Firms’ confidence ‘surprisingly high’, annual Bellwether snapshot shows

Confidence among law firms about their financial prospects is ‘surprisingly high’, the annual Bellwether snapshot of the sector has revealed, with one third believing the pandemic will increase their workload in both the short and long term.

The 2020 LexisNexis Bellwether Report, based on analysis of small firms and small offices of larger firms, paints as different picture to research earlier in the crisis. However, while the market is ’more confident than might be expected’, concerns remain. One is cash flow, with almost half – 44% – worried that they do not have the cash flow to meet their current costs.

Firms are markedly more pessimistic about their clients’ prospects than their own, with 38% seeing the pandemic as a ‘critical threat’.

To cope, firms have cut staff hours, cancelled subscriptions and delayed investments, the survey finds. So far, however, only 4% of firms have needed to make redundancies. Only 18% said they had delayed planned investment or cut bonuses; 16% said they had reduced salaries; 14% had taken on debt.

However, as the government’s furlough scheme starts to taper and ends in October, job losses could rise – but only 17% of firms believe it will be a necessary step.

The report observes:

“Fewer firms are in distress than many would have feared. This is a starkly different picture to other surveys of the legal market, including The Law Society and Bar Council.”

The LexisNexis report is based on 15 in-depth interviews and online surveys completed by more than 150 solicitors in small firms and small offices of larger firms across England and Wales. The research fieldwork was independently conducted, concluding in April 2020.

Kindly shared by The Law Society Gazette

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