To adapt to the changing legal market, the New York Law School (NYLS) is opening a new Business of Law Institute, and shared results of its feasibility study undertaken by its consultants, Ari Kaplan Advisors. The research highlights a need to understand better the business and technology trends in the legal profession.

Business fluency

The firm has released findings from a research study into the range of relevant programming and instruction provided at American Bar Association-accredited law schools, the current market conditions for legal services, and key business of law concerns. The research covered leaders at law firms and corporations, faculty members, professionals in law firms and corporate legal departments, and focus groups with day and evening law students. New York Law School Dean Anthony Crowell stated, ‘it is no secret that the legal profession is undergoing profound change,’ and ‘more than ever, lawyers at firms and corporate legal departments must be fluent in the technical and operational needs of their clients and organizations.’ The research findings supported a market demand case for a Business of Law Institute, which will launch in fall 2018, but also revealed a number of key findings.

Key findings

Most (68 per cent) of law firm leaders reported that coursework in e-discovery/technology- assisted review would give employees or prospective employees a competitive advantage, which was followed by cybersecurity coursework (64 percent). They would most like their new associates to have experience in advanced legal research (68 per cent), e-discovery/technology-assisted review (67 per cent), cybersecurity (65 per cent), and legal technology selection and operation (56 per cent). Most (64 per cent) of the corporate law department leaders said that the best way law schools can prepare their students to take advantage of changing market opportunities is to encourage them to learn about how technology is used beyond the law firm setting. They said it was most important for their outside law firms to understand the applications and implications of privacy (73 per cent), risk and compliance (71 per cent), and cybersecurity (63 per cent). Law students were most eager to learn about artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and privacy—and were unanimously interested in attending technology learning labs. A link to the report is here.