“Any model, process, or tool that represents a significantly different approach to the creation or provision of legal services than what the legal profession traditionally has employed.”
~ Jordan Furlong
There is no universal definition of NewLaw. Loosely defined, it is an alternative model of legal services which flourished after the GFC when a lot of legal departments of Wall Street big names were called upon to cut legal budgets. Although it was incapable of concise definition, two features of NewLaw stand out – the extensive use of the so-called Legal Tech and the adoption of the alternative pricing model. The former enables value-added legal services to be provided to clients by using apps and software that streamline workflow, facilitates speedy communications between lawyers and clients and more importantly, enhance the efficiency of delivering legal services. The latter essentially means abandoning billable hours and the adoption of fixed fees, which provides cost certainty and very affordable legal services to clients. To this may be added a third attribute – NewLaw lawyers do not stick to their offices, and instead they can work in situ at client’s offices, help resolving legal problems right at the spot.
