Newly Coined Titles Suggest Major Shift in the Legal Industry
The legal industry as a whole has a bad rap for being slow to adapt to evolving client needs. Modernization means change. But are law firms really that opposed to it? Simply, the answer is no. In fact, given the number of new titles we’ve seen crop up in law firms over the past ten years, we can see that firms are becoming more innovative and adaptive than ever.
Some of the most popular titles we’ve noticed are Chief Innovation Officer, Chief of Practice Innovation, and Director of Strategic Initiatives. These titles alone are indicative of the evolution of the industry. By creating these roles, it’s easy to see what law firms are doing: placing an emphasis on better serving their clients, and putting innovation and efficiency at the forefront of their practices.
Innovation a Key Focus for Emerging Roles
In the 2018 Aderant Business of Law and Legal Technology Survey, we found that innovation was an emerging responsibility added into many new titles. 30% of respondents said their firm has someone dedicated to the responsibility of law firm innovation. Makes sense, right? Innovation is key to success for law firms, so it comes as no surprise that it would be pushed to the forefront by both firms and clients. And most interestingly, we saw large law firms leading the trend, with the largest law firms more than twice as likely to say their firm had an employee in charge of innovation.
So, are these dedicated positions or additional duties? Well, both. When we asked respondents for the title of an employee tasked with innovation (and left it open-ended), we got sort of a mixed-bag of responses, with titles varying from Manager of Support & Innovation to Director of User Experience and everything in between. Regardless, firms are placing a greater emphasis on innovation, whether with a newly created role, or nesting the new responsibility within a pre-existing job title. So what’s the bottom line? Innovation is making its way into law firms, and with that brings efficiency and increased emphasis on client service.
The Efficient Delivery of Legal Services
Lawyers are busy running their practices and solving complex legal problems for clients. That’s why many of these new roles emerging across the legal community are aimed at helping lawyers and law firms efficiently deliver legal services. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for the continuing evolution of law firm roles well into the next decade, and beyond.
What new law firm titles have you seen pop up at firms? Let us know on Twitter with #AderantThinkTank at @Aderant!
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