Law new is a catchall industry term that’s been applied to a variety of initiatives focused on delivering change to legal consumers and society-at-large. But what does it really mean? Does it produce change that’s meaningful to legal consumers, business stakeholders and society at large? And, does it differentiate itself from existing legal delivery approaches like legal tech, legal ops and ALSP’s?
Legal delivery is undergoing fundamental change that requires a fresh mindset. A wide range of new law new initiatives are emerging that will disrupt the traditional model and introduce a new generation of solutions to complex, expensive and high-stakes legal matters. Legal services providers will need to embrace and support these changes, or risk being left behind by nimble competitors.
This will require a new generation of legal service providers to adopt the mindset and capabilities of agile, dynamic, client-centric business partners. These partners will be customer-centric, value-driven and solution-focused, and they will deliver results that are faster, practical and predictable in scope and cost. They will also be transparent, affordable, efficient and data-backed. They will have integrated platform-based delivery structures from which agile, fluid and on-demand resources with verifiable expertise and experience can be sourced. They will operate from a purpose-driven economic model fueled by output and net promoter score and not an outdated and inefficient input model based on billable hours.
A new law that will allow local law enforcement chiefs to impose curfews on residents if there is an imminent threat of civil commotion or disturbance in the nature of a riot. A law that allows historic site signs to be placed on sites in Virginia that were listed in the Green Book, which black travelers used as a travel guide to safe places to stay and eat in the segregated South and across America during the Jim Crow era.
And a law that will require the City of Richmond to issue a license to third-party food delivery services, requiring them to register with the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), obtain worker’s compensation insurance, and submit proof of insurance coverage before they can begin doing business in the City.
The new laws mentioned above are only a small sample of the hundreds of bills that were passed by legislators and became law with Governor Gavin Newsom’s signature this year. Many of the new laws are minor fixes or specific to a particular industry, but some will have significant impacts on Californians’ daily lives. These include new rules for hemp-derived products, age verification requirements to access adult websites and tougher penalties for swatting calls. You can find the full list here.