In recent months, we’ve repeatedly heard rainmaker law firm partners express caution about pitching for easily obtainable litigation portfolios, as they don’t know how they would staff them if they did.  So, they chose to pass.

Law firm partners (even the rainmakers) have always considered supply and demand carefully, but our observations in the market recently show that this is becoming a significant challenge for law firms and partners trying to gain more portfolio litigation. Portfolio litigation is on the rise due to several factors, including litigation funding, tech and AI, regulatory requirements, and the increase in data breaches. But are there enough lawyers out there to support it?

A recent article and survey (‘Overwhelmed and Understaffed’) published by the Claims and Litigation Management (CLM) Alliance shines a bright spotlight on this challenge.

‘The talent crunch has significant financial implications. Over 60% of respondents report turning down work due to capacity issues, a practice unheard of until recently. In fact, of the firms involved in the discussions related to the survey results, none had ever turned down work before due to capacity until the last two years.’

Elevate sees this trend firsthand through a sharp increase in the volume of inbound requests for Elevate’s Flexible Litigation Talent support in recent months.  A common thread among requests has been the need to staff large litigation portfolios and reduce the risk of losing or passing on work if not staffed quickly enough.

Top areas of inbound requests include:

• Employment litigation attorneys supporting California wage and benefit suits
• Mid-level litigation attorneys who can support high-volume data breach-related claims and class actions
• Regulatory attorneys who can perform high-volume internal investigations and support
• Portfolio litigation leads who manage both legal and operational aspects of the litigation at scale

Why Are Flexible Lawyers Winning?

Flexible roles for lawyers have become a more popular and mutually beneficial model for a few reasons:

• Large litigation portfolios take time to build steam, and thus hiring too many full-time or fixed-cost headcount too early risks increasing costs and diluting profitability
• Flex lawyers are more readily accessible and integrated into portfolios compared to full-time hiring cycle times, enabling rapid execution
• Flexible lawyers may be converted into full-time employees, giving the partner a chance to validate performance prior to making a larger bet on a fixed-cost resource

The market is changing fast. Flexible lawyers give you the confidence to take on more and deliver at any scale.

Interested? If you are an attorney seeking to be placed into one of these litigation portfolios, please contact our Elevate Flexible Talent recruiting centre here.

If you are in need of Elevate’s Flexible Litigation Talent to support your litigation portfolio or services, please contact us via the form below.