five working day, 74% work \u201cafter hours,\u201d and 69% communicate with clients on weekends.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2022, half of UK law firms (50%) expected rising costs and inflation to impact their profitability. Analysis in Clio\u2019s 2022 <\/span>Legal Trends Report<\/span><\/i> suggested that lawyers\u2019 fees were approximately 3% behind inflation. To secure cash flow, law firms\u2019 top three focuses for the year ahead were improving efficiencies in their current model (33%), securing new business (32%), and looking for new tech to help improve practices (29%).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Reuters\u2019<\/span> 2023 State of the UK Legal Market Report<\/span><\/a> echoes this sentiment, also highlighting that economic pressures are driving firms to enhance efficiency and invest in technology to maintain profitability. In fact, the report emphasizes that technological innovation in law doesn\u2019t need to be especially disruptive \u2013 technology that helps with electronic reporting, online document management, or case management, for example, can give lawyers significantly more time to focus on strategic, big-picture issues, rather than administrative work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Commenting on the 2022 research, Alistair Wells, Co-founder & Director at UK law firm Tend Legal, said:<\/b> \u201cThe current economic situation presents great opportunity in the market. With fees of traditional law firms rising, as they seek to stay on top of the ongoing salary wars, clients are starting to look for alternative options for legal advice. This makes way for smaller, leaner, and more agile firms that offer excellent, client-focused service at a better price point. As a result, I expect that we will see a lot of these smaller law firms increasingly taking work from the much larger players.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Almost all UK law firms (95%) expected tech to play a key role in helping their business remain profitable in 2023. However, there are still barriers to technological transformation \u2013 the most common issues were price (52%), training expectations (47%), and time (40%).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sarah Murphy, General Manager at Clio EMEA, commented:<\/b> \u201cWe\u2019re at a crucial time for the industry. The uncertainty and pressures within the economy are hitting everyone and we felt it was important to understand how that could impact daily working life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it\u2019s great news that legal professionals have more flexibility in their working arrangements, it\u2019s essential that they maintain a positive work-life balance. Overworking is still overworking, even if you\u2019re at home and have flexible hours. One important part of reducing the workload is leveraging technology, and it\u2019s reassuring to see that the vast majority of UK law firms agree.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to greater flexibility and job satisfaction, cloud software also offers significant business benefits. Our data shows that law firms that use cloud-based legal practice management software to manage their business are 60% more likely to have positive relationships with their clients than those that don\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alistair continued: <\/b>\u201cIt\u2019s no surprise that technology is becoming more commonplace within the legal sector. We use tech to enhance client experience, ensure that our administrative processes are efficient and cost-effective, and to maximise profitability. We work closely with Clio for our cloud-based case management and other suppliers to help with additional services, but we are exploring how we could adopt AI tools, such as ChatGPT, and how it could support legal work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Clio is transforming the legal experience for all by creating the world\u2019s leading cloud-based technologies for law firms – to keep lawyers and their clients better connected throughout the legal process.<\/span><\/p>\n

Access Clio\u2019s Latest Insights and Tools<\/b><\/p>\n

Make sure you\u2019re staying ahead in the rapidly evolving legal landscape. Download Clio\u2019s <\/span>2022 Legal Trends Report<\/span><\/i> here<\/span><\/a> and see how these trends carried into the following year by accessing the <\/span>2023 report <\/span><\/i>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Contact us to see how Clio can ensure your firm is integrating the latest cloud-based technologies and is set up for long-term success.<\/span><\/p>\n

Get Started<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

For more information, please contact Olivia Prole or Isabelle Ellerington-Holden at Definition – clio@thisisdefinition.com. <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read the latest Legal Trends reports here, including the 2024 Legal Trends for Solo and Small Law Firms and\u00a02024 Legal Trends for Mid-Sized Law Firms reports. Research found UK law firms concerned by rising costs and inflation, expected impact to profitability throughout all of 2023. Amid a turbulent economic landscape in 2022, involving a looming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":9248,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"class_list":["post-9566","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","content_category-clio","content_category-firm-performance"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUK legal trends: Industry to raise fees and work longer hours in 2023 | Clio UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New research into UK legal trends, conducted by legal software provider Clio, shows UK firms will work longer hours and raise fees in 2023.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/uk\/about\/press\/uk-legal-industry-to-raise-fees-and-work-longer-hours-in-2023\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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