Lexpert magazine features articles and columns on developments in legal practice management, deals and lawsuits of interest in Canada, the law and business issues of interest to legal professionals and businesses that purchase legal services.
Issue link: https://digital.carswellmedia.com/i/707166
LEXPERT MAGAZINE | JULY/AUGUST 2016 49 FOR YOUNG LAWYERS, entering the professional marketplace nowadays is akin to jumping onto a moving subway train whose doors are open: the opportunities may be there, but it's hard to gauge them or the risks involved, and once you make it aboard, it's hard to know where the sheer motion will toss you. Traditionally, joining the profession has been more like getting on a stationary train whose destination is known to all. Not ev- eryone makes it to the destination, of course, because there are a lot of stops along the way and many reasons for getting off before the end of the line. Still, in law the ultimate destination for the most part has traditionally been equity partner at a law firm of one's choosing. In recent years, career opportunities have also exploded in corporate legal departments, where increasingly the role of in-house counsel has evolved to encompass impor- tant strategic business advisory functions. But the traditional model is facing serious disruption. Global and national economic business environments, the way clients buy legal services, technological innovation, and new entrants and competition mean that the future of law might involve fewer op- portunities for lawyers. Many legal services can now be provided without the intervention of fully qualified lawyers. Technology-driven services and companies like Avvo, Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom have flourished in the consum- er end of the legal market. But new business models and technology have also made their mark in the business law spectrum. Here, the most sophisticated clients are the ones demanding that whatev- er can be done by less costly contract lawyers or non-lawyers – or better still, by automat- ed or soware-aided process – be so done. Many of Canada's professional regula- tors, including the Law Society of Upper Canada, have recognized the fact that legal services are no longer just about lawyers by moving into paralegal and entity regula- tion — a shi from regulating fully quali- fied lawyers who have the exclusive right to provide legal services to regulating entities who provide legal services, whether or not they are owned or populated by fully quali- fied lawyers. ings have changed, then, even for top- of-class graduates from the very best law schools everywhere. "Many of these graduates will for the most part go the traditional route to large law firms where on the whole they'll have fantastic career experiences, but as the legal market changes, the number of them who will actually make equity partner is steadily diminishing," says Aron Solomon, a self- styled "serial entrepreneur" who has worked with startups all over the world and is cur- rently the Innovation Lead for the LegalX cluster and Senior Advisor for education technology at Toronto's MaRS Discovery STUDENT RECRUITMENT TRADITIONAL JOBS ARE HARD TO COME BY IN A QUICKLY CHANGING LEGAL MARKET, BUT NEW OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND BY JULIUS MELNITZER Thriving in Disruption DISRUPTION PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK