The legal industry is still adapting to the impact levied by the outbreak of COVID-19. But many organizations, including law firms, have already taken steps to try and soften the economic blow. Firms such as Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle have already cut associate salaries by 25%, while others such as Clayton Utz have instituted hiring freezes, or—in the case of Cullen & Dykman—begun the process of laying off and furloughing attorneys.

For out-of-work law firm attorneys, legal tech companies and alternative legal service providers can potentially serve as other sources of employment. But don't count on seeing a massive redistribution of human resources within the legal ecosystem any time soon.

Kimball Parker, CEO of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's tech subsidiary SixFifty, posited that law firms are more prepared now than they were for the recession in 2008, which may put some of the large-scale firms in a stronger position than others in the legal field to absorb the fallout from the novel coronavirus.

"[The workforce] could be redistributed back into firms just as easily as away from firms. … I could easily foresee a situation where firms fare better than legal technology companies," Parker said.

It's not that there's a lack of utility for attorneys working inside legal technology companies. Having lawyers on staff can provide legal tech companies with immediate feedback from the audience who will eventually be using their products.

"I think it's one of the reasons we see attorneys either getting hired [by] or starting legal tech companies, because they have some of the insights already in their head and no other attorney is slowing down to help anybody else see the problem," Andrew Whelan, vice president and law firm segment leader for CT Corp. at Wolters Kluwer, told LTN last year.

However, the economic impact wrought by COVID-19 might leave legal tech companies in no position to make those hires. Legal professionals are continuing to leverage technology such as remote conferencing software or knowledge management platforms to help keep business flowing, which may be helping to shift lawyers' overall attitude toward tech adoption in a more positive direction. But law firm and corporate belt tightening could still hit legal tech hard, with some companies already taking precautions.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg Law reported that Elevate was enacting 10% salary cuts across-the-board, while legal app-store Reynen Court's senior executive team will be taking 20% salary cuts and instituting a freeze on new hiring.

"In the short term, I think [COVID-19] is going to have a pretty devastating effect on the industry," Parker said.

There may be a few exceptions in such niches as legal research, where smaller companies may benefit from firms beginning to turn away from larger, more expensive legacy competitors. E-discovery could also have some spots available for job-seeking attorneys. Parker indicated that during the recession of 2008, many attorneys found work performing document review.

What's more, ALSPs could potentially offer a similar employment outlet for lawyers having trouble finding work.

Alternative legal services provider Axiom is continuing to hiring attorneys, with senior vice president of lawyer talent John Erban noting a slight bump in applications from earlier in the year. Erban thinks that even beyond COVID-19, in-house legal departments will have to reconsider how they restructure their legal teams, potentially relying on outside law company assistance should internal head count dwindle.

Where the work goes, so could the lawyers. "You're going to see more people continue to come to Axiom to be employed, and you are going to see more demand for places like Axiom as the result of legal departments doing what we're talking about," Erban said.

However, that may not be the case for every ALSP out there. Zach Abramowitz, a consultant in the legal technology space, pointed out that not all ALSPs are staffing companies such as Axiom and may not be looking to hire attorneys. It's also worth noting that these law companies could also be feeling the economic impact of COVID-19.

"Not all ALSPs are necessarily recession-proof. Will companies that took private equity funding in the last five years and have already been consolidating and 'eliminating redundancies' be in a position to hire? That is not clear. The private equity funds may already be looking for liquidity opportunities," Abramowitz said.