For most legal teams operating in the COVID-19 age, the focus on near-term survival has passed, and attention has turned to what the ‘new normal’ might be. With the pandemic overhauling the traditional way in which lawyers practise and serve their clients, the profession turning remote overnight and increasing their use of collaboration platforms and other legal tech, it is likely that legal practice has changed for good, and those prepared to embrace and seize opportunities from this change will be best-placed to flourish in the years ahead.

Legal Practice Transformation Post-COVID-19 imagines the post-COVID world for legal services and asks what has changed, what will stay the same and what values are critical to ensure the successful operation of legal teams in the post-pandemic age.

It considers a variety of aspects crucial to the future of the legal profession, including:
•The impact of technology;
•Remote working;
•Health and safety; and
•Culture and community.

This Special Report will be invaluable reading for lawyers in private practice, in-house counsel, professional support staff and all those involved in the delivery of legal services, to understand what the future of the profession will look like, and how to thrive within it.

Jonathan Fortnam
Dean, Aston Law School
[email protected]

Jonathan Fortnam became dean of Aston Law School, College of Business and Social Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, in 2019 after 30 years’ practice experience at Pinsent Masons LLP, 21 of which were as a partner. Jonathan’s work at Pinsent Masons focused on corporate litigation (including a term as chief operating officer of the litigation and regulatory team), and on developing award-winning innovation in client relationships (including tools to assess and manage risk), and the firm’s approach to responsible business.

Stuart Weinstein
Reader in legal risk management, Aston Law School
[email protected]

Stuart Weinstein is reader in legal risk management at Aston Law School. Stuart was previously general counsel at a global multinational and is contributing editor to Globe Law and Business’s series on legal risk management. Stuart served as subject-matter expert to the British Standards Institute Working Group on the development of BS ISO 31022:2020, which provides guidelines for managing the specific challenges of legal risk faced by organisations and is a complementary document to ISO 31000:2018 – Risk Management Guidelines.