Current State of the Legal Industry
Law firms, like most industries, have seen significant shifts over the past few years, including:
- increase in the need and complexity of legal advice;
- changing needs of buyers of legal services;
- role of General Counsel and Corporate Legal Departments (CLDs);
- mainstream use of Alternative Legal Services Providers (ALSPs) and Big Four accounting firms (Big Four); and
- competition for junior legal talent.
The role of the lawyer in today’s technology-enabled environment has become even more important. In addition to understanding the laws in their area of expertise and providing legal advice to clients, lawyers must now advise their clients on the challenges they could face pertaining to the legal, risk, and regulatory implications of various technologies. They are also expected to share changes in the business and political environment that could impact them, such as insights into legal, risk and regulatory issues related to data storage, privacy and security of data.
ARTICLE BY NITA SANGER
