The legal profession is facing an avalanche of change in the way it conducts its business. We think we are used to change because that is the nature of the law. We live in a changing world of courts, business, technology and legislation. We now also live in a world where books are being replaced by e-books, DVDs are being replaced by live streaming, hotels are being rented out by rooms in people’s homes, taxis are being replaced by Uber, and bank loans are by peer-to-peer lending.
What is changing for lawyers?
The following five trends affect the legal profession:
- getting help from external sources: This trend has already affected other professions such as accounting and is now affecting the legal profession. Some paralegal tasks and litigation support such as coding and document review are outsourced saving you time, money and the need to have some skills.
- Artificial intelligence: Legal research has been done online for quite some time and it really reduces the time spent searching. But the quality of what is available to us in terms of legal research is about to change dramatically with the advent of artificial intelligence. Legal software will become smarter at predicting judgments, conducting research, and recommending courses of action. While it will make our roles more efficient, it will also bring a whole new set of challenges in the way customers are billed and how we ensure that the advice we give is correct and up to date. We will still need to know if something has changed in the past few days that will not be included in the predictive program at the time we advise.
- Social mediaIt is now part of how we market our legal services, how we hire, how we research the people we hire and how we gather evidence to support our clients’ position. It will become more than that in the future.
- A multi-generational workforce: For the first time in history we now have four generations working side by side in the legal workspace. We have traditionalists, baby boomers, generation X and generation Y working together. People are now working longer and in some places this means that there is a generation gap of over 50 years between younger and older employees. This requires levels of tolerance, understanding, and communication that we may not be accustomed to.
- Alternative Billing Forms: The traditional pay-hours model was not popular with our customers and was seen as a rewarding inefficiency. As smart software becomes more popular, it will lead to more changes in the traditional billable watch model. The value of our advice would have little to do with how long it took us to give it.
Deloitte’s global research found other issues from a global survey of legal clients. Nearly half of the legal service providers interviewed indicated that regulatory compliance, mediation, arbitration and litigation were growing areas in their business. However, the same researchers also found that loyalty to a law firm is not guaranteed. More than half (55%) of those interviewed said they had recently reviewed their arrangement with their legal suppliers or would do so within 12 months.
Deloitte has also found that what people want from their law firm has now changed. Instead of purely legal advice, clients also wanted their attorneys to have more industrial, commercial or non-legal experience. They believed it would be beneficial if they had digital skills, data, privacy and cyber security and if they were more proactive in sharing knowledge. This may eventually lead to partnership arrangements with law firms with other professions so that the client’s needs can be fully met.
The interesting changes that have already occurred
What changes have you actually seen the professionals make? Here are some:
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A not-for-profit family law firm where profits are donated to an appropriate charity or returned to the organization or employees, rather than being paid out to partners as dividends.
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The use of emojis in communications by one law firm because putting a happy face at the end of an email ensures that the other party knows you’re not looking to escalate the dispute.
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Form strong networks with other professionals who may refer work to you or vice versa. These networks may contain anyone from accountants, bankers, financial planners, insurance and stockbrokers to health professionals. You can set up these networks on an informal basis, or with regular monthly meetings where you invite all of your clients to come meet and greet.
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One company has a “Digital Fest” every six months to inform customers of the latest relevant technologies and any legal issues or risks associated with their use or non-use.
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Apps that help people keep track of where their file is (eg, a text alert when a search is sent to a government department or a lease is sent to a tenant), when their next meeting is, which government agencies they’ll need to contact about various issues, etc. that.
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Determine the strategic locations of law firms in non-traditional physical locations such as health or innovation centers.
How do we consciously deal with so much change
Lawyers are traditionally conservative. We have a way we use to perceive, a way we dress and talk, a way we expect our office furniture to appear and a standard approach to how we do business… pretty much, the way it always has. Now we are being asked to turn things around and make changes to the way we do business if we want to stay relevant.
Change can be a good thing. If you’re old enough to remember the black and white TV, cassette tapes you had to wrap with a pencil when they broke, floppy disks, or fax machines, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Have you ever sold your home? Did you engage in a frenzy of cleaning, disposing of furniture, moving furniture to new places, and fixing things that you had endured for years. After it’s all done, have you stopped and looked at that sparkling house and wondered why you thought selling and moving in was a good idea? Your legal practice will likely benefit from similar clean-ups, repairs, and shake-ups. Instead of seeing these changes as disruption, what if you see them as an opportunity for promotion?
Our human reaction to change is to see it as something bad or a threat. After all, this is what kept us safe when we were evolving. Every change in our environment was a potential threat to our existence. Mindfulness asks you to see change, just like change. It’s neither good nor bad, it’s just a change.
Mindfulness also requires that you acknowledge that change is required and accept what that would mean. Acceptance means not protesting against the need for change, but rather accepting it and working step-by-step on what can be done about it.
Starting with small changes will make it easier. Choose something relatively easy, like building your referral network by one person per month and start there. Every step you take will count. After you’ve made a couple of smaller steps, you can tackle something bigger like social media for your business if you haven’t already.
The changes coming our way are neither good nor bad, it is just an opportunity for us to do better business.