Our Head of Client Development, Catriona Blamire*, caught up with Richard Crabb, Head of Commercial Management at HSBC and Richard Cohen, General Counsel and Legal Product Architect at Nivaura, to discuss their predictions for the legal sector in 2020.
With so much change happening – market volatility, evolving client expectations, new technologies, flexible ways of working, to pick a handful – the legal landscape presents both opportunities and challenges to traditional ways of working. Our speakers identify three key trends that will touch businesses most in the year ahead.
An increase in the use of technology
We’ll see a transition in the use of more advanced technology within legal teams. This technology will enable lawyers to deliver services in a more efficient way, freeing them up to focus on adding value to their businesses and clients. While an increase in the use of technology for legal work has been on the agenda for some time, the adoption of technology will become more mainstream especially in larger institutions, where it will be used to empower business teams and improve processes between the business and in-house legal. This will have implications on resourcing, with more demand for lawyers who have the skills and appetite to work with technology. Those at the earlier stages of their careers will also benefit from this shift with consulting careers opening up to a new generation of progressive lawyers.
Cost pressures
Businesses continue to face cost pressures and 2020 will bring little relief. General counsel will be looking for ways to deliver more for less with the aim of making budgets stretch further, which will involve managing the workforce in the most effective way. They will, therefore, continue to look at innovative ways to structure and adapt their teams through the use of specialist, flexible interim resource.
More flexibility from interim resource
Organisations will want to tap into specialist legal resource in a more ad-hoc way, rather than on a fixed-term or project basis. Many legal consultants also want to work more flexibly in order to pursue other avenues of work, hobbies or passions. So marrying this approach to flexible working will be a priority, especially for smaller organisations such as start-ups.
So there you have it – a year that will be exciting and dynamic, but with some challenges. Alongside our Advanced Delivery & Solutions colleagues, we’re already delivering innovative technologies and agile resourcing models to help our clients solve their business challenges. That culture of innovation will continue into 2020.
To discuss any of the points raised in this article, please contact us here.
*Catriona has now left the business.