Ride the Lightning

Clio’s 2021 Legal Trends for Solo Law Firms

February 23, 2021

It is always gratifying to get a new survey with new stats – they certainly help lawyers, in this case solo lawyers, to see how they are faring in comparison to their colleagues. Sorry I can’t give you a link, but it’s not up on Clio’s site quite yet.

The link is up: Clio’s 2021 Legal Trends for Solo Law Firms

As this report notes, solo firms are more agile, but have fewer resources. And they certainly struggled to keep up with evolving client needs in 2020, particularly as client expectations changed.

So . . . here are some of the highlights:

• Compared to 2019, solos saw casework fall 32% in April.
• Larger firms saw caseloads begin to recover in May and through summer, solos had 19% reduced revenue compared to 2019.
• Criminal law casework, common among solos, saw a drop of 59% in the spring of 2020. Other practices which saw a decline included personal injury, immigration, and bankruptcy.
• According to surveys in the spring and the fall, 66% of solo lawyers were concerned about the success of their legal practice.
• 47% were concerned about making a living.
• 60% saw a decrease in the number of clients reaching out to their law firms.
• 72% expressed concern about their clients’ ability to pay.
• By July of 2020, 15% of solo law firms reported having to lay off staff.
• Electronic payments, client portals, electronic client intake and CRM solutions accelerated recovery resulting in solo lawyers earning over $52,000 more in revenue than other solo firms.
• In response to the pandemic, 83% of solos are now using software (rather than paper-based systems) to organize their practice.
• 82% are meeting clients virtually.
• 80% are saving documents and client files to the cloud rather than on-premise.
• 74% are allowing clients to by invoices electronically or by debit.
• 55% are offering clients the option to securely share and sign documents online.
• Only 58% of solo firms have commercial office space.
• 88% of solo practices believe they can service clients much better if more parts of their practice were automated with technology.
• 68% said technology has significantly helped them deliver better client experiences.
• 52% said technology has improved their work-life balance.
• 72% of consumers said they would prefer to pay legal fees on a payment plan, but only 52% of law firms offer them.
• 38% offer lower prices or discounts.
• 70% offer services at fixed fees.
• 30% allow clients to handle what aspects of the case they want to handle themselves.
• 8% offer clients subscription plans for legal services.

Yes, a lot of bullets, but perhaps also some data-driven suggestions for solo lawyers reading them!

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
3975 University Drive, Suite 225|Fairfax, VA 22030
Email:  Phone: 703-359-0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
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