50 LEXPERT MAGAZINE
|
JULY/AUGUST 2016
District, a not-for-profit enterprise whose
goal is to commercialize publicly funded
and other innovation with the help of local
private enterprises.
e upshot is that young lawyers must be
open to opportunities in the changed mar-
ketplace for legal services.
"ere are tons of new opportunities
in the legal market," says Shelby Austin,
a lawyer with private practice experience
who founded ATD Legal Services PC in
Toronto, an ediscovery outsourcing service
that she sold to Deloitte in 2014. Austin is
now the Innovation and Growth Leader
for Deloitte's Financial Advisory Practice
and leads its Legal Project Solutions Offer-
ing, which focuses on managing large-scale
legal projects, including document review
and due-diligence projects on litigation
and competition matters and corporate
"And there are many places where those
who don't have the skills can learn the
basics they need fairly quickly," he says.
Complementary skills can also lead to
opportunities within traditional law firms
that depart from the traditional career
routes. Jobs in knowledge, project and data
management, for example, are but a few of
the new careers that are springing up at a
growing number of law firms.
It's not that anyone is suggesting that in-
terested young lawyers shy away from trad-
itional paths. It's just that the opportunities
along this road have diminished.
"If you're lucky enough to work at the
traditional firms, you have a gi that
shouldn't be taken lightly," Austin says.
"But if you can't make your way there, get-
ting into any of these new fields may be the
best thing you ever did."
transactions. "For example, there's a whole
industry growing up around legal tech,
there are jobs at legal outsourcing provid-
ers, and there are jobs at ediscovery firms."
Indeed, growth in legal startups is as-
tonishing. In 2014, AngelList, a popular
fundraising site, identified 412 companies
as legal startups. Two years later, the num-
ber had almost tripled to more than 1,100.
Robert Ambrogi, an American legal
technology and social media blogger, says
the explosion has occurred because the
legal market is large, ripe for innovation
and has a low cost of entry. "Virtually any-
body with a good idea can launch a prod-
uct," he told media recently.
Solomon recommends that law grads
who have experience in a complementary
field, like computer technology, take ad-
vantage of their skills.
PHOTO:
SHUTTERSTOCK
DISRUPTION
"… there's a whole industry growing
up around legal tech. There are
jobs at legal outsourcing providers,
and there are jobs at ediscovery firms."
– SHELBY AUSTIN, DELOITTE
