Law New is a catch-all industry term for new ways of delivering legal services and collaborating with business and society at large. It encompasses legal technology, collaborative practice and alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) but it also includes many other approaches aimed at improving the efficiency and value of the law.
Despite the hype, the reality is that most of the changes touted as “law new” do not have the potential to be transformative and create significant value for legal consumers or society at large. In fact, much of what is tagged as law new has been around for years and is now just getting into the mainstream.
Some of the most significant change in the law will come from the use of data and analytics to drive legal process, risk mitigation, identifying legal issues and opportunities and to deliver better value to customers. This requires legal functions to have data agility, which consists of mastery of data’s prime value elements: capture, unification, applied human and artificial intelligence, visualization, real-time refresh, decision driving and enterprise business integration.
Another significant change in the law is the expansion of consumer rights, which are now becoming more prevalent in most areas of the economy and commerce. This is particularly true in the area of privacy and cybersecurity, where laws are expanding to give individuals more control over their personal data.
Governor Hochul signs legislation to protect New Yorkers from price-gouging during a medical shortage, protects consumers against predatory subscription services, and stops the collection of medical debt on credit reports by prohibiting hospitals, health care professionals and certified ambulance companies from reporting outstanding medical debt to credit bureaus. This will help consumers get jobs, secure credit, rent apartments and build wealth.
New laws can be difficult to keep up with because they are often introduced and passed on a regular basis. Whether it is a bill that will expand the rights of workers, ban racial profiling or increase penalties for cyber crimes, there are new laws being proposed all the time. Some of these bills will be passed and will become law, while others may not be passed and will die on the vine.
Regardless of how the law evolves, it is important to stay up to date with these changes and understand how they will impact your business. This is especially true if you have employees, customers or clients in the affected areas. This is why it is vital that you have a strong compliance team and a robust data management strategy in place to meet the ever-changing requirements of the law. Those who do not will be at risk of violating their obligations and facing significant fines or penalties. Keeping up with the changing law is an ongoing process that should be a core function of every business.