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/688578
82 LEXPERT MAGAZINE | JUNE 2016 John Campion is an internationally recognized trial, appeal and arbitration lawyer. He is a senior partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP. SHAPE-SHIFTING: is is the concept that will dominate litiga- tion work over the next 35 years, and it will have a significant impact on the nature of one's career. Day-to-day work will be constantly evolving to keep pace with advances in technology and sophisti- cated uses of big data. ese systems won't duplicate the judgment of a lawyer, but they will find new ways of analyzing information, making old methods quickly irrelevant. ere will be a premium on creativity among lawyers. ose that perform repetitive tasks will tend to become obsolete, but new hori- zons will come into focus. Our computers will evolve beyond mere adding machines and communication devices, and directly enhance the mental processes of individual lawyers, creating what may be con- sidered the artificial/human professional. We can already see this shape-shiing in the cultural profile of new lawyers. e emphasis on personal life and emotional intelligence, however, is not a millennial concept; it is a uni- versally recognized set of values upon which future work environ- ments and client relationships are being constructed. ese values are increasingly the calling cards that clients are demanding. Obligations to fairness, respect and friendship will replace the warrior god with the philosopher king. Creative media- tion and predictable outcomes will supplant much of the existing winner-takes-all model, even in regulatory and criminal matters. For larger institutions, the forces for change will rise from the bottom and be driven at the top. Lawyers are demanding an en- vironment that fulfils all of their personal needs. Failure to recognize this huge cultural change will cause institutions themselves to fail. From the top, clients and the public will demand workplace audits to measure fair- ness, diversity, courtesy in much the same way they have previously concentrated on excellence and economic efficiency. Planning a career to 2050 and beyond, lawyers are beset with forces of profound significance. Security based on a stable life environment will be seriously challenged. Social media has opened a window into ev- ery lawyer's character, intelligence, judgment and actions. ere is little room to survive an impaired driving charge or an unacceptably rude public reaction. Not only will the skills of lawyers be rated, but so too their character. is "new lawyer" will be constantly seeking out novel work- places, no longer allowing loyalty to the firm to obstruct personal needs. He or she will use mobility from workplace to workplace and secondments to experience different work environments — to truly know their clients, form lifelong professional and business partner- ships, achieve client loyalty, learn problem-solving and see the work world beyond economic pressures. e new lawyer, engaged in the world, will see the deficiencies in his or her education, workplace experience, cultural views and in- dividual wellness: "Have I sufficient understanding of accounting, economics, government, bureaucracy, inter-personal relationship dynamics, cultural, linguistic, physical and other factors that allow me to 'hold my personal centre' while improving my skills and un- derstandings and advancing in an unpredictable world?" Because individuals operating in the world will increasingly be transparent in all aspects of their lives, their workplace brand will matter and their personal brand will require constant cultivation. As individual lawyers practise, teach, lecture, write, publish, advise and participate in various aspects of their professional life, each one will be required to learn new ideas, skills and judgments. Looking back from 2050, lawyers will embrace and remember those with whom they have travelled. e end point will not have been predictable, and they will hardly recognize the place from which they began. PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK The New Lawyer Legal professionals of the future will be the ultimate shape-shifters > 'OBLIGATIONS TO FAIRNESS, RESPECT AND FRIENDSHIP WILL REPLACE THE WARRIOR GOD WITH THE PHILOSOPHER KING' | COLUMNS | BY JOHN CAMPION CHANGE AGENT