MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, PracticePanther, the industry leading all-in-one legal practice management software, released its 2024 Small & Midsized Law Firm Report. Drawing from survey and first-party data from firms and practitioners across the spectrum of practice areas, the report presents a comprehensive overview of the evolving market trends shaping the small and midsized law firm landscape.
“In a period marked by a shifting economy, evolving client expectations and complexities recruiting quality talent, law firm leaders find themselves at a pivotal crossroads,” said Mayowa Oyebadejo, VP of Marketing at PracticePanther. “Our 2024 Small & Midsized Law Firm Report shares tangible steps law firms are taking to improve firm operations, alleviate rising workloads and enhance profitability.”
Key highlights from the 2024 Small & Midsized Law Firm Report include:
- Prevailing Optimism: Despite broader macroeconomic uncertainty, more than 75% of small and midsized law firms have increased or maintained their budgets in major categories such as technology, marketing and labor costs.
- Heavy Investment in Technology: Technology and software investments remain a high priority, with nearly 40% of small and midsized law firms expecting an increase in their technology expenses in 2024 versus 2023.
- Challenging Labor Market: While 40% of law firms have increased spending on salaries, 86% of firms have not witnessed a growth in staffing levels, reflecting the escalating cost and difficulty of recruiting and retaining quality talent.
- Mounting Workloads: A staggering 59% of law firms report an increase in workload per staff member, driven by rising client expectations, hiring challenges and increasing market competition.
- Focus on Productivity: As staff levels plateau and workloads surge, over 40% law firms intend to explore ways to significantly improve utilization rates and billing realization rates over the next year, with increasing the adoption of law practice management software functionality being top of the list.
- Cash is King: Given the macroeconomic climate, nearly 50% of law firms are doubling down on efforts to improve cash collection – including offering online payments, payment plans and automated payment links to their clients.
In addition, the report delves into the proactive strategies leading law firms are adopting to make their operations more scalable, drive growth and boost firm profitability in a rapidly-changing market. Central to these strategies is using an all-in-one law practice management software like PracticePanther to enable these improvements.
"With our 2024 Small & Midsized Law Firm Report, we are proud to equip attorneys with actionable insights to navigate this increasingly complex and challenging market,” said Sam Alkoubey, Director of Sales at PracticePanther. “From our report’s findings, I am inspired to see that law firms continue to recognize and leverage technology as a critical lever to help them succeed.”
The 2024 Small & Midsized Law Firm Report can be read at www.practicepanther.com/law-firm-reports.
About PracticePanther
PracticePanther is the leading cloud-based law practice management software solution that serves over tens of thousands of legal professionals in over 170 countries. Through its intuitive and user-friendly interface, PracticePanther offers features in case management, time tracking, billing, client intake, payment processing, calendaring, and much more to empower lawyers to automate their practices.
PracticePanther is a part of Paradigm, which offers a suite of legal software solutions to help lawyers manage, automate and grow their firms. Paradigm's four leading platforms — PracticePanther, MerusCase, LollyLaw, and Bill4Time — offer fully native practice management, payments, and accounting functionality to law firms across the spectrum of practice area and business need.
