Futureproofing Your Career in the Legal Sector

Decades ago, industries would not change a great deal year to year. However, thanks to the rate of technological advancement, an industry that does not alter significantly, is now an exception, rather than the rule. 

As the way people live and work changes, professional industries and occupations are set to evolve too. In fact, with Forbes suggesting that investments in legal tech increased by over 700% in 2018 compared to 2017, the rate of change within the legal sector may be set to be more rapid than in any other industry. With this in mind, legal professionals of the future would equip themselves well by having an attitude of lifetime learning and a general growth mindset.

It could be argued that law firms have not changed significantly in the last decade. In an interview with "Law and Broader" Mark A Cohen suggested that many people at the head of firms, who are dictating how they run, are 'older' people, within hailing distance of retirement. They have no long term equity interest in the firm, so making investments in upskilling their workforce or investing in technology is sometimes stagnated. However, other startups and larger legal firms are adopting and adapting to change giving them a different delivery capability which is making them more profitable than the firms who are not evolving with technology. Mark A Cohen goes on to say that change is driven by clients who are changing their buying habits who may be looking for example, for fixed pricing rather than billing-per-hour models.

With around 3000 legal technology companies now established around the world, it seems likely that rapid change is around the corner....

Legal Technology

The practice of law is changing. A law practice in the near future will likely not only employ lawyers and administrative staff, but they will also have technologist and computer scientists on their payroll. It's likely that if you want to be a lawyer in the future, you will need at least a rudimentary understanding of technology, data and even AI.

In the past, a lawyer may have predicted the outcome of a case or transaction, by saying something along the lines of "my gut tells me this one is going to go our way". In the future, the outcome of court cases are likely to be accurately predicted using data and AI. for example, a legal professional could input many variables into a piece of data mining software including - court location, demographic information about the defendant, the nature of the potential crime or issue etc. the software will then be able to look at all the previous court cases it has access to, and predict an outcome based on historical data and variables.

A good understanding of how technology can be applied is already a great advantage of any lawyer to have. 

Many forums posts and articles have been written recently on whether or not lawyers should learn to code. Whilst Clifford Chance and other firms have stated that they have been running sessions to teach their employees basic coding, it seems unlikely that coding will be a central part of a lawyers vocation. However, with the legal industry like many others, offering many job opportunities for computer coders, having a legal qualification and an ability to code, will likely equip any legal graduate incredibly well for the job marketplace.

Project Management

Whilst it seems likely that a rudimentary understanding of technology and data will be essential to work in a legal firm in the future, an ability to project manage effectively could also be a distinct advantage for a law graduate seeking employment.

As the use of technology enables lawyers to handle more clients at any one time, working and charging via an hourly rate will likely be substituted to a 'per project' system. If you are the type of person who tends to lead and organize everybody else, then its possible that you may excel in terms of your ability to project manage. Planning, execution, control, completion and reporting are all stages in project management. Gaining an understanding of the basics from watching 2 or 3 Youtube videos should give you enough insight into understanding the basics and whether you could branch off into a legal career in project management. In fact, in the UK, you can become a Certified Legal Project Practitioner, which might suggest that there's a growing need for legally qualified project managers.  

Remote Work & Outsourcing

With the COVID-19 pandemic a large percentage of the world's office workers into an experiment in remote-working; 2020 may mark a shift in the typical daily routine for many. A side-effect for US and UK workers, however, could be that overseas outsourcing increases thanks to the success of remote working nationally. 

Administrative tasks may more regularly be outsourced to virtual assistants, and if an entire team or firm works on an office-less, remote working model, then virtual receptionist may also be used more often. US and UK-based company Moneypenny has recognised the demand for this service and has set up a team which specialises in answering phone calls for legal firms. 

Clients may also seek, where possible, cheaper services from overseas or directly from a website such as Legal Zoom and Rocket Lawyer. With state-specific regulations on how can practice Law, it's likely that overseas lawyers undercutting US-based firms and taking away business - won't happen any time soon.

A More Efficient Future

Whilst the development of legal tech and AI may seem intimidating, at least in part, it should be a welcomed change for some legal professionals.

For example, with document analysis and document review, sometimes a lawyer's team would ideally need to look at thousands, sometimes even millions of documents. This would ordinarily have to be filtered down to dozens of documents, and the end-product of any analyses could often be missing some crucial details. With AI, however, after some initial training and programming, could review millions of documents in hours, if not minutes, providing a more robust report and end product.

Increased efficiency could also make legal services more affordable for clients. This could mean that more people will seek legal services in the future, which may again suggest that there will be more work and demand for lawyers who possess the skills to use AI and other technology.

Online courts more also provide efficiency and affordability that will make legal services available to more people. With the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic accelerating the adoption of online courts across the world, The Legal Education Foundation predicts that:

 " By the year 2022, most civil disputes in England and Wales will be resolved through an online court".

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