Law firms are facing a pivotal moment: a major transformation in their administrative workforce. The dual forces of retirements and changing expectations around support roles are placing new pressures on firms to rethink how they structure, staff, and train their administrative teams.

The traditional legal secretary model, one-to-one or one-to-two attorney support with years of institutional knowledge, is phasing out. In its place, firms are seeing rising demand for a more flexible, tech-enabled, and often less experienced workforce. While this brings new opportunities for agility and cost efficiency, it also introduces risk: how do you train this new wave of employees to deliver high-quality support from day one? And how do you safeguard institutional knowledge as long-standing professionals exit?

The Shrinking Experienced Workforce

According to the 2025 BigHand Legal Workflow Leadership Report, over half of law firms are seeing the departure of experienced admin staff. These individuals often carry critical knowledge of firm processes, client preferences, and matter workflows — knowledge that, if not captured and transferred, is simply lost.
At the same time, firms are restructuring support roles. One-to-one secretarial ratios are disappearing. Admins are now expected to support multiple attorneys or even departments, work across hybrid offices, and be fluent in a growing number of legal technologies.

Why Knowledge Transfer and Training Matter More Than Ever

Firms can no longer rely on passive, time-based onboarding or assume new hires will “figure it out.” The stakes are too high. Failing to properly onboard and train new administrative hires puts firms at risk. Tasks are delayed. Partners lose confidence in support staff. Client service suffers.

To ensure operational continuity and service quality, firms need structured strategies for:

• Capturing institutional knowledge before key staff retire or transition
• Training new hires quickly and effectively, especially those without a legal background
• Creating adaptable roles that allow employees to shift between tasks and technologies
• Standardizing workflows and expectations across offices, especially in centralized or hybrid support models

Without this foundation, inefficiencies compound, partners lose confidence, and internal service levels slip.

A New Kind of Legal Admin Support

Today’s legal admin is more like a utility player; working across client service, billing support, document processing, front-of-house, and more. But many firms still lack the infrastructure to train these professionals well, or to give them a clear path for growth.

Some are addressing this by:

• Building internal learning academies or role-specific training pathways
• Cross-training staff across multiple functions
• Documenting task-level procedures to ensure consistency
• Engaging external partners who can provide scalable onboarding and flex support during transitions
• Capturing the expertise of outgoing, seasoned legal assistants to create a centralized training library, one that forms the foundation of a structured onboarding and development program for new administrative hires

Leading firms are empowering teams to adapt and thrive in a new administrative model, others are just hiring new staff.

Looking Ahead: From Reactive to Ready

The legal industry is in a critical window: experienced staff are leaving, and new hires are arriving with new expectations. Firms that succeed will be those that invest now in training, enablement, and structured knowledge transfer.

Administrative talent is still a competitive differentiator, but only if the firm invest in developing it.

Whether through internal initiatives or with the support of a trusted partner, one thing is clear: training can’t wait.