However, the COVID-19 pandemic could impact staffing levels in the future. One in four of the 1,200 senior lawyers surveyed expect to operate with fewer staff in future, with the majority (71%) saying they’ll return with the same number. Only 2% will be employing more.
In the next year, 6% of lawyers expect their business to expand, 13% expect it will contract and 80% think it will ‘stay the same’. In terms of returning to full operations, lawyers are divided: nearly a third think it will take them up to three months, 37% expect it to take three to six months, and 12% expect it will take up to a year.
The firms were considering various funding options to see them through the pandemic, including payment holidays, consolidation of loans and new funding as well as government support and advice. Half of them had applied for a Coronavirus business interruption loan scheme, more than a third had applied for grants and 44% had applied for bounceback loans.
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