Cloud-based discovery platform Logikcull's latest survey drew responses from more than 60 organizations, including corporate legal departments, law firms and legal vendors or services companies.
Logikcull found that 83% of respondents in the corporate realm said they were able to successfully shift to new requirements quickly and without significant disruption, compared with 65% of law firms. The survey found that corporate legal departments attributed that success to a highly adaptable workforce, department leadership and the ability to leverage technology.
Casey Sullivan, the head of content at Logikcull, told Law360 that he was pleasantly surprised at how positive people were in terms of their organizations' reaction to the coronavirus and their ability to adapt quickly.
"And show a lot of resilience in an industry that's really not known for moving quickly," Sullivan said. "The legal [industry] is not known as a highly adaptable space, but you see the vast majority of the industry … showing perseverance in the face of COVID."
According to the survey, law firms reported the largest reductions in both outside and internal spending, while vendors noted the most hiring freezes and layoffs or furloughs to legal department. Corporate legal department respondents were the only ones to report an increase in outside legal spend.
When asked about workload impacts of the pandemic, 71% of corporate legal departments responded that they were affected compared to 35% of law firms and 25% of vendors. Nearly 55% of corporate legal department respondents said they expect the increased workload to continue.
The survey found that overall, 50% of respondents said they expect the impacts of the coronavirus-caused work changes to continue for the foreseeable future and become a permanent part of their approach.
A recent Law360 Pulse survey of 45 law firms evaluating their office space amid the pandemic found firms looking to change their footprint in Washington, D.C., plan to reduce space by an average of 41%, while firms looking to make a change in Denver plan to shed an average of 40% in space.
Among the major markets where the trend could play out most dramatically also include Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas, according to the Law360 Pulse survey.
Law firm respondents in the Logikcull survey most widely noted that the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated their movement in adopting technology and said they foresee that change carrying into the future.
Sullivan said he believes the legal industry will be more apt to embrace technology.
"One thing I think we can say anecdotally is that COVID operates in terms of technological initiatives as sort of a triggering point or accelerant, things that were sort of on the backburner needed to get moved forward more quickly," Sullivan said.
--Additional reporting by Andrew McIntyre. Editing by Nicole Bleier.
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