Learn all about T-shaped lawyer and get information to update you. Do not miss it!
The lawyer of the future must be equipped with the necessary tools to satisfy the demands of a new type of client with more access to information and, consequently, more demanding when demanding legal services.
How can you prepare? In this article, we will tell you!
Digital Transformation And The Lawyer Of The Future:
While it is true that the digital transformation brought many novelties to the legal market, it is also true that the advance in telecommunications generated ambiguity:
● On the one hand, it sped up some of the lawyers’ work processes, from sending emails to staying in contact with clients.
● But, on the other hand, it took away some of the tasks that were traditionally under its control, such as basic legal research and contract drafting.
Technology is rapidly taking over the jobs that lawyers of the past did all day and even at night.
For that reason, the stereotypical old-school lawyer who dictated typed letters while racking up the hourly commissions is obsolete. This is because lawyers no longer have a market with little competition, therefore they will have to adapt and develop new skills. They will have to become T-shaped lawyers.
Don’t you know what that means? So, I kept reading that in less than 5 minutes you will find out what it is about!
What Is A T-shaped Lawyer?:
Also known as a “2.0 lawyer” or a “positive value” lawyer, a T-shaped lawyer:
● has extensive legal experience (represented by the vertical bar of the T);
● and also, a solid foundation in another topic (represented by the horizontal bar of the T). This other field of knowledge could range from technology, business, and analytics to human resources, politics, or more.
The additional knowledge requirement is because today’s customers demand and expect more. They need attorneys who can use technology to provide the most efficient and profitable service possible. The client wants someone who knows the universe in which he operates when he demands legal assistance.
While it is not necessary to become a skilled coder, hacker, or bitcoin master, the lawyer of the future will need to understand how these industries align with the interests of their clients.
The T-shaped lawyer must also have strong interpersonal and project management skills. This is because the legal profession is experiencing a movement towards horizontally integrated firms and an increase in “boutique” firms, that is, firms in which all members specialize in specific areas of law.
This means that, particularly in smaller firms, lawyers are expected to take on more responsibilities at an earlier stage, therefore they will need the skills to manage their own projects and lead their own teams.
And it goes without saying that in an increasingly integrated world, the lawyer of the future is also expected to work in diverse teams and have a strong sense of cultural awareness.
Because right now?:
As IE Law School professor Mark Cohen wrote in Forbes, the new digital age ” is reinventing the supplier-customer dynamic and transforming the way goods and services are bought and sold.” Well-capitalized, technology-enabled, customer-centric new model providers are changing the game across the board and the legal industry is no exception.
According to Cohen, the companies that have adapted to this new model share several fundamental characteristics: an unwavering commitment to improving access, experience, and customer loyalty; efficient use of data; achieving “more with less” for the benefit of customers, employees, and shareholders, as well as constant improvement.
This means that today’s companies or workers, including lawyers, who want to survive must show a willingness to embrace technology, adopt a global perspective, be culturally diverse and aware, and also have a strong set of social skills.
That is why in 2018 the Diploma Legal Management Program (LMP) PUCV TR emerged in response, a new strategic and organizational approach that allows us to understand the changes in the legal market and manage, in a more efficient, dynamic, and open way, the 21st-century legal affairs.
