Millennials and Their Approach to the Legal Industry

In 2019, the number of millennials outnumbered Baby Boomers in the US according to Pew Research Center. Until now, most of your core market has likely been “Boomers” and Gen X but all that is about to change. It’s important to understand millennials and their approach to the legal industry and your business to harness the shifting market.

Millennials Seek Help Mostly For…

This generation is now leaving education and is in the workplace. They are increasingly seeking the help of attorneys for themselves rather than on their parents’ dime. In a recent survey, it was revealed that millennials sought legal services for the following: felony charge, divorce, and child support, custody or visitation issues.

These were the top 3, the top 10 includes wills and inheritance disputes, immigration and naturalization (for foreign-born spouses), legal issues for minors, and power of attorney, amongst other things. What is clear is that this generation now has a genuine need for such traditionally “responsible” issues. The perception of millennials as irresponsible is certainly being challenged.

They Do Not Seek Help For…

Another issue challenged by this data is the belief that this generation are poor drivers. It is rare for a millennial to seek an attorney’s services for traffic violations such as speeding, running a red light, or using a cellphone while driving. This is backed in another survey carried out by the AAA.  Surprisingly, they are also not seeking help for such modern legal issues as identify theft, homeowner or landlord disputes, or financial difficulty such as debt and bankruptcy, especially student loan debt.

Millennials and Technology

Millennials are the most tech-savvy generation there is; their preferences for engaging with legal services is no different. Millennials expect firms to offer texting services, secure online messaging, and video chatting / consultations, just as they do with other services.  However, like previous generations, they still value the face-to-face meetings and appear to prefer to meet at your office to discuss legal issues. Some things will never replace the professionalism of meeting a lawyer.

Money Matters

Millennials are money conscious. The legal industry reports that this is a generation deeply concerned with budgeting and saving for the future. Most interesting, they seek value for money – they want to know precisely what they will get for the fees and how much each supplementary service will cost. They want to know they are making the right decision will a fully costed estimate and breakdown.