Robot-LawyerAltman Weil’s ‘Law Firms in Transition Survey suggests a potential retirement crisis, a growing threat from non-traditional competitors and an increased belief in the ability of AI to carry out work currently done by people.

Legal consulting company Altman Weil surveyed managing partners and chairs of 320 US law firms with 50 or more lawyers. The survey found that although in 63 percent of law firms, partners aged 60 or older control at least one quarter of total revenue, only 31 percent of law firms have a formal succession planning process. It’s not clear who, or what, will replace them, as around 60 percent of responding firms said that they expect first-year associate classes to continue shrinking.

Non-traditional competitors are also actively taking business from law firms and the threat they pose is believed to be growing. Sixty-seven percent say they are losing business to corporate law departments that are legal work inhouse, while a further 24 percent see this as a potential threat. Furthermore, 24 percent responded they are currently losing work to client technology solutions, with another 42 percent viewing this as a potential threat to their firms’ business.

The report also suggested an increasing belief in the ability of technology to perform work currently done by people. Only 20 percent of those surveyed this year insisted computers could never replace human practitioners, while the figure was 46 percent in 2011.

Sources: Bloomberg BNA; Altman Weil