4 questions managing partners at plaintiffs’ firms must answer to ensure prosperity

This past spring, I walked you through four lessons I learned leading my 20-plus-lawyer plaintiffs' firm through the COVID-19 pandemic. ("Lessons learned leading a law firm through the COVID-19 pandemic," March 26, 2021.) Unfortunately, as the calendar turns to 2022, I don't think we can say we've yet made it "through" the pandemic. Instead, we've all come to grips with the fact that for the foreseeable future, society and the legal industry must soldier on with COVID-19 lurking uncomfortably close in the shadows.

When I speak with other managing and supervising partners at plaintiffs' firms across California about this need to soldier on, the same questions and themes tend to pop up. But four frequent questions in particular strike me as ones plaintiffs' firms must answer if they wish to prosper in the near future.

How will we retain the people we need to keep our firm running?

Prosperous plaintiffs' firms need dedicated, hard-working lawyers and staff to operate and grow. Whatever you call it -- the "Great Resignation," the "Big Quit," or just "turnover as usual" -- the sky-high rates of employees resigning is the biggest obstacle to prosperity that plaintiffs' firms face these days.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' December 8, 2021, "Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary," 4.2 million people quit their jobs in October 2021. That is almost three in 100 employees! At that rate, even if you've been strategic in building your firm by hiring "the right people," investing in employee training, and building a welcoming culture, your firm is not immune from talented lawyers and staff walking out the door and disrupting your firm's operations.

What will your firm do to minimize departures? Increase compensation? Increase benefits? Invest in building more culture? Invest in more training? Be more flexible about remote work? Be more intentional about mentorship? Hand out more free food in the office?

Almost every possible answer will increase your firm's expenses. But that will be money well spent if it allows your firm to retain the people instrumental in bringing in, and favorably resolving, your firm's most profitable matters.

How will we meet our client's evolving expectations for service?

Plaintiffs' firms prosper when their clients trust them enough to retain them to seek justice for them and their loved ones. For most of the 20th and 21st centuries, lawyers, including plaintiffs' lawyers, have dictated the terms of the attorney-client relationship. That is no longer the case.

Clients have learned they don't need to brave an hour's worth of traffic each way for an hour-long conversation with their lawyers at their lawyers' offices. They can insist on connecting with their lawyers via video conference.

Clients have learned they don't need to wait 24, 48 or 96 hours, or longer, for their lawyers to respond to their emails. They can just text us until we respond.

And if we don't like it, or we're not willing to comply, they can take their cases to other firms and leave a number of negative online reviews for our firm on the way out.

What is your firm doing to make your clients feel that interacting with your firm is as smooth and enjoyable as interacting with Amazon, Nordstrom, or a Ritz-Carlton? What investments are you making in technology or training to that end?

Thanks to the internet and social media, clients have increasingly high expectations for client service in all walks of their lives. Plaintiffs' firms can either get on board or watch their competitors take market share from them.

How will remote litigation impact our business and our future litigation strategies?

Prosperous plaintiffs' firms increase revenue while reducing expenses. Remote litigation provides opportunities for both.

While remote bench and jury trials are unlikely to outlast the pandemic, remote depositions and court proceedings will. They allow your firm to co-counsel certain kinds of cases outside your geographical area that you might have never considered due to travel considerations. The savings in time and money spent on traveling back and forth from depositions, court conferences, and meetings with clients and co-counsel can be redirected toward other client matters. And with remote depositions, your firm may become more creative with theories of your cases and discovery knowing that depositions of fact witnesses or experts located across the U.S. from you can take place remotely.

Is your firm thinking strategically about remote litigation? Has it explored new opportunities? Has it begun marketing to new referral sources to attract new types of cases? Has it evaluated how some of its tried-and-true litigation tactics may evolve (for better or worse)?

Some elements of remote litigation are here to stay. Plaintiffs' firms must mine the opportunities it creates.

How will we stave off the negative impact of nonlawyer ownership of law firms?

Prosperous law firms must stay in business in order to prosper. Non-lawyer ownership of law firms threatens the existence of lawyer-owned plaintiffs' firms and could deprive injured people of their opportunity to seek justice.

I do not hide my disdain for nonlawyer ownership of law firms, but the fact is that it is more likely than not to enter California within the next decade.

What is your firm doing to prepare for the inflow of private equity, corporate, and Big Insurance money into California's legal market? Is it investing in branding and marketing to maintain high brand awareness? Is it developing new revenue streams new entrants would be hard-pressed to replicate? Is it exploring a merger or lateral hires to solidify its position in the marketplace?

Nonlawyer ownership will be here before we know it. Prosperous law firms are already gearing up for the fight.

Many questions remain...

These are just four of many questions managing partners at plaintiffs' firms must ask themselves and their colleagues in order to keep their firms prosperous. Undoubtedly, intelligent answers will take time to develop. But in many ways, those answers are not as important to a firm's prosperous future as the firm's willingness to ask and deliberate over them in the first place. 