And the Numbers Show… (Part 1)
We all love data. Crave it. We don’t put down our digital devices for a second of missing some interesting digital tidbit. Here’s some interesting data I’ve recently come across with regard to the administration of law firms:
Being Efficient Doing the Wrong Tasks = Not Being Efficient
According to Bob Ambrogi in: Exclusive Survey Results: Small Firms’ Greatest Challenges and What They’re Doing to Address Them, the numbers clearly show how the administrative functions of running a practice have taken over the average attorney work day:
Top five overall challenges (factoring in the issues ranked as both moderate and significant):
- Acquiring new client business (78 percent).
- Spending too much time on administrative tasks (69 percent).
- Increasing complexity of technology (63 percent).
- Cost control and expense growth (62 percent).
- (Tie with 4) Clients demanding more for less or rate pressure from clients (62 percent).
Top five overall challenges facing solos:
- Acquiring new client business (25 percent).
- Spending too much time on administrative tasks (22 percent).
- Clients demanding more for less or rate pressure from clients (20 percent).
- Increasing complexity of technology (16 percent).
Oddly, administrative tasks did not appear in the:
Top five challenges of firms of 11-29 attorneys:
- Acquiring new client business (37 percent).
- Clients demanding more for less or rate pressure from clients (22 percent).
- (Tie with 2) Succession planning (22 percent).
- Cost control and expense growth (14 percent).
- (Tie with 4) Information overload from growth in legal documents (14 percent).
Which leads me to believe the other 47% for spending too much time on administrative tasks is attributable to firms with 2-10 attorneys. Even without surmising, the above solidly shows that attorneys rank spending too much time on administrative tasks a major challenge.
Coming next week in Part 2: So Why Are Lawyers Spending So Much Time On Administrative Tasks?
-Andrea Cannavina
866-848-2195 x101 andrea@legaltypist.com
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