1. Building critical cyber-resilience skills 

As the pace of digitisation speeds up, lawyers must become more aware of how this affects their ethical duties and build practical skills to uphold these obligations whilst working remotely or communicating online.

The recent large-scale data breaches involving Optus and Medibank have also demonstrated that no one is immune from cyber incidents. Lawyers can no longer treat cyber resilience as optional, and must equip themselves to protect their own clients and practices against cybercrime and cyber incidents.

2. Increasing focus on privacy and data protection 

There is renewed scrutiny on privacy protection from regulators and government in 2023 - accompanied by significantly increased penalties for serious privacy breaches under the Privacy Act.

It is now more important than ever for lawyers to be able to advise their clients appropriately on how to uphold their privacy obligations when managing, storing and dealing with customer data or communicating with their client base. The changes will also impact the profession directly as firms of all sizes increasingly digitise their operations to reduce overheads.

3. Actively addressing workplace safety

Governments and regulators took a more proactive approach to tackling workplace safety and cultural challenges in 2022, with new legislation introducing obligations for employers to work proactively to create safe work environments. 

Lawyers will need to get across these new obligations - since they will likely affect their clients, their own workplace or both - and continue building soft skills to create a safer and more positive work environment.

4. Mastering the ‘new normal’: Hybrid work

Recent studies have shown that mixing in-office and remote work is now the ‘new normal’ for lawyers, with most working an average of two days remotely. Despite this widespread adoption of hybrid work, an alarming 47% of remote workers say they do not feel included in meetings and other aspects of workplace culture.  

So, to avoid enhanced tensions and collaboration gridlock, make 2023 the year you equip yourself to successfully address hybrid-team challenges and refresh your knowledge of best practices for online meetings.

5. Taking care of our profession's wellbeing

The past few years have prompted many lawyers to reflect on the importance of balancing work and personal commitments to ensure greater wellbeing. This has led to a renewed focus from lawyers seeking to reset or improve work-related norms - and a desire to address the systemic impacting wellbeing in the profession.

As we move into 2023, we hope to see a stronger appetite for practical solutions to enhance wellbeing at both an individual and a structural level. 

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