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Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape

Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape. New firms; new structures; new pricing and new careers Peter Moran. Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape. Before I begin A view from the trenches… I am not an academic, consultant, researcher etc.

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Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape

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  1. Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape New firms; new structures; new pricing and new careers Peter Moran

  2. Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape • Before I begin • A view from the trenches… • I am not an academic, consultant, researcher etc. • I am a lawyer and a partner in law firms (3 so far) and an employer of lawyers. • I have worked/been a partner in Big Law (Allens), a two partner practice, a boutique commercial firm and a tier-2 independent full-service commercial firm. • In 2017, I founded my own NewLaw firm: Peer Legal – www.peerlegal.com.au. • Also, I am a founding member of the Law Institute of Victoria’s Technology and the Law Committee, a former co-chair of that committee and currently the co-chair of its Reform and Regulation Sub-Committee. Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape | 14 May 2019

  3. A bit about my firm… • Peer Legal has: • No employees, no hard assets, no leasehold rights, no hard copy files, location agnostic, (almost) no paper. • 1 junior lawyer, 2 senior associates, 1 managing associate, 2 special counsel, 1 principal, all residing in Melbourne (although until recently, the junior lawyer resided in Brisbane). • 1 practice manager (residing in Sydney), 1 accounts manager. • All staff work as contractors. • All work through a common virtual server and have their own remote desktop. No data held outside the virtual server environment. Cybersecurity focus. • Non-traditional hierarchy: team members work as much or as little as they choose, are remunerated based on billings and also get payments for relationships they bring to the business including clients, lawyers and other. Pathway to being a principal is a question of experience and economics. • Fixed pricing wherever possible with a focus on aligning the pricing with the client’s needs and value being delivered. • Focus on medium sized businesses, family offices and high net worth individuals. • Part of the Steward network of lawyers: www.stewardlaw.com.au Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape | 14 May 2019

  4. What is NewLaw? Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape | 14 May 2019

  5. What is NewLaw not? Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape | 14 May 2019

  6. What is NewLaw? Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape | 14 May 2019

  7. New Law…a practical definition Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape | 14 May 2019

  8. What is NewLaw? Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape | 14 May 2019

  9. Australasian Lawyer’s 25 Most Innovative Law Firms List 2019 • Ascenta • Ashurst • Bird & Bird • Clayton Utz • Colin Biggers & Paisley • Coutts Solicitors & Conveyancers • Dentons • Gadens • Galilee Solicitors • Gilbert + Tobin • Greenwoods & Herbert Smith Freehills • Hamilton Locke • HBA Legal • Herbert Smith Freehills • K&L Gates • Keypoint Law • Lander & Rogers • LegalVision • LOD (Lawyers On Demand) • Maddocks • Mills Oakley • Minter Ellison • Pragma • Separate Together • Source Legal Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape | 14 May 2019

  10. Remove traditional/global law firms – 11 Left • Ascenta • Coutts Solicitors & Conveyancers • Galilee Solicitors • Hamilton Locke • HBA Legal • Keypoint Law • LegalVision • LOD (Lawyers On Demand) • Pragma • Separate Together • Source Legal Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape | 14 May 2019

  11. Remove “non-law” firms – 7 left • Coutts Solicitors & Conveyancers • Galilee Solicitors • Hamilton Locke • Keypoint Law • LegalVision • Pragma • Source Legal Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape | 14 May 2019

  12. Remove firms more than five years old – 5 left • Hamilton Locke • Keypoint Law • LegalVision • Pragma • Source Legal Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape | 14 May 2019

  13. Some common elements in current NewLaw businesses • Flexible work practices: • Working from home, other locations, remote desk-tops, virtual servers • eg Hive, Lawyers on Demand, Free Range Lawyers, Orbit • 2. Alternative Fee Arrangements • Fixed fees, success fees, value billing, aligned pricing • egMoores, Aptum, Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape | 14 May 2019

  14. Common elements in current NewLaw businesses • 3. Focus on legaltech and uses of disruptive technology to deliver • Social media marketing, AI tools, contract automation, smart contracts • eg Legal Vision, ALT (Freehills), Titan, Contract Probe • 4. New partnership structures/less hierarchy • Eat what you kill, referral fees, shared management entities • Profit share/income available at more junior levels • egKeypoint, Nexus, Mills Oakley, Peer Legal, Steward Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape | 14 May 2019

  15. NewLaw – a breakdown • 4 types of NewLaw Businesses • New law firms doing it differently from the beginning including providing non-legal services • Traditional law firms trying to change and do it differently • Non-law firms providing legal services or services that compete with legal services eg legal information • Business that are deliberately supporting the NewLaw firms and their models Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape | 14 May 2019

  16. The Rise of the Lawyer Network Platform • Larger law firms are increasingly going to struggle to keep their best experts as they turn to freelancing and sole practices… • Locked into pre-gig economy overheads • Better returns on time and more independence away from firms • As lack of brand loyalty and differentiation between larger law firms grows, individual relationships become more important • In-house placement businesses: Lawyers on Demand/Lexvoco/Peerpoint • Legal referral services: Alifery/Free Range Lawyers/Legally Yours/Law Adviser • Practice collaborations/franchises: Steward/Your Law Firm/Unlike Minds/Stacks Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape | 14 May 2019

  17. The Rise of the Micro-firm • Law firms are increasingly going to struggle to keep talent… • A trend started by the GFC and the need for big firms to reduce their numbers of partners • Ashurst went from 186 in 2013 to 142 in 2016. • Setting up a law firm has never been cheaper or easier. • No need to have lots of support staff, hard copy files, photocopiers, receptionist, paralegal teams. • Law firms can’t compete with a micro-firm on price, responsiveness, flexibility as far as clients are concerned and return on time, freedom, flexibility and general partner happiness. Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape | 14 May 2019

  18. Still to come, the next decade or so… • The Rise of the Co-operative Lawyer Network • Solicitor’s Clerks • CX comes to the legal sector • Mega-Franchises with micro-franchisees • Continued blurring of the line between legal services, legal information, legal commodities, para-legal services. • The death of the law firm or at least of the traditional law firm structure • The rise of full service professional services firms. • Continued consolidations/mergers/gobbling up Spotlight on the Australian NewLaw Landscape | 14 May 2019

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