With a surge in female lawyers, a tripling in the number of private law firms and a profession that is predominantly driven by the attitudes of Generation Y, the legal sector is forecast to face dramatic changes over the next decade.
Next week Lawyers Weekly will seek to uncover some of these trends - and others - likely to overhaul life as a lawyer through our special, the Legal Life 2020, to be published Friday 18 September.
The bumper edition calls on leading legal thinkers to submit their ideas on current trends facing the legal profession that are likely to translate into big changes by the year 2020, with contributions from some of the Big Six law firms as well as thought leaders from smaller firms, association heads, experts and academics,
The call for submissions and ideas has so far determined that the profession is likely to be challenged by some significant demographic changes in 2020 - including an increase in female numbers, the exit of Baby Boomers and the rising dominance of Gen Y - and dramatic shifts in the structure of employers, through global mergers, a rise in sole practitioner numbers, corporatisation of firms and the increasing dominance of in-house lawyers.
Meanwhile changes to legal education will also be explored, as well as the need for lawyers to adapt to changing business cultures, the shifting place of pro bono work in practice, changing work/life balance demands and changing workspace designs.
The legal life 2020: What will it look like? Share your thoughts, concerns and hopes below