Scottish legal firms are "behind the curve" in the transition to cloud-based and mobile technologies and have some way to go before achieving paperless status.
Core-Asset Consulting's sixth Annual Salary Guide also highlighted that the other main challenge for legal firms and in-house lawyers will be identifying and retaining the best talent, while progressing diversity agendas, given an "exceptionally limited and tight candidate pool".
One result of this shortage has seen significant salary uplifts, with even newly-qualified candidates being offered significantly higher basic salaries, exemplified by Pinsent Mason’s recent 35% increase in entry level salaries. In turn, this is making it increasingly challenging to fill in-house legal vacancies.
Kim Bower, business manager at Core-Asset, said: “Firms must be aware of how to attract the best talent over and above their competitors, differentiating themselves by offering flexibility, access to cutting edge technology and clear outlines on progression.
“Job availability now outstrips candidate availability and the legal sector is now in the midst of a ‘buyers’ market’, a situation in which changes according to the underlying economic conditions that shape supply and demand.”
She added: “Scottish legal firms still have ground to make up before they can claim to have fully revolutionised case load management and workflow through the use of technology which can offer new opportunities and greater efficiency.
“With greater automation, everyone - secretaries, paralegals, lawyers and partners - will be able to work at the higher level of productivity, removing the need for the repetitive tasks that still permeate the profession.”
The report also cited a Law Society of Scotland survey from November which highlighted gender, diversity and ethnicity imbalance in the legal profession.
While annually around two thirds of newly admitted lawyers are women, progression to more senior roles remains a challenge, with females under-represented in senior committee and managing partner positions.
There are also persistent difficulties in attracting male Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) background lawyers into the profession, with only 28% of BAME solicitors under 30 being male.
This is particularly significant in a profession where 88% of members are white and less than 4% of members came from a BAME background.
Bower stated: “Despite encouraging strides taken by the industry on gender, there appears to be ample room for diversity programmes to be expanded and improved in 2022 and further industry work is required to address issues of disability, gender, LGBTQI+, race and social mobility.”
Core-Asset noted that against a backdrop of challenging economic conditions, rising cost of living, and greater burdens on businesses engaged in international trade, the demand for legal services and representation will rise.
“Flexible and remote working is likely to become the norm rather than the exception,” said Bower. “So the way that advice is given, clients are advised and cases are managed will need to continue to adapt.”
The search for lawyers to work in niche areas may be assisted by remote working and the ability to recruit dual-qualified practitioners based elsewhere in the UK.
Bower added: “Remote working means a London-based candidate pool is now a more feasible option for Scottish-based firms to hire.
“However, the economic disparities on salary levels and the cost-of-operation/living differences between Scotland and cities such as London, will result in significant commercial impacts to Scottish firms.
“This may also result in difficult internal discussions on the equal treatment of employees, with those lawyers at the same level, doing the same work, on different salaries, in different locations.”
Edinburgh-based Core-Asset Consulting was formed in 2005 and is now an £14m business employing 22 people.
Initially the firm carved its reputation in Scotland’s asset management sector, but has expanded into dedicated accounting, investment operations and finance teams - as well as the legal sector.
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