Often, it’s difficult to distinguish legal innovation from the myriad of other industry buzzwords. That’s particularly true with “law new,” a term that is used to describe a range of strategies that are aimed at helping the profession thrive in today’s challenging environment. However, it’s important to keep in mind that a well-designed strategy employing law new techniques can offer firms a chance to tap into a fresh source of revenue without impacting other areas of their business that may be more lucrative in the long run.
In essence, the concept of law new is about creating a variety of innovative and unique ways to deliver legal services. As a result, this can include working with underserved communities and coming up with different approaches to client service that have never been available before. It can also mean finding new strategies that will help clients get the best possible value from their legal services.
It is important to understand that this concept of law new is one that can benefit all firms and legal practice areas if they are willing to embrace it. The key to doing so is making sure that they focus on the most important element: value creation.
This is the one thing that all lawyers and their clients should be able to agree upon. It is important to recognize that in the future, the most successful law firms will be those that can offer the most valuable services for the money. This means focusing on delivering the highest quality of work in the most cost-effective way possible.
A number of things are influencing the evolution of law new, but there are two primary drivers that will determine how it ultimately plays out. The first is that the legal industry will begin to more closely resemble its corporate customers and society at large. This will involve a more holistically diverse workforce that is customer-centric, tech and data-proficient, creative, and empathetic.
It will also be integrated within the enterprise, erasing artificial distinctions between its provider sources and other enterprise business functions. This will allow the legal function to provide accessible, affordable, on-demand, scalable, and solutions-based legal products and services that can solve challenges and capture opportunities at the speed of business and society.
Lastly, the legal industry will shift its paradigm from provider to customer-centricity and focus on delivering legal services that produce high net promoter scores. This will require a radical transformation of the way legal services are delivered, which will necessitate changes in legal education, outdated legal procurement models, and the legacy delivery system that has focused on profit preservation rather than legal consumer and society impact. The good news is that all of this will be driven by the power of customers and the need for legal providers to adapt to the needs of a rapidly changing world. The law new that is currently in the making will be the outcome of this paradigm shift and human adaptation process.