The ugly pandemic of the frightening Coronavirus has led to an unfavorable atmosphere in the corporate and financial sector, more significantly in the nations that are suffering from higher infection rates like the United States, Spain, Italy, and France. According to the experts, this pandemic is likely to have a long-term effect on the economy of the world, resulting in wage cuts and a severe unemployment crisis. The legal industry including the mergers and acquisitions law firm will also face certain complexities as well as relaxations in this tough time.
That being said, here is a detailed discussion about the expected impact of coronavirus on global law firms.
The Swanky Offices will be of No Big Importance
It is very clear that working remotely in this crisis will lead to a significant decline in income as well as savings. Furthermore, the customers will want to pay a lesser price for a service as they will likely go through the same financial crisis. This, in turn, will force the legal firms to make some amendments to their fixed rates, which no doubt includes the expenses incurred in the design and maintenance of their lavish offices. After all, rental spending makes for the 2nd highest expenditure of a company with payroll being the first. Moreover, there is not any point in having an expensive office in a posh area, when your customers are moving to more modest buildings on the outskirts.
You will Need to Toil to Maintain Customer Trust
It is a matter of fact that as a result of Covid-19 unemployment has skyrocketed. In such a scenario, you need to safeguard what you already possess, rather than trying to sell. This implies that you need to be readily available for your existing clients. The law firms need to understand their clients and support them efficiently, even free of cost if needed. You need to know that your winning bet in this crisis is being present for your existing customers at all times.
Even your customers are not likely to consider changing their lawyer and starting it all over again, at this time of uncertainty. So, if you are available to your clients now, they will likely be loyal to you forever.
The Law Profession will get Humanized
According to the experts, the pandemic of Covid-19 may lead to the humanization of the legal industry, which has always believed in the win-lose mindset and profit pursuit. More recently, a number of senior executives, partners, and colleagues in many large organizations have shown much concern towards the front-line employees of their offices such as the cleaning staff and the reception staff.
An explanation to such behavioral change and humanization may be that eventually, people are understanding that the Coronavirus has pulled everybody down to a common level, making all of us vulnerable to it, irrespective of our position and status.
The Presenteeism Culture May Come to an End
The lockdown condition has made everybody try teleworking, just to realize that it works quite well. So, it is likely that confinement may trigger the collapse of the traditional presenteeism culture. However, the companies that have always awarded presenteeism and people training and leading teams, require developing new remote methods for developing organizational skills and scrutinizing and controlling work.
All that said, it is a matter of fact that no business will be able to function independently in this teleworking tradition. Hence, they need to seek a reliable balance between remote tasks and face-to-face jobs.
Law Firms will Require Adjusting Their Fees
By now, it is known to all that the economic crisis brought about by the Coronavirus will compel businesses to reconsider their fees. In the upcoming months, the law firms are most likely to face a scenario involving more restructuring, more labor, and fewer operations. As anticipated by the experts, a number of customers are likely to let their non-availability of higher liquid assets get passed on to the legal agencies they are working with. This implies that the legal industry may end up facing increased non-payment risks, prolonged payment terms, and decreased prices. That said, however, the companies working with competitive pricing may survive this crisis.
The Final Words
The law agencies including the mergers and acquisitions law firms should start rebuilding their working model to make sure they cope up with and stand strong against this global economic crisis. The firms need to replace all their in-person meetings with effective and reliable e-conferencing systems. They should avoid non-essential international as well as domestic travels. They must even consider rechecking the technological systems used in the legal industry so that the clients and the attorneys do not end up facing any digital difficulties while working together. The channel of communication should be enhanced within a law company and within various other law companies, where the attorneys, the counsels, and the customers are positioned in a reliable loop for discussing potential legal issues and their solutions.
