The Rise of the ”Non-Lawyer” – Threat or Opportunity

Some people predict that by 2025 half of legal teams will be staffed by non-lawyers. Will that be perceived as a threat or an opportunity? Do lawyers need to learn legal tech, or can they just hire people who specialize in it but are not lawyers? Do you need to be a lawyer to effectively use legal tech? Questions moderator will ask speakers: - The term “non lawyer” is sometimes perceived as quite controversial. Many people who support the business of law feel it is used to marginalize expertise. With the development of legal technologies being a lawyer is not always a needed qualification to plan, implement and use the tools. In your experience how does it help to be a lawyer or not, when using legal technologies? - Where do you see non lawyers working cases, supporting transactions, being part of case teams, etc. today? - With more and more demand on expertise to “drive” legal technologies, or perform data analysis, do you think layers need to learn these skills? Or can they just hire non-lawyers to work side by side with lawyers? Or both? - Do you think the balance could even tip that within law firms more non-lawyers are leveraged to work and manage cases and lawyers solely focus on the parts that require analysis and practice of the law? - What does all this mean for the legal profession, will the job description of lawyers change over time? Why or why not?

Moderator: @Christiane Matuch - Legal Innovation Manager, Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Speakers: @Alyssa Cowley - Associate Director, Knowledge Management, Shearman & Sterling LLP @Harriet Joubert-Vaklyes - Senior Project Manager, Legal Operations, CBRE @Josh Lazar - Founder and Chief Everything Officer, TechThinkTank

Recorded on 07-18-2023