Sunday 29 April 2012

Understanding Legal Industry Trends and What the Future Holds

By Ed Hulse


Those who have keenly observed how barristers operate will attest to the fact that there are new legal industry trends and what the future holds for the profession. Many firms have been forced to adapt new strategies to sustain law firms. It has been noted that electronic methods have been acquired to do business. The use of emails, voice recording devices and the internet has started to gain acceptance.

Social forums are now popular as lawyers look for clients. The reliance on the traditional advertising modes have given room to social forums such as twitter, face book, linked in and YouTube, A barrister who does not actively participate in social networking is unlikely to be recognized.

Views form clients have also been quite intriguing. The general feeling is that barristers concentrate more on fees than quality services. The truth in such opinions is still a mater for debate. The other finding that is of considerable significance is that the syllabus in most institutions is ill equipped for the market.

Students in law schools generally express the opinion that they are not well prepared for business. The question that arises therefore is whether business skills should be part of legal training. Many lawyers are however registering for business studies in order to run their firms well.

The lawyers also have to acquire business skills to run their companies. Many training institutions do not teach marketing and business skills but barristers are registering for business courses. Also noted is the tendency to diversify activities. For example, some companies are now in green economy. They have started to explore the work opportunities in climate change, global warming and credits points.

Many lawyers have to consider whether they are going to retain the services of senior attorneys who usually get bonuses for offering experts guidance. If the recovery does not come soon, charges will become higher and accessing legal counsel will be more difficult. The quality of consultation may be affected. Many will dessert the sector and the public will be the losers.




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