Support Staff Turnover Is Hurting Law Firms—Nearshore Staffing Could Be the Fix

Support Staff Turnover is Draining Law Firm Productivity

Staffing shortages aren’t new to the legal industry, but support staff attrition has quietly become one of the most disruptive operational challenges law firms face today.

According to the 2025 BigHand Legal Workflow Leadership Report, 39% of firms report annual support staff turnover rates between 21% and 40%. These aren’t easily replaced roles: over two-thirds of firms rate the difficulty of filling them as 5 or higher on a 10-point scale.

The impact? Institutional knowledge walks out the door. Administrative tasks pile up. And increasingly, lawyers themselves are asked to absorb the overflow. 31% of firms now report lawyers are spending more time on administrative tasks, directly reducing billable hours and increasing operational inefficiencies.

The Real Cost of Losing Legal Support Staff

While law firms often focus their hiring strategies on associates and attorneys, operational and support staff play a critical role in keeping cases moving. Roles like legal assistants, intake coordinators, billing specialists, and document managers quietly drive day-to-day operations.

Without them:

• Lawyers spend more time on low-value tasks.
• Billable time is lost to work that doesn’t generate revenue.
• Case timelines extend due to administrative bottlenecks.

Replacing these professionals isn’t just difficult—it’s expensive. Training new staff takes time, and turnover disrupts established workflows.

A Shift Toward Remote and Nearshore Staffing Models

As firms rethink how to solve this growing challenge, many are expanding their approach to hiring and team structure. Remote and nearshore staffing models, once considered experimental, are now becoming strategic.

Here’s why:

• Remote staffing widens access to experienced professionals beyond local markets.
• Nearshore staffing balances cost savings with time zone alignment and communication compatibility.
• Both models allow firms to scale operational capacity without the overhead of traditional in-office roles.

Unlike traditional outsourcing, these staffing models can focus on legal-specific operational tasks, from intake and calendaring to document preparation and case file management.

Nearshore Teams Built for Legal Work

Not all remote staffing models are created equal. Legal work demands professionals trained in confidentiality, attention to detail, and case management software. That’s why some firms are turning to nearshore staffing providers specializing in legal operations support, offering professionals who:

• Understand legal workflows.
• Work in real-time alongside U.S. teams.
• Integrate seamlessly into case management systems.
• Handle tasks lawyers shouldn’t, from intake to document prep, freeing up legal professionals to focus on billable work.

By shifting operational work to nearshore professionals, firms can stabilize workflows, reduce reliance on overburdened attorneys, and protect profitability, even amid high domestic attrition.

Rethinking Staffing to Protect Lawyer Time

Support staff turnover is no longer a back-office issue. It’s a productivity and profitability challenge. As attrition rates climb and replacement grows harder, firms that rethink how administrative work gets done will be best positioned to maintain operational health.

Nearshore staffing models purpose-built for legal teams offer a sustainable, scalable way forward.

Curious how nearshore legal staffing works in practice? Many firms are exploring models that extend their operational teams without sacrificing quality, collaboration, or legal-specific expertise.