Despite the growing integration of technology into all of our day-to-day business functions, hiring a lawyer has remained a remarkably local and face-to-face industry. Until recently, most lawyers expected their target market to exist within a 30-mile radius of their office and the vast majority of their communication to be done face-to-face, after an initial phone call. 

But the legal industry has not been immune to society’s shift towards remote communications. Clio’s 2021 Legal Trends Report found that 79% of survey respondents saw the option to work remotely with a lawyer as “an important factor that would have a positive influence on their decision to hire that lawyer.” In comparison, only 23% of consumers were open to the idea of working with a lawyer remotely in 2018.

While the traditional ways of conducting business are not going away completely, the growing client demand for remote options is shifting the way law firms attract and retain clients. Let’s break down four ways that the new remote landscape is impacting legal marketing and client relationships.