Law firms are not struggling because they do not value talent. They are struggling because the market has changed, and the way support staff are hired and retained has not fully kept pace.
At a recent Association of Legal Administrators session, we shared what we are seeing across law firms. What stood out was not just the data. It was how consistent the challenges felt across the room.
The biggest risk to a growing firm is not lack of work. It is lack of the right people to support it.
And right now, that gap is widening.
The Challenge Behind the Challenge
Support staff are the backbone of a law firm. Yet many teams are operating with an unaddressed level of risk.
A significant portion of the workforce is approaching retirement, and not enough firms have clear succession or training plans in place. At the same time, turnover continues to disrupt productivity in ways that are not always visible on the surface.
When a key support person leaves, the impact rarely stays contained. Work shifts across the team, attorneys step into administrative tasks, and what should be a strategic hire becomes an urgent one.
This is not just a hiring issue. It is a staying power issue.
What Is Driving the Disconnect
In working with law firms and hearing directly from administrators, four patterns continue to come up.
First, speed has become a real differentiator. The strongest candidates do not stay available for long, yet many hiring processes still move at a pace that made sense years ago.
Multiple interview rounds, delays between conversations, and slow internal decision-making are costing firms candidates they would have hired.
Today, the hiring process itself shapes how candidates view your firm.
At the same time, candidates are evaluating opportunities differently. Compensation still matters, but it is no longer the only factor and often not the deciding one. Flexibility has become one of the most influential drivers in decision-making.
Firms offering hybrid options consistently see deeper candidate pools, while fully on-site roles often require higher compensation to compete. It is not about offering everything. It is about aligning with what candidates value most.
Benefits are part of that equation, but only when they are meaningful. The firms seeing the best results are not necessarily offering more. They are offering smarter.
Small, practical changes that improve day-to-day experience tend to matter more than complex benefits programs.
Whether it is realistic time off, flexible schedules, or removing friction from the workday, relevance carries more weight than volume.
Finally, many firms are unintentionally limiting themselves before the search even begins. Job descriptions are often written too narrowly, prioritizing industry-specific experience over transferable skills. Some of the strongest hires come from adjacent industries where the core capabilities are already developed.
Rethinking Where Retention Begins
One of the most important shifts we discussed is this: Retention does not start after someone is hired. It starts during the hiring process.
When expectations are unclear, roles are oversold, or alignment internally is off from the start, those issues do not fix themselves over time. They compound.
But when firms take the time to define what success actually looks like, align before starting the search, and evaluate candidates beyond the resume, the outcome changes. The hire becomes part of a longer-term solution instead of a short-term fix.
A More Sustainable Approach
At Milliner, our focus has always been on long-term fit, especially within legal support roles where the impact of the right hire is felt quickly.
That means understanding both sides of the equation. Not just the responsibilities of the role, but the environment, expectations, and long-term path. It means evaluating candidates as individuals, not just resumes. It also means staying involved after the placement to support long-term success.
It is a more intentional approach. It is also what leads to stronger retention and more stable teams.
For firms feeling the pressure of today’s hiring market, the starting point does not need to be a complete overhaul.
It can begin with a few honest questions. Where is your process slowing candidates down? Are your expectations aligned internally before you begin? Are you evaluating talent based on what actually drives success in the role, or what has always been listed in the job description?
Small shifts in these areas can create meaningful change.
If you’re hiring legal support staff and not getting the results you need, it may not be a candidate issue. It may be a process issue. We can help you evaluate both.
