From automation to concierge-level support of clients, the legal industry is changing, and changing fast. In the last several years, employment opportunities have fluctuated, with the number of legal jobs pre-recession still down by 55,000.
We asked three prominent leaders in the field to comment on where they see the legal industry going. Peter Prestley, for instance, talks of new competition brought on by technology and the need for creativity. Jeff Unger outlines three major shifts he believes will shape the industry, including the diminishment of hourly rates. And finally, Joshua Lenon sheds light on what an aging population of lawyers means and the rise of alternative dispute technologies.
Through these glimpses of what the future may hold, we can better understand how the legal industry is evolving so as to evolve with it rather than fall behind.
Peter Prestley, Partner at Madsen, Prestley & Parenteau LLC:
Technology Is Leading To Greater Democratization Of The Industry
Within recent memory, lawyers were the prime sources of legal knowledge and services. Law firms, government entities, corporations, nonprofits and others accessed legal resources appropriate to their needs and their means principally from ‘their lawyers.’ The providers of these services enjoyed a monopoly guaranteed by the system, with competition centered principally within various legal sectors.
Today, we see technology changing traditional ways of providing legal services. This has led to greater democratization of the ‘industry,’ and introduced new competition and continual searching for better and more efficient ways of providing legal services. These trends promise to continue as legal resources and intelligence become increasingly accessible through various technological advances.
This will lead to relentless changes in configurations and reconfigurations of legal services providers, featuring ‘just-in-time’ inventories of legal services and legal providers, increased reliance on non-lawyers, more virtual resourcing, and new financing systems such as insurance for legal services. What will not change is the importance of good judgment and creativity, which now will need to be utilized to continually reinvent to stay cutting edge, as well as to assure that quality does not give way to commoditization.
