Mattern Associates

As law firms continue adjusting to hybrid work, one area remains surprisingly underexamined: administrative and office services staffing. Some firms have rebuilt their support teams to pre-2020 levels. Others cut too deeply during disruption and haven’t fully recovered.

As more firms implement structured in-office mandates, often requiring attorneys and staff to be on-site four days a week, support services are being tested in new ways. But returning to the office doesn’t mean returning to the same workflows, staffing models, or vendor contracts.

Law firms rely heavily on outsourcing partners for core operations. But too often, these relationships run on autopilot. Without clear oversight, quality drifts, costs climb, and knowledge disappears the moment a key staffer leaves.