One in four attorneys polled in a recent survey have saidthat electronic discovery will have the biggest impact on the practice of lawin the next five years. Following closely, the survey found, was globalization.
The national survey, which was developed by Robert HalfLegal, a leading staffing service that specializes in the placement ofattorneys, paralegals, and other legal professionals, showed that while 25 percent of lawyers said they feel e-discovery will have the greatest impact in the coming years, 23 percent said globalization would have more impact.
Lawyer on which areas will have the biggest impact on law in five years, according to the survey:
- Electronic discovery……………………….25%
- Globalization/international expansion….23%
- Demographic shifts………………………..17%
- Corporate and regulatory issues………..17%
- Privacy/security issues……………………..8%
- Other……………………………………………1%
- Don’t know…………………………………….8%
- Refused…………………………………………1%
“Changes to document retention and e-discovery rules have placed greater demands on companies,” said Charles Volkert, Robert Half Legal executive director. “To prepare for litigation, legal teams must review massive amounts of material in short periods of time and determine relevancy to the case. The complexity and cost of the task, coupled with the associated information technology and human resources needs, make this a challenge.”
The survey was conducted by anindependent research firm, and was based on phone interviews with 300 randomly selected attorneys from the largestlaw firms and corporations in