The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led many US law firms to reevaluate their finances. In order to survive the crisis, some firms cut employee salaries and benefits, while others furloughed and even laid off staff. If you want to avoid doing these, here are five other cost-saving measures that you can consider:
Reduce your office space-related expenses
Many law firms opt for a high-end office to project professionalism and gain existing and potential clients’ trust. This is why rent is commonly the second largest fixed expense for most firms. While you may be tempted to improve profitability by moving to an office with lower rent, that would mean incurring all the expenses involved in transferring to the new space. Instead, you could try renegotiating your monthly rent in exchange for extending your lease or reducing your space.
If your landlord permits you to do so, you could also sublease your space or rent out certain areas of your office such as conference rooms. There are a lot of start-ups without offices that need space for occasional meetings.
You may want to think about whether you need a physical office space at all. In fact, some law firms are completely eliminating their office space and moving toward a fully remote work arrangement. Should you have important client or company meetings, you can simply rent a conference room in a coworking space.
Consider letting staff work remotely
Allowing your employees to work remotely will enable you to downsize your office space or let it go entirely. Having remote workers also means you’ll be able to bring down expenses related to supporting in-office staff, such as utilities and supplies.
There are plenty of tech tools that you can use to ensure a successful remote work setup. Just make sure to have remote or hybrid work policies and security measures in place to protect your company from cyberthreats and data breaches.
Embrace cloud services
A great way to streamline your law firm’s operating costs is by utilizing cloud services. Consider moving your IT infrastructures to a cloud server. Doing so will free up physical space and the necessary resources required to support an on-site IT infrastructure.
Leverage cloud storage systems to go paperless and eliminate the costs of buying and maintaining printers, shelves, and supplies like ink and paper.
Refine your marketing strategy
Given how fierce the competition is in the legal sector, law firms need to regularly launch marketing campaigns to stay visible and relevant. However, this does not mean you should simply continue the same marketing strategies that you have used for years. You must take a closer look at the numbers to determine the strategies that have a high return on investment and discontinue less effective or ineffective marketing strategies to save on costs.
Outsource time-consuming tasks
Outsourcing can be financially beneficial to your firm since it frees up your staff’s time, allowing them to focus on revenue-generating tasks. It also lets you hold off hiring full-time employees when you don’t need staff long-term and only want to avail of services on demand.
Read also: Tasks US law firms should consider outsourcing
For example, instead of having an office administrative assistant, you could hire a virtual assistant to book appointments, answer phone calls, reply to emails, and accomplish other support tasks. In place of in-house paralegals, you could work with third-party providers that specialize in tasks such as legal research, document preparation, and record retrieval.
When you partner with us at Record Retrieval Solutions, you can easily request and retrieve medical records and radiology images using our secure online portal. Getting these documents quickly lets you settle cases faster.
You can even save more time by asking us to do any of the following:
- Organize, sort, and categorize your records
- Create thorough and convenient record indexes
- Deliver records to opposing counsel or other parties
- Provide medical records summaries, treatment chronologies, and other reports
Interested in any of our services? Get in touch with us today!
