The past 2¼ years have brought the lion’s share of obstacles to the United States and the Southeast.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has been the biggest one and caused many other problems ranging from health and safety concerns to supply-chain issues to a raging talent war, others, such as inflation and the war in Ukraine, have popped up.
Law firms in the Southeast and beyond have had to remain nimble often to leap over the hurdles that keep arising. John Hall Jr., founding partner at Atlanta-based Hall Booth Smith, which also has offices in six other Georgia cities and six Florida cities, said “doubling down on the basics” has been the way his firm has dealt with those obstacles.
“Hire great people and support them to be their best,” he said. “We also have to be more diligent in seeing issues attorneys have and anticipating how to best address those.”
Expect the ‘Unpredictable’
Husch Blackwell’s Paul Eberle. (Courtesy photo)Other firm leaders said fears of the unknown, such as the pandemic, should give them an appreciation for how much external forces, or even so-called black swan events, can shape their business, Andrew Maloney wrote for The American Lawyer.
“I think for any leader, you’ve got to be more and more humble about the fact that those unpredictable events need to be anticipated,” Pat Whalen, chair and CEO of Kansas City-based Spencer Fane, told Maloney.
That’s not to mention that many feel a kind of existential dread as the drumbeat of bad news marches on. As COVID-19 remains a threat, too, that fear is practical. Whether it’s because of the virus itself or simply because remote work is a new norm in the workplace, firm leaders remain concerned about their employees’ well-being.
“For our clients and for us, it’s almost more psychological. In some ways, it’s been hard for people to work through this. So I think, the longer it continues, the more stress and strain it puts on a whole bunch of things, including mental health,” Paul Eberle, CEO of Kansas City-based Husch Blackwell, told Maloney in the same report.
‘A Lot of Anxiety’
Patrick Whalen, managing partner with Spencer Fane. (Courtesy photo)Randy Evans, a partner in the Atlanta office of Cleveland-based Squire Patton Boggs, said he asked lawyers attending the American Bar Association’s inaugural Bench & Bar Academy last month at the State Bar of Georgia in Atlanta a simple question: Whgat do you worry about?
While the answers were more about lawyers’ individual concerns, they touched on obstacles firms are facing today. Evans posed the question at two of the event’s 13 continuing legal education sessions, where he served as a panelist and said the responses were varied. They included:
- Attorney burnout, mental health, work-life balance
- How to deal with post-pandemic issues such as remote practice/offices/staffing
- COVID-19 and its variants
Regarding the lawyers’ responses to his question, Evans said it proves “there’s a lot of anxiety in the legal profession.”
‘More Challenges … to Come’
Randy Evans. (Photo: John Disney/ALM)Hall said firms should watch out for a plethora of obstacles.
“Talent shortage—the practice of law is a demanding profession,” he said. “Many folks do not want to commit to working that hard or are not equipped to manage the stress and maintain work-life balance. We are working to identify smart, talented and committed people—attorneys and staff—to serve our clients. I think that is an obstacle to all firms.
“Also increasing interest rates are impacting ability to carry expenses pending invoicing. As they increase, it can become an obstacle.”
Hall added the war in Ukraine “will have a tremendous effect on the economy.”
“We are already thinking of how that will affect interest rates, inflation and other factors,” he said. “As to workforce, people want to be a part of something special that is succeeding. We are committed to make this a great place to work so the firm can be successful.”
Hall noted that more hurdles will arise, so how firms handle them is critical.
“These have been and will be challenging times,” he said. “More challenges and obstacles are to come. We are preparing those and enveloping strength and depth in each generation to make the firm a strong go-forward entity.”
