According to a report produced by legal strategist Jordan Furlong for Lawyers on Demand, the profession is going through an industrial revolution. ‘The New world of Legal Work – The changing rules of the 21st Century’ predicts that most private practice lawyers will be entrepreneurs whilst many law firms will be smaller than they are today, with fewer permanent lawyers and staff occupying less square footage. Decentralising operations, increasing productivity and introducing new ways of measuring output to repace the current billing metrics will revolutionise the legal profession.

Quality outcomes

Lawyers will be encouraged to pursue quality of outcome rather than quantity of time, which will further accelerate the trend towards flexible workers providing specialised value from the most effective locations, the report predicts.Indeed the report says that the future law firm will feel less like a 1970s white-collar office and more like a 21st century condominium hotel.

Revolutionising legal practice

 Mirroring other industries which have revolutionised working practices,  successful  law firms will move to a ‘more modern deployment of talent and systems to accomplish legal work.’ Not only does this reduce personnel costs but increases productivity. ‘ The means by which legal work can best be done — in terms of productivity, sustainability and effectiveness — will become a primary consideration for legal service providers and their clients,'  Mr Furlong states. He says that work will be carried out using ‘not only blueprints guided by elgal project management and flowcharts used by legal technicians, but also expert applications operating online and automated contract assembly engines. Source: LawyersonDemand