Peer to Peer Magazine

44 Traditionally, lawyers have profited from the billable hour concept and a steady stream of high-volume work. Both of those avenues for generating revenue are under attack. Clients prefer fixed rates, capped fees, alternative fee arrangements or contingency fee-based engagements. If the firm sticks to the hourly fee structure, clients are often demanding steep discounts or realization rates go down, sometimes both. It has become customary practice for clients to refuse to cover many costs that were traditionally passed through or to pay for first or even second-year associates. Additionally, much of the labor-intensive work at law firms, document review being the main one, is being contracted out to vendors almost 100% of the time. Moreover, if done right, buyers should be seeing document review time drastically reduced given the availability of artificial intelligence and the analytics tools available in the market. Artificial intelligence will also continue to take away work from lawyers in the areas of legal research, contract drafting and management, and due diligence reviews, to name a few. At the same time, corporate spending in alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) is increasing fast. This year, about 75% of corporations surveyed say they are using ALSPs in at least one service category. 8 This trend will continue. In 2018, a second global survey of ALSPs was conducted and found that the ALSP market had grown significantly to about $10.7 billion in annual revenues or a compound annual growth rate of 12.9 percent. 9 The 2018 study also concluded that the average growth rate for an ALSP not affiliated with a law firm was about 24 percent per year. 10 Equally significant, the 2018 survey confirmed that the services provided by ALSPs were rapidly moving "upmarket" to include (among others) such sophisticated work as regulatory risk and compliance, project management, legal research, and corporate due diligence. 11 The data begs the question: Why have law firms not been quicker to adapt and provide these services in a competitive fashion? To understand the resistance, it is fun - but way too simple - to blame it on the lawyer's pathological resistance to change. The "2018 Report on the State of the Legal Market" issued by the Center for the Study of the Legal Profession at Georgetown University Law Center and Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute compares the strategies of many firms to the French strate of the "Maginot Line" – a seemingly impregnable fortification that provided a false INFINITE TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT FOR YOUR FIRM IT Help Desk A/R Managed Services IT Managed Services SkillBuilder eLearning Online e-learning management system offers over 60,000+ knowledge-based articles and videos Technology insight providing improved revenue management cycle projections to law firms Largest help desk in the industry, offering IT support of 250+ legal applications with over 13 million tickets resolved Fast, scalable, and cost efficient technology support & development for all major software, including proprietary legal and billing systems At Intelliteach, we are always looking for new solutions to solve law firms' IT challenges. Enabled by best in class technology platforms, our multi- service solutions help our clients become more efficient, and achieve revenue realization with an emphasis on long-term practice growth. See what's next with Intelliteach at INTELLITEACH.com inquiry@intelliteach.com | 866.698.7837 |

• Cover