While it’s fair to point out that tech staff have significant operational roles, the most important aspect of these numbers is the mindset they represent.
Eric De Grasse
Chief Technology Officer
7 January 2021 (Paris, France) – Demand for tech and IT expertise will rise at the expense of their secretarial colleagues in 2021. About that there can be no doubt if you read the legaltech blogs. Already, several firms have signalled a desire to cut office space as lawyers adapt to the agile working age and that fundamental shift is forcing a rethink about whether every senior lawyer must have a PA at their side.
There’s already been secretarial redundancy consultations across several firms – DWF cut 40 roles from its secretarial and support staff and Clyde & Co has 40 secretaries under review. Watson Farley & Willliams (WFW) also began redundancy consultations with PAs last year, citing a diminished demand as a result of the switch to remote working. Based on the numbers this seems like a justifiable decision. Last year, WFW had 3.9 fee earners per secretary, significantly below the UK100 average of 7.8.
Of the 63 firms which supplied details to The Lawyer and to LegalWeek, Penningtons Manches Cooper has the smallest fee earner to secretary ratio at 2.4. It is followed by Thrings with 2.5, Browne Jacobson (2.5) and Michelmores (2.5). At the other end of the scale, Stewarts has only 5.5 full time secretaries and over 300 fee earners, a ratio of 50, while Addleshaw Goddard has 22 fee earners for every secretary.
The numbers of technology staff are much smaller. Currently the Top 100 firms have less than half the number of technology/innovation employees compared to secretaries, with 18 fee earners per tech staff on average. Thrings has 59 secretaries and four technology employees; not a great ratio if it has any ambitions embracing the digital world.
Top and bottom 10 firms: Minster Law has the lowest ratio of fee-earners to tech staff
Source: The Lawyer and LegalWeek
Despite its reputation for being a traditionalist, Slaughter and May can claim to be one of the most innovative firms given its 92 technology employees, equating to nine fee earners per employee. The only firm with a lower ratio is Minster Law’s 8.2. Slaughters is closely followed by Pinsent Masons, Ashurst and Travers Smith with about 10 each. All these firms have well balanced support teams for 2021.
While it’s fair to point out that tech staff have significant operational roles, the most important aspect of these numbers is the mindset they represent. Firms which invest in technology and innovation staff are the ones open to change and most likely to thrive in the turbulence of the coming year. For those that haven’t, now is the time for a fundamental attitude change.
