Law new is a broad concept that is difficult to pin down. It can mean bringing a different approach to a client’s issue, working with non-traditional legal service providers or utilizing alternative fee structures. It can also include creating strategies that work with underserved communities or providing assistance in areas of law that are not traditionally a part of a firm’s scope of practice. A well thought out plan making use of these techniques can provide a valuable new source of revenue without impacting other areas of legal practice that might be the primary focus of a firm.
The concept of law new is gaining traction, and it is a concept that all lawyers should be familiar with. As firms look to find new sources of revenue and discover ways to grow their business, the idea of law new is one that deserves very close attention.
A key aspect of the shift to law new will be increased collaboration. This will occur at multiple levels, including: collaboration among legal practitioners and allied legal professionals on the business of law; between large law firms and in-house legal departments; between law firms and companies; and between the legal industry and other industries and professions.
This collaboration will be supported by an integrated platform-based delivery structure that enables agile, fluid and on-demand resources with verifiable, material expertise and experience to be sourced. It will enable solutions to be delivered at the speed of business and society and will create a secure repository for data and collective experience that can be leveraged across a wide range of legal challenges. Profit will not be derived from adherence to a legacy economic model based on input but rather through a purpose-driven, customer-centric, data-backed, tech-enabled and solution-oriented business model that produces high net promoter scores.
The way law is conducted will be changed dramatically by this shift to law new. It will more closely resemble its corporate customers and society at large. It will be more holistically diverse – cognitively, demographically and culturally; more creative and technologically proficient; and empathetic and collaborative. It will possess the requisite data agility to identify and capture risks and opportunities, free up management from addressing time-consuming legal disputes and produce high-value, cost-takeout legal products and services. It will be a customer-centric, integrated industry that is nimble and adaptable to rapidly changing business and societal needs.