Research exclusive to Lawyers Weekly has found that a troubling number of lawyers have seen a decrease in their workloads, with many also fearing for their future workload.
To understand how the measures are being digested across the Australian marketplace, Lawyers Weekly’s sister brand My Business commissioned Momentum Intelligence to create an ongoing survey of a cross-section of Australian business owners and employees – including those operating in the business of law.
The COVID-19 Business Confidence Survey encouraged participants across a range of Momentum Media’s professional services brands (accounting, aviation, defence, financial services, law, mortgage and finance broking, and real estate) to take part in an online questionnaire between 2 April and 22 April.
A total of 6,740 responses were received, and the results were evenly weighted across each industry.
As reported on Monday by Lawyers Weekly, the survey found that 72 per cent of lawyers are satisfied with the government’s handling of the pandemic thus far, while 18 per cent are neutral and 10 per cent are dissatisfied.
Current and future workloads
Respondents identifying as legal professionals were 1,175 persons, comprised of business owners, directors, senior managers, principals, C-suite execs, employees, retirees and unemployed.
When asked how workload has been affected by the global coronavirus pandemic to date, 38 per cent of lawyers said their workload had reduced. Just over one-quarter (27 per cent) of lawyers said that their workload had increased, while 35 per cent said they had not noticed any change to their workload in this time.
Looking ahead, the findings painted a somewhat bleak picture of what will be on the desks of lawyers.
This is a must read on article if you have any interest in the Australian legal sector
