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Growing Trends in Today’s Legal Worldby Pete Tormey and Felix AnteroMore demanding clients,new technologies andglobalization are takingan irreversible tollon the traditional law firm businessmodel. Consequently, newerbusiness models are cropping up, adevelopment which offers more opportunitiesbut also more risks forlawyers willing to conduct businessdifferently. This article exploressome of the trends in the professionand how they have affected ourstrategies for our law practice.Trends in Legal ServicesFollowing the Great Recession,there has been a large increase inunemployed and underemployedlawyers, many of whom are young,inexperienced and saddled withcrushing student loans. The collapseof the century-old firm Dewey& LeBoeuf, the trans-Atlanticmergers of giant white-shoe firmsand cutbacks in budgets by localgovernments and judicial brancheshave only added to a general senseof pessimism among many practitionersin the legal profession, bothyoung and old.The Ace Fiduciary Group■■■ Preserving Your Trust For The Benefit of Your Legacy ■■■The pessimism, however, is partlymisplaced because the fact is, theunderlying demand for legal serviceshas not abated much and is infact growing. This demand for legalservices is being met through “TheGreat Upender”—the Internet—where cheap-to-free legal servicesand information are overly abundant.This overabundance of free (albeitsometimes questionable) onlineinformation has taken a lot of themystery out of the attorney-clientrelationship and made self-help aviable alternative for many legalconsumers. As a result, prospectiveclients are better informed than beforeand searching for value-basedlegal services instead of the traditionalhourly model where thelawyer acts as the knowledge gatekeeper.Unfortunately for many lawyers,but fortunately for the brave do-ityourselfers,the quality of onlineresources will continue to improveand online services such as RocketLawyer and LegalZoom will honetheir business models to better meetA professional fiduciary can fill in the missing piece. We’ll help you pull together a plan forLitigation special needs trust; high conflict estates; or, advanced estate planning techniques.When you need to recommend top-tier quality for an unbiased, 3rd party trustee, rely on us.Check our website for a free assessment tool.www.acefiduciary.com1990 N. California Blvd. 8th Floor, Walnut Creek, CA 94596, (925) 906-1882A professional, neutral, exceptional, alternativethe growing demand. Thus, a newlaw practice has to allow for theseimprovements and create a businessmodel that can thrive in thisenvironment.Focus on ClientsEven though today’s typical clientsare better informed, the realityis they still have that underlyingfear that caused them to seek legalhelp in the first place. This fearmight be of losing everything in adivorce, risking criminal convictionor that a new business venturemight fail. The opportunity for a viablepractice starts with recognizingthis underlying fear, understandingit fully and addressing it competently.For example, in our practice it isnot uncommon for a client to callwith questions about starting a newbusiness, only to call back monthslater, after using an online incorporationservice, with questions abouthow to operate this new business.Many lawyers might take umbrageat this, but we recognize that it isn’tjust a new legal entity that the clientneeds, but the assurance thatthey are operating the new businessproperly—because of their underlyingfear that they may haveoverlooked something that can endup hurting them. Accordingly, theopportunity for a law firm isn’t tryingto sell the formalities of corpo-14MAY 2013
ate filings but instead to focus onthe higher value-added service ofunderstanding and allaying the client’sfear.In business and commercial law,the changes are more pronouncedbut the opportunities are also biggerand better. Clients want theirlawyers to provide more value insteadof merely being another “costcenter.” The corporate client is lookingtowards their lawyers more forproblem-solving and business strategythan in the past; hence, lawyerswith business degrees and substantialreal-world business experiencewill provide more value to clients.The rise in joint MBA/JD programsreflects this trend.Thus, even though our clientshave not specifically asked for lawyerswith business experience, asa firm and individual lawyers, weemphasize our practical businessexperiences early on in our clientrelationships. Letting the clientsknow we’ve been in their shoeshelps assure them, strengthens theattorney-client relationship andprovides us opportunities to addressunderlying business concerns as avalue-added service.Focus on Growth AreasStarting a law firm today requiresan examination of growth areaswhere it is worth investing scarcemarketing resources. Despite thegloomy outlook by many in theprofession, there are in fact amplegrowth areas in law. These areasinclude regulatory compliance, internationaltransactions and intellectualproperty, to name just a few.Regulatory compliance is particularlypromising because as the globaleconomy matures, the push forincreased regulation will also boostdemand for sophisticated businesslawyers. In addition, we are creatinga slew of new regulations in thefinancial, medical, environmentaland energy industries which willopen doors to more opportunities.Despite jurisdictional limitations,globalization has actually expandedan American lawyer’s legalworld, thanks in no small measureto the outsized impact of Americanlaws internationally and the factthat global business transacts inEnglish. Consequently, emergingmarkets are full of opportunities foran American lawyer able to guideclients in cross-border transactionsand compliance with internationalregulations. Populous countries likeChina, India and Brazil are primarycandidates (hence, the massiveexpansion of U.S. law firms there)because they are experiencingmind-boggling growth spurts acrossmultiple industries and buildingnew infrastructures which requiremore sophisticated legal systems.Some less populous but equallyimpressive growth stories are comingfrom the Southeast Asian, MiddleEast, North African and SouthAmerican regions, such as Indone-CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION CONTRA COSTA LAWYER 15
Page 2 and 3: Perry A. NovakSenior Vice President
Page 6 and 7: insideRevolutionizing LawWelcome to
Page 8: The Future of Law in Admissionsto t
Page 11 and 12: have crippled the judiciary’s abi
Page 16 and 17: Growing Trends,cont. from page 15si
Page 18 and 19: LAW PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SERIES 2013
Page 20: Solo SectionBreakfastFebruary 21, 2
Page 23 and 24: 2013 MEXICO MCLERELAX AND STUDY IN
Page 25 and 26: 1990, it was 15 months; in 2001 it
Page 27 and 28: California lawyers and courts may a
Page 29 and 30: 1A virtual law office has been defi
Page 31 and 32: A GOODREVIEWbut only if the stateme
Page 33 and 34: The next Inns ofCourt meetingis May
Page 35 and 36: CALENDARUPCOMING EVENTS | OVERVIEWM
Page 37 and 38: May 29 | CCCBAFast Track Bench/Bar
Page 39 and 40: Interested inAdvertisingin theContr

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