P2P

50 P E E R T O P E E R : I L T A ' S Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N E | S U M M E R 2 0 2 1 of adoption accelerated to where we were being pushed quickly to implement faster than before," she said. "Some examples include (1) our implementation of Zoom within 36 hours and (2) the rollout of iManage Work10 in the cloud and Office 365 on schedule during June-August 2020. Our users need the ability to work anywhere, anytime and on any device." To paraphrase Jae Um, legal markets strategist and analyst, we can call those firms "resilient firms," meaning those that continually adapt to changing factors in the business environment. Um points out in her April 20, 2021 Law.com article, "Resilient Firms Outperformed After 2008," that certain Big Law 100 firms, those that were able to weather the global financial crisis of 2008, were generally the same ones that garnered business share at the end of 2020. Some larger firms, in fact, had record years! A benchmarking study by Um's firm, Six Parsecs, based on data compiled by The American Lawyer "shows that 50 outperforming firms accounted for 64% of total revenues and 72% of total profits generated by the 2021 Am Law 100. Further, these 50 firms have grabbed over 76% of all gains in partner compensation since 2015, expanding their collective partner comp pool by $13.6 billion." What does this say about the forced change of the COVID-19 shutdown on the legal profession? For law firms actively engaged in streamlining their back-office operations, and for legal tech leaders advocating change at those firms, the pandemic presented proof this advocacy was correct. The perceived barriers of remote work (and remote relationships) were non-issues. Staff at those firms were easy to train and to hold accountable. Clients, who themselves were under the same pressures, were quick to adapt and find new ways to conduct business. Systems security and access were stress tested, tweaked and geared to handle even greater challenges. And with no clear, economy-wide, "return to office" mandate, the opportunities and possibilities presented by a suddenly more flexible work environment are here much, much sooner than anticipated. As COVID Lifts, Now What? A Google search reveals countless articles on corporations, large professional firms and indeed, the entire commercial real estate industry rethinking the role of the traditional office. This line of thought permeates the legal profession as well. In addition to reducing the amount of leased space, firms have taken a broad look at other permanent operational changes. According to the "2021 Report on the State of the Legal Market," issued by the Thomson Reuters Institute and the Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession at Georgetown University Law Center, "the unprecedented events of 2020 could set off a wave of sweeping permanent changes, such as law firm business models, use of technology and more flexible staffing and operations." What's driving this fundamental shift in thinking and resources? The lessons from the COVID crisis, as outlined in the report, hold the answers: • Firms see the success of working from home, as the transition was less disruptive than expected. • There is greater acceptance by partners of the role of technology in improving the delivery of legal services and cost reduction. • Increased consideration of fundamental changes to operations, such as staffing, working patterns and use of office space. • Greater openness to new practice models, including F E A T U R E S

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