BigHand's survey shows that lawyers in mid-sized firms struggle most with rising admin workloads
Lawyers are increasingly burdened with administrative work amid a mix of support staff attrition and retirement, a survey by legal technology company BigHand shows.
The survey, which included responses from around 800 law firms across Canada, the US, and the UK, found that 41 percent of respondents expect between 21 and 40 percent of their support staff to retire within the next five years.
The report's authors say that the high retirement rate among experienced legal support staff poses a significant challenge to law firms. Key concerns among participants include increased workload on remaining staff (34 percent), greater reliance on lawyers to handle administrative tasks (31 percent), and difficulty finding candidates with the right skills (26 percent).
“These employees have accumulated years of expertise and possess critical institutional knowledge that is difficult to replace. Many of them are essential to maintaining successful client relationships after years of supporting their lawyers and ultimately their clients,” it reads.
To manage the growing gap in support and reverse the trend that often leaves experienced legal assistants performing work well below their skill set, law firms are increasingly centralizing administrative functions.
In a traditional structure, legal assistants would often support three or four lawyers at a time, functioning as broad generalists. This structure can dilute the effectiveness of senior staff.
That is according to Eric Wangler, the president of BigHand’s global legal market department. He says low-level tasks frequently bog down the most talented and tenured legal staff in this model.
“They’re doing a little bit of everything, and it’s hard to focus on the skills they’re really good at.”
Wangler says that some firms are implementing hybrid models where tenured legal assistants retain primary responsibility for a smaller group of lawyers but receive backup from a centralized pool when workloads surge.
While this structure allows for more flexibility, he says it is problematic as much of the work in law firms is still assigned informally – passed along via email, phone call, or dropped on desks – which makes it difficult to track, measure, and delegate.
Some firms, he says, are bringing in junior staff and training them in centralized environments. These entry-level employees begin by handling routine administrative tasks without needing legal expertise or client interaction. Those who show potential and a desire to stay with the firm are then offered opportunities to move into more senior roles.
However, Wangler says that many firms are still hampered by flat organizational structures, where all support roles are treated uniformly.
“When you have a flat organizational structure, everybody’s a legal assistant. It’s really hard to career path people,” he says.
Wangler says another complication is that legal assistants often retire before the senior lawyers they’ve supported throughout their careers. When that happens, he says firms lose not just administrative capacity but also a critical knowledge base.
He adds that the departing assistants take years of insights from client relationships, billing practices, and internal processes, which leaves a void not only for the senior lawyer but also for the next generation of legal professionals.
“Legal assistants know the inner workings of client relationships, the nuances of billing, and they can be a real resource for young associates,” he says.
But when these seasoned staff members are consumed by a backlog of routine tasks, often far below their pay grade, the opportunity to provide that mentorship diminishes, he adds.
While many larger firms have made strides in solving back-office workflow issues through technology and organization, Wangler says staffing challenges persist across the industry.
He says mid-sized firms – defined as those with 50 to 100 lawyers – face the most pronounced difficulties.
The survey data shows that 39 percent of mid-sized firms report an increased administrative burden on lawyers due to staffing shortages, compared to 31 percent in larger firms. Wangler says this burden is significant not only because administrative tasks are typically non-billable but also because it risks undermining lawyer productivity and well-being.
“With all the attention on mental health and work-life balance in the legal industry, we have to ask: if a lawyer’s admin workload increases, how are they still expected to bill the same number of hours? It’s a real concern.”
