Stay Informed with the Latest Law News - The Law Buzz List

SUMMARY

Legal professionals have a unique set of challenges when it comes to staying on top of the latest industry trends. While there are many resources available to help lawyers track changes in the legal profession, one of the most effective ways to do this is by forming an understanding of what is "hot" in the law today.


The legal profession is constantly evolving, and staying up-to-date requires knowing the latest buzz words, market trends, and technology developments. This "buzz list" of what's hot in the legal industry will help lawyers and law firms keep up with the ever-changing landscape of the legal world.

Technology is one of the biggest influences on the legal industry, and it's important for legal professionals to understand the latest advancements. Legal technology companies are constantly innovating to help lawyers save time, be more efficient, and improve the overall client experience. Examples of legal tech developments include automation and AI tools for research, document creation, and workflow management, as well as the use of big data and predictive analytics in the legal space.

Data privacy and cybersecurity are also hot topics in the law today. Companies of all sizes are investing in data security measures to protect their clients' and customers' personal information, and increasingly, law firms are being held accountable for failing to keep their data secure. As such, it's important for legal professionals to stay up to date on the latest cyber threats and best practices for data protection.

Another sector to watch is legal marketing. As more law firms recognize the importance of staying competitive in a crowded market, they are increasingly turning to digital marketing strategies such as search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, and social media to drive their business. Understanding the latest trends in online marketing and using the right keywords and phrases can help law firms rank better in search engine results and get more eyes on their services.

Finally, the law is still subject to traditional trends and developments. As such, keeping up with changes to regulations and laws in each area of practice is key. Staying aware of the latest legislative news, proposed bills, court decisions, and other legal decisions helps lawyers and law firms remain informed and prepared to advise their clients.

The legal industry is always changing, and staying on top of the latest developments is key to success. Knowing the buzz words, staying informed about technology advancements, understanding data privacy, learning about legal marketing trends, and following regulatory updates are all essential pieces of keeping up with what's hot in the law today.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN THIS ARTICLE

 

The Rapidly Changing Legal Landscape

The legal landscape is rapidly changing. Today, there is an increasing demand for legal services, attorneys, and other related legal professionals. Many of these changes have been driven by the growth of technology, globalization, and other trends. As a result, the legal industry is undergoing transformation in many ways.
 

Legal Professionals In High Demand

As technology advances, and businesses become more global, legal professionals are in greater demand than ever. This includes attorneys, paralegals, and other related legal professionals. These professionals are being sought after for their ability to resolve complex legal issues and provide counsel for different legal matters.
 

Growing Need for Transactional and Regulatory Law

As technology, globalization, and other trends drive the need for legal services, there is an increasing need for legal professionals who specialize in transactional and regulatory law. These legal professionals are needed to provide advice, support, and legal representation for businesses that are dealing with complex regulatory and legal issues.
 

Development of New Legal Specialties

The rapid changes in the legal landscape have also spurred the development of new legal specialties. This includes areas such as intellectual property, data privacy, cybersecurity, and other related fields. These new specialties are in high demand, as businesses and individuals are looking for legal help to navigate these new legal issues.
 

Advancement of Legal Technology

As the legal industry continues to transform, legal technology is also advancing quickly. There are now a variety of software tools and platforms that are being used to assist attorneys, paralegals, and other legal professionals in their work. These tools are providing legal professionals with more efficient and cost-effective ways to complete their tasks.

As a lawyer, knowing who or what matters can help you land a client. It can help you live a richer life. It can give you something to talk about when you get stuck in the back of a cab with a tax attorney. In that spirit of enlightenment, we present our first annual Buzz List. From hot law firms to hot clothes, it's a compendium (read: cheat sheet) of all things trendy in the field. Guess what? Tax law is on the rise as a career option. See, what you don't know can hurt you.

Law Firms

Okay, so 2002 wasn't a great year for deal-making. But deal value is still how big firms keep score. This year's winners? Global powerhouse Linklaters led all firms worldwide in the dollar value of deals handled- $226 billion-while Clifford Chance Rogers & Wells ranked second, handling 250 deals worth nearly $203 billion, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom came in third globally, with 185 deals valued at $173 billion.

Bankruptcies continue to make front-page news, and firms doing high-volume business in that area include Weil, Gotshal & Manges, which is handling the WorldCom and Enron busts; Kirkland & Ellis, which is tackling the restructuring of United Airlines; and Willkie Farr & Gallagher, which is doing the work for Adelphia Communications' Chapter 11 filing.

Allegations of corporate misdeeds remain in the headlines as well. Steptoe & Johnson now counts former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers, former Tyco general counsel Mark Belnick, and ex-Rite Aid vice president Franklin Brown as clients. Venerable Wall Street firm Carter, Ledyard & Milburn added a prominent white-collar defense and corporate investigations practice, headed by erstwhile assistant United States attorney and New York SEC office director Ira Sorkin. Plaintiff's firm Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach has made class-action shareholder suits filed against misbehaving corporations and CEOs the mass tort of the day.

Arguably the most successful big firm merger of 2002 was the hookup between the Boston shop once known as Bingham Dana and the former McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen of San Francisco. The new firm, Bingham McCutchen, boasts a diversified set of practice areas and the merger was completed without layoffs or office closings.

Among the most talked about boutique firms of the year are Chicago's Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott and Miami's Pertnoy, Solowsky, and Allen. Both made the National Law Journal's 2002 ranking of the 50 "winningest law firms" (those that brought in the highest verdicts in 2001).

Topping the American Lawyer's associate satisfaction survey for 2002 were Atlanta's Alston & Bird, Boston's Goulston & Storrs, and Houston's Susman Godfrey. The winners in the Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms: Washington, D.C.'s Williams & Connolly, San Francisco's Morrison & Foerster, and, again, Alston & Bird.

TV Shows

Former attorney Dick Wolf's Law & Order franchise has now expanded to three shows on NBC-Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent-occupying three full hours of the weekly prime-time TV schedule. Each program consistently lands in the top 20 in the Nielsen ratings, frequently rating number one in its time slot. Law & Order, the flagship, has been ranked in the weekly top five among all current programs.

Reform

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is one of the most important pieces of business reform legislation enacted in decades. Intended to whip corporate America into shape after its spate of high-visibility scandals, the measure-with its sweeping list of rules and regulations on accounting, corporate governance, and ethics-is sure to affect how lawyers (in-house and outside) advise clients. But here's the catch: No one's quite sure what rules the SEC might issue in compliance with the act, and certain proposed provisions are being met with considerable resistance. One SEC feature, for example, might require securities lawyers to discontinue representing clients if there is evidence of misconduct. But lawyers argue that the provision will interfere with the attorney-client confidentiality privilege.

Supreme Court Nominee

No lawyer has closer ties to George W. Bush than San Antonio native and Harvard Law grad Alberto Gonzales. When Bush was the governor of Texas, Gonzales served as his governor's counsel and secretary of state-then Bush appointed him to the Texas Supreme Court. When Dubya moved to Washington, he tapped Gonzales as White House counsel. And when the next U.S. Supreme Court vacancy opens, many insiders believe Bush may turn to Gonzales again. Why? Gonzales would represent a political trifecta: young (47), conservative (but not too conservative), and Hispanic.

Chief Justice Candidate

And what if 78-year-old Chief Justice William Rehnquist steps down? Court watchers say Justice Antonin Scalia could be the next supreme Supreme. Earlier predictions pointing to moderates Anthony Kennedy or Sandra Day O'Connor as possible replacements have changed since the 2002 elections. "The leading theory now is that given the Republican majority in Washington, everything gets pushed to the right a little bit," says Legal Times Supreme Court reporter Tony Mauro. "Scalia has emerged from this shift." The 66-year-old Scalia is generally considered the most conservative member of the Court. Given his voting record against abortion rights, affirmative action, gay rights, and church-state separation, says Mauro, expect a bloody confirmation process. "The Republicans still don't have enough of a majority to halt a filibuster if the Democrats decide to really go to war."

Cars

Lawyers have always liked a nice Benz. In the past, that's meant a sporty little SL convertible or a big road-gobbling S-class sedan. But the Mercedes of the moment is the 2003 G500 light truck: Think Mercedes meets Hummer. Can't spare $74,265 just now? The Mini Cooper S is the current urban-hipster lawyer's vehicle of choice-and the envy of design lovers everywhere. It checks in at the relatively mini sticker price of $19,975.

Lawyers

As the head of the Department of Justice's criminal division ("Government Jobs," page 44), former federal prosecutor Michael Chertoff is quietly leading many of the high-profile terrorism cases (he's also rumored to be in line for a federal judgeship). Defense attorneys working terrorism turf include Morrison & Foerster partner James Brosnahan, whose politically charged client roster includes American Taliban John Walker Lindh; federal public defender Owen Walker, who is representing alleged "shoe bomber" Richard Reid; and solos Donna Newman and Andrew Patel, who are advising dirty-bomb suspect Jose Padilla. Suspected twentieth 9/11 hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui is exercising his Sixth Amendment right to represent himself, but the court appointed defense attorneys Edward MacMahon, Frank Dunham, and Alan Yamamoto to assist as standby counsel, despite Moussaoui's vehement objections. Moussaoui's numerous requests to allow Houston-based Muslim lawyer Charles Freeman to provide him with out-of-court legal assistance have been denied.

Bill Lerach, the Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach name partner, is leading shareholder suits against Enron and WorldCom ("So much fraud," he recently told a reporter, "so little time"). New York State attorney general Thomas Reilly has been establishing a reputation as one of the most aggressive prosecutors in the country, taking on Microsoft and the Catholic Church (for alleged cover-ups of sex crimes at the Boston Archdiocese).

Johnnie Cochran has abandoned criminal defense (and courtroom rhyming) in favor of race-related causes. He's a member of the Reparations Coordinating Committee, an amalgam of academics and lawyers planning to file lawsuits that could net billions in reparations for the descendants of American slaves. Cochran is also leading a movement to pressure the National Football League into hiring more black head coaches.

Veteran death-penalty prosecutors Paul Ebert and Robert Horan Jr. are heading up the first cases against alleged serial snipers John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo.

The legal odd couple of Floyd Abrams and Kenneth Starr have joined forces to fight campaign finance legislation banning national parties from raising soft money. The common bond: protecting the First Amendment.

Web Site

Think of Lawpsided.com as The Onion for lawyers. Launched last fall by attorney/humorist Sean Carter, Lawpsided has established a minor cult following (50,000 hits a day) for its satirical takes on law- related headlines, its Supreme Court fantasy league (players predict the justices' decisions), and its probing opinion polls. A recent survey, for instance, asked what should happen to then Senate majority leader Trent Lott in the wake of his allegedly racist remarks at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party: (a) Nothing-Lott is a good man; (b) Lott should lose his position as majority leader of the Senate; (c) Lott should resign from the Senate entirely; (d) Lott should be forced to give his hero Thurmond a sponge bath. Lawpsided also offers sneaky-smart commentary on contemporary legal issues. As a disclaimer reads, "If you're not careful, you might actually learn something."

Practice Areas

In years past, one practice area or another-M&A, IP, international law-has emerged as the trendy area among law students seeking jobs at firms. This year, however, firm recruiters say a number of students are considering more alternatives. "We've seen a heightened interest in trying different things," says Wallace Schwartz, the chair of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom's hiring committee. "Everything from M&A to tax law is being weighed as an option." Schwartz attributes the shift to anxiety about the job market. And while he applauds students for being flexible, he cautions against attempting to game the process. "If you're trying to guess where the jobs will be, you're making a mistake. This is a long-term decision," he says. "Follow your heart."

Law School

No major law school is more "it" right now than New York University School of Law. A strong reputation in the popular area of international law is one reason. New dean Richard Revesz, who previously taught one of the school's most popular courses, is another. Add the school's Sinsheimer Service Scholarship (a full-tuition public-interest grant) and recent improvements to the NYU campus, and it's no surprise that applications are up about 15 percent from a year ago-or that the school placed in the top five in the prestigious U.S. News & World Report law school rankings for the second year in a row.

Public-Interest Work

With fresh challenges to the death penalty emerging-based on everything from wrongful convictions and attorney incompetence to the constitutionality of the idea itself-capital punishment defense work is hotter than ever. Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld's Innocence Project (based at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York, with chapters on law school campuses nationwide) and anti-death-penalty advocate Stephen Bright's Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta are the leaders in appealing death-row inmates' sentences.

Who could forget Decision 2000 and those damned chads? With the upcoming 2004 presidential contest, election reform and voter rights are again hot topics. The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Asian American Legal Defense Fund are each focusing on those issues this year.

Vacation Spot

In a world of global terrorism, lawyers and law students (and just about everyone else) are sticking closer to home when they travel. One of the most popular nearby destinations right now is New Orleans, decadent home of all-night music, gourmet dining, nonstop drinking, and two of the best damn parties on the planet: Mardi Gras (February) and Jazz Fest (April). The hot restaurant of the moment, Cobalt, opened in fall 2001 in the new Hotel Monaco by local celebrity chef Susan Spicer, serves up hip drinks (Appletinis) and newfangled comfort food (roasted free-range chicken with artichokes Asiago and olive pastina) amid a mod decor. Hot club Blue Nile spins Latin grooves on Friday nights in the burgeoning Marigny area.

Law Firm Trends

Consolidation: Faced with an increasingly competitive marketplace, law firms continue to merge to compete more effectively (about 60 mergers were completed in 2002). "Firms are responding to clients-large clients in particular-looking for greater depth of practice and geographic breadth," says Lisa Smith, a law firm merger consultant with Hildebrandt International. A merger can be good news for young lawyers: "Larger firms tend to get more exciting work," says Smith.

Alternative Billing: With more clients complaining about runaway legal bills, firms have begun experimenting with new methods of charging for their services. "Alternative billing is something people have been talking about forever, but now it's really gaining momentum," says Kurt Peterson, a partner at Reed Smith, a Pittsburgh-based firm that uses alternative billing. While hourly billing is still the norm, flat fees and volume discounts are becoming common, says Peterson. So is tying fees to results: If you can settle for under X dollars, the client kicks in a bonus.

Alternative Pay: A small but growing number of firms are moving away from lockstep pay pegged strictly to an associate's tenure at the firm and toward compensation that's tied to performance. The idea is to reward excellence as well as sheer tonnage of hours. Firms that have adopted some form of a merit-based system include San Francisco's Morrison & Foerster, D.C.'s Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky, and Kansas City's Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin. One advantage of merit pay: A lawyer can advance at his own pace instead of being forced out if he's not up to speed with his classmates.

Career Development: To curb persistently high attrition rates and ever more vocal complaints, law firms across the country are putting greater emphasis on associate satisfaction. Among the improvements: dedicated professional-development specialists, beefed-up training and mentoring programs, and "two-way" performance reviews. "Replacing people who you've spent years training is expensive and disruptive," says National Association for Law Placement Foundation CEO Paula Patton. "Firms are recognizing that it's in everyone's interest to do more to keep people longer." A telling example: New York's Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, a firm that has done poorly in associate satisfaction surveys in the past, has established a committee staffed by associates and partners that meets monthly to discuss quality-of-life and other issues.

Diversity: A buzz issue for years, it's still a buzz issue. That's mainly because the profession continues to fall far short of where it needs to be. Of particular concern: attrition. "Firms are aware of the importance of diversity and are working hard to recruit from a broader base," says Charisse Lillie, former chair of the American Bar Association's Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. "But firms have to realize that after they've succeeded in getting women and minorities into the pipeline, they can't abandon them to an indifferent or hostile environment."

Alternative Dispute Resolution: The traditionally adversarial legal system is seeing a slow but steady shift toward a less combative method of settling disagreements. Instead of engaging in long and expensive fights in an overburdened court system where their fate is determined by a capricious jury, lawyers and litigants are opting more and more for ADR, which encompasses both arbitration and mediation. "Almost everyone recognizes that litigation has gotten out of hand," says Dennis Nolan, a labor law specialist who teaches at the University of South Carolina Law School. "It costs too much and takes too long, so exploring cheaper, faster, and more expert alternatives makes sense." Critics say truth and justice aren't always served in their purest forms this way, but proponents maintain that ADR not only leads to faster and less costly outcomes but also tends to leave both sides more satisfied. The bottom line, says Nolan: "While there are some limitations to its growth, the pressures that have fostered it so far are likely to continue."

Book

In January, publisher HarperCollins won the rights to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's memoirs for a reported $1.5 million, an apparent record for a sitting justice. Although it's not yet clear when the book will be released, Thomas is said to have written at least 100 pages (he's foregoing a ghostwriter and penning the book himself). Publishing insiders say the justice plans to break his silence on Anita Hill and his contentious confirmation hearings.

Presidential Candidate

North Carolina senator and former plaintiff's attorney John Edwards, who made his name winning high-profile lawsuits on behalf of such clients as Valerie Lakey, a 5-year-old girl who was nearly eviscerated after sitting on a defective pool drain, is now among the would-be Democratic presidential nominees for 2004. Political experts say his age (49), his good looks (JFK handsome), and his fight-for-the-little-guy message could make him a serious contender.

Clerkships

Want to work for a liberal judge? Look to the 28 justices of the notoriously left Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. It was the Ninth Circuit that set off last summer's firestorm over the Pledge of Allegiance when it ruled that the phrase "one nation under God" violates the constitutional separation of church and state (a rehearing petition has been filed). More interested in a right-leaning court? Check out the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Virginia. Chief Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III is considered one of the most influential conservative thinkers in the country.

Law Professors

Yale's Akhil Amar is every Warren Court liberal's worst nightmare. A brilliant legal scholar, Amar has questioned many of the sacred cows of '60s constitutional law, particularly in criminal procedure. From the right to bear arms to the authority of law enforcement to conduct searches, he has brought fresh insight into how the Constitution grants powers to the government and rights to the citizenry. In the age of terrorism, his thinking is especially relevant.

George Washington University constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley backed John Ashcroft's nomination as attorney general, convinced the former Missouri senator would enforce certain laws of the land, such as Roe v. Wade, even though he disagreed with them. That was then. Now Turley is leading the outraged charge against the attorney general for trampling the Constitution. In an op-ed piece, Turley wrote that Ashcroft "has moved from merely being a political embarrassment to being a constitutional menace."

Lunch Spot

In the post dot-com bust, New York restaurateurs have all but put the lid on expensive new ventures. Which may explain the renewed interest in traditional favorites like Oceana. The renowned midtown seafood eatery (the Zagat guide calls it a "marine mecca") has reemerged as a favorite place for the world's biggest legal movers and shakers to do business. Shearman & Sterling managing partner Robert Treuhold, for instance, regularly takes prospective clients there. One menu standout of the moment: poelé of wild striped bass with cepes confit, celery root mousseline, and Banyuls wine jus.

Motorcycle

A curvy, gleaming metallic motorcycle with a $17,000 price tag, a top speed of 135 mph, and a jungle cat's growl has no business in any intelligent, well-balanced lawyer's garage. Which is precisely the point of the Harley-Davidson V-Rod. Hog-loving lawyers and nonlawyers alike have reportedly been paying more than the sticker price at some dealerships.

Government Jobs

The Attorney General's Honors Program, in the Department of Justice's criminal division, is at the forefront of the war on terrorism. Junior attorneys looking to help stop Al Qaeda, et al., might work on anything from drafting indictments against accused terrorists to researching briefs related to what venue in which to try them.

Globalization promises to be the economic megatrend of the century. The Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition represents U.S. business interests abroad, enforcing mergers and antitrust rules, and reviewing and approving deals. The office just unveiled-and will soon be enforcing-the Guidelines for Merger Investigation, a set of standards meant to improve the quality and efficiency of the merger review process.

Complaint

After their firm ranked dead last in the American Lawyer's 2002 associate satisfaction survey, the New York partners at international megafirm Clifford Chance asked the firm's associates why. The answer came in the form of a 13-page memo blasting the firm for everything from grueling billable-hours requirements to the lack of free shoe shines. To make matters worse, the memo was leaked to the Financial Times and picked up by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Clifford Chance partners have said that the firm will commit major time and energy to making things right. The follow-through will be closely watched-inside and outside the firm. Says one third-year associate at a major D.C. shop: "If the squeaky wheels get the grease, you might see more squeaky wheels."

Play

The Exonerated, written by husband-and-wife playwrights Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank, presents the true-life stories of six innocent death-row survivors. The production, directed by Bob Balaban and featuring a rotating cast that has included Richard Dreyfuss, Gabriel Byrne, Ally Sheedy, and Mia Farrow, has won excellent notices for its moving presentation of stories that highlight the flaws of the American judicial and penal systems. The play is currently running at New York City's Culture Project.

Clothes

You're young, so you want to dress hip. But you're a lawyer, so you can't dress too hip. Ralph Lauren and Anne Klein understand. Lauren's Purple Label line marries a fundamentally conservative look with subtle modern twists, like a suit jacket that's broad on top and narrow at the bottom and flat-front trousers with a hidden button fly. Anne Klein, meanwhile, recently hired noted designer Charles Nolan to update its popular women's fashions. His philosophy: Clothes should be fashionable but functional. For spring, he designed a classic seersucker suit but made it chic by cutting the pants narrower and the jacket shorter.

Profession

The logic is appropriately lawyerly in its clarity: If jobs are scarce, why not go back to school, earn an advanced degree, and hope the job market is better when you come out? That thinking is helping drive a historic surge in law school applicants. The number of students applying to JD programs last September was up 17.4 percent versus the previous year, the biggest jump in more than 20 years. The upside: It's nice to have so many people interested in your profession. The downside: more competition.