Law new is not easy to pin down, but a few aspects are clear. In its simplest form, it refers to legal services that use nontraditional delivery methods or embrace technology in ways that benefit clients. It also is a term that describes the field of alternative legal service providers (ALSPs)—startups, companies or law firm subsidiaries augmenting traditional legal services and seeking to compete with large law firms for work.
It is also a term that applies to legal technology, or what is often called technolaw, and the use of tools to support and augment lawyers. This includes document management systems, workflow automation software, artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality, predictive analytics and a host of other technology that enables lawyers to work more efficiently and effectively with their clients.
The new data privacy laws in this country and around the world are an example of law new, with each statute differing with respect to its scope, requirements, potential liabilities and penalties and means of enforcement. It is important for businesses to analyze and understand the impact of these new laws, so they can adjust their practices accordingly.
Moreover, the legal industry as a whole is changing with the times and needs of its clients. For example, many large law firms now offer more integrated legal services – which include consulting, technology and other products and solutions – to their clients. In addition, law firms are looking at collaboration – either within or outside of the legal industry – to drive efficiencies and meet client cost takeout targets.
This bill requires City agencies to provide employees and job applicants with notices regarding available federal and state student loan forgiveness programs. The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) would prepare and make the notices available to the public.
As the legal industry continues to evolve, it will need to integrate itself with its clients and society-at-large to remain relevant. To do so, it will need to shift its paradigm from provider to customer-centricity. This will mean moving away from preserving legacy delivery models, outdated legal education and self-regulation toward focusing on customer impact that produces high net promoter scores, rather than achieving self-congratulatory awards or profit preservation. It will also require the legal function to possess data agility — mastery of data’s prime value elements including capture, unification, applied human and artificial intelligence, visualization, real-time refresh and decision driving. The benefits of this will be significant; they will help companies avoid the lost opportunity costs of stalled litigation and free up cross-functional colleagues to focus on business opportunities. This will create the most value for clients, reduce the costs of legal disputes and produce a more informed risk assessment and business decision.