How to Future-Proof Your Legal Career: Skills and Roles in Demand

Exploring how trends like ESG, AI, data privacy, and remote work are reshaping solicitor career paths and how to stay ahead.

The legal sector often mirrors the world at large. Currently, the legal market is evolving day-to-day and an ever-increasing barrage of new information, developing technologies, political upheaval and macro-challenges can be somewhat overwhelming to navigate.

This article aims to go highlight some key emerging trends and to provide some practical advice as to how lawyers can future proof their careers in light of these changes.

Skills in demand: Your #1 Priority

Although ESG, AI, data-protection and ability to work remotely are all important to navigate, these are not the number one skill-set that hiring managers and Partners speak to me about when seeking top tier legal talent. Nor is it technical legal ability – developing this is a pre-requisite.

Primarily, the number one way to future-proof your legal career is to make a concerted effort to consistently improve your soft-skills and character traits from early on in your career.   

While legal expertise is fundamental, skills like effective communication and active listening as well as traits such as emotional intelligence, empathy, affability and curiosity are what truly set lawyers apart. Getting the balance of these skills and attributes right will allow for the building of stronger client relationships, leading to increased trust and loyalty. They also foster collaboration within teams, resulting in more efficient and effective problem-solving. Furthermore, strong emotional intelligence helps lawyers navigate complex interpersonal dynamics, handle difficult conversations with grace, and manage stress effectively. Developing these soft skills allows lawyers to build a reputation for professionalism, integrity, and client satisfaction, leading to a more fulfilling and successful career.

The burden for taking strides in this department rests on the shoulders of each individual lawyer. AI may get to point where it is able to draft you a technically sound SPA or a Will, but as things currently stand, human interaction is at the heart of how legal services are procured and delivered. Focusing on how you can improve your soft-skills and showcase your positive personal traits will do more for your legal career than mastering any of the below trends.

Although it is arguable that a trait like emotional intelligence is someone innate, there are practical steps you can take to enhance your offering on a personal front:

• Adopt a self-aware and self-critical mindset. Irrespective of the impact of others, those who choose to be self-reflective will likely be in a better position to identify and improve on any shortcomings. Seek feedback from colleagues and clients and take it onboard in a constructive manner.
  
  
• Stick your head above the parapet. Put your hand up to take on work away from the coalface and out of your comfort zone. Attend client meetings, support bids and tenders, arrange business development events, conduct client training and try to build your confidence in these areas.
  
  
• View curiosity as an asset and drive your development through continuous learning. Ask questions, seek to understand how your practice area sits within the business and interacts with others around you, take time to learn about client wins from others and how those outcomes were reached. Curiosity will help you to develop a deeper understanding of your work, improve your problem-solving ability and build genuine relationships with colleagues and clients alike.

That said, most of you are well aware of all of the above, so what can else can you do to future-proof your legal career?

Key Trends Shaping Legal Careers

• ESG:

Firstly, the rise of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors is fundamentally reshaping the legal landscape, presenting both challenges and exciting new opportunities for solicitors. No longer a niche area, ESG is rapidly becoming mainstream, influencing corporate strategy, investment decisions, and regulatory frameworks globally. This shift demands that legal professionals adapt and acquire new skills to remain competitive and relevant.

ESG considerations are pertinent to every-practice area. Regardless of focus, lawyers should make a conscious effort to develop specialised knowledge of ESG legislation, regulations and standards. This will allow them to weave ESG advise into their client offering – helping to attract and retain work given the increasing relevance of this area.

Those who are unable to provide legal advice without applying an ESG lens may find themselves missing out on lucrative opportunities and being left behind those who do.

• AI:

Clearly AI is having a monumental impact on the day-to-day lives of lawyers, and the speed of innovation and adoption in the legal sphere is notable. Those who do not adopt AI to improve accuracy, efficiency and quality of service provision will struggle to progress at the rate of their peers.

That said, what I often hear from senior lawyers is a general fear that AI will lead to a pandemic of complacency, an inability to think-laterally or to effectively problem solve. Focus on developing these traditional legal skills and add allow AI to compliment them.

Lawyers who develop a reliance on AI will likely become complacent, make mistakes or fail to build the essential underlying skill that the best lawyers exhibit. Staying up to date with advances in AI, thinking creatively about how it can add value to clients and actively getting involved in your businesses drive to adopt new technologies will all help future proof your career.

• Data-protection:

Tying in with the rapid emergence of AI, is a concurrent increase in the importance of data protection. Similarly to ESG, regulation and legislation in the space is developing at a rate of knots in an attempt to keep pace with the accelerating harvesting, storaging, transferring, selling, hacking, leveraging and exploiting of personal data.

As more data comes into existence and is made accessible to companies it increasingly flows across networks and borders. Consumer and client awareness has also increased as cybersecurity threats and data-breaches have had a real-world impact. It is therefore, vitally important that lawyers upskill their knowledge in this area and are able to provide clients advice on regulation and best-practice.

Actionable Steps:

In regard to the emerging trends covered in this piece, there are myriad ways lawyers can ensure they future-proof their legal careers:

1. Take courses, attend workshops and obtain certifications to upskill your knowledge in these overarching areas. These trends are going nowhere so start learning about them now and it will stend you in good stead.
   
   
2. Play an active role in helping your organisation navigate these trends. Businesses are adopting and using AI more, seeing an increased flow of ESG related queries and supporting more and more data-protection issues for clients. Join colleagues who are focused on managing these innovations and participate in implementing the change.
   
   
3. Familiarise yourself with the key legislation and regulations to ensure you can advise clients with these considerations in-mind. These trends are changing rapidly so it is vital to take a continuous learning approach. Attend industry conferences and network with experts to stay ahead of the curve.
   
   
4. Utilise the tools and expertise already at your disposal and think about how to integrate advice on these trends into your day-to-day work. Your service provision to clients will be more holistic, well-rounded and valuable.
   
   

Remote working:

One final trend to note, is the shifting landscape around flexible working. The advances in flexible working post-COVID have fundamentally changed how law firms operate, with various different structures in place to allow employees to enjoy varied working patterns.

Work life balance has improved as result work-life balance and the fact that the genie is out of the bottle somewhat is no bad thing. However, remote working hasn’t been an entirely positive trend.

Particularly for junior lawyers, the importance of the osmosis effect as a corner stone of their development can’t be understate. Having the opportunity to learn directly from seniors, attend client meetings, understanding how lawyers navigate commercial considerations and honing in on vital interpersonal skills are all clear benefits of being present in an office.

There is an overarching sense from leaders of legal businesses that the pendulum had perhaps swung too far, and junior lawyers were suffering in terms of development as a result. That is in part why we have seen the ‘return to office movement’ gathering momentum over the past year.

Lawyers who want to future proof their careers should utilise collaborative technologies to get the most out of their remote working, whilst remembering the benefits of being a present member of the team.

To Conclude:

Developing knowledge of ESG, AI and data-protection as well as implementing that knowledge will undoubtedly help to future-proof the career of any lawyer.

Taking advantage of remote working won’t negatively impact on things either, but lawyers should be cognisant of the advantages of being in the office. Particularly junior lawyers can greatly benefit from face-to-face development and failure to gain this exposure could have a detrimental impact.

Although these trends are re-shaping the legal landscape, we can find comfort in consistency. Developing and continuously improving key soft-skills, proactive personal traits and emotional intelligence is the best way to future proof your legal career.

By Jules Grieve (Principal Recruitment Consultant, Scotland)

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