The latest publication from the ARK Group, New Directions in Legal Services, demonstrates how quickly the legal sector is adapting, and indeed innovating, in order to meet the challenges presented by new technologies and other market trends. In their introductory chapter “Why the developments to the competence divide (and not the digital divide) will make or break the law firm business model” Markus Hartung (Director, Bucerius CLP) and Emma Ziercke (Research Assistant, Bucerius CLP) examine whether legal technology has caused law firms to re-write their business models, or whether other more subtle forces are at work.
In 2016, the Bucerius Law School in conjunction with the Boston Consulting Group, revealed in their report “How Legal Technology will Change the Business of Law” (LINK) that legal technology solutions could perform as much as 30-50 per cent of the work currently carried out by junior lawyers; firms would need to redefine key elements of their business model in order to succeed in the new world of legal technology. One year on, the Bucerius Center on the Legal Profession examines whether legal technology has caused law firms to re-write their business models. Are they differentiating their service offering? Are revenue models and organizational structures changing? And what is driving these adjustments to the model?
With kind permission of the ARK Group, a copy of the chapter “Why the developments to the competence divide (and not the digital divide) will make or break the law firm business model” can be downloaded here. The book “New Directions in Legal Services” is now available for purchase via the ARK Group website and contains the work of numerous experts including Joanna Goodman, who will be speaking at this year’s Bucerius CLP Autumn Conference.
