Accelerating change: 27th Annual Smith & Williamson Law Firm Survey

The question now is whether that fluidity will be taken into the post-pandemic world. Was this new-found flexibility a temporary necessity employed to weather the virus? Or has the virus sparked a permanent cultural shift within the legal industry?

It looks like the latter is true. Just 2.6% of legal executives believe that there has been no acceleration of change within their practice as a result of the pandemic. More than two-thirds of respondents believe that change has been accelerated by between two and four years.

For better or worse, this adaptability has firms feeling confident.