The pace of business and the breadth of social change make it difficult to render a definitive portrait of what law new will look like. But a few of its defining characteristics are taking shape.
Law New is the legal industry’s catchall term for innovative approaches to providing legal services. It encompasses a range of innovations that are bringing greater efficiency, value and customer focus to the practice of law. The emergence of law new is also resulting in a shift away from traditional fee structures and toward alternative methods for providing legal services, such as fixed fees and value-based pricing. It is also enabling the development of legal products, such as software-as-a-service (SaaS) and other technology tools that help legal departments streamline operations and reduce costs.
As the legal industry moves to resemble its corporate customers and society at large, it will embrace a fluid, collaborative approach to service delivery. It will erode the artificial, lawyer-created distinctions between provider sources and create a integrated legal supply chain that provides accessible, affordable, on demand, scalable, data-sharing legal services and solutions that meet end-user needs, solve problems, and capture opportunities at the speed of business and society.
A new law to protect consumers against the sale of counterfeit goods. This bill makes it illegal to falsely label a product or sell a counterfeit version of a legitimate product in the United States. It also requires sellers to disclose more information about the product to the consumer and establishes new penalties for violations.
New laws to protect the public from a variety of health and safety threats. This includes bills to establish the right to paid sick leave, to ban discrimination against people with mental illness, and to strengthen protections for victims of domestic violence and stalking. It also prohibits employers from retaliating against employees for seeking unemployment benefits and allows workers to take time off to care for a loved one who has a serious illness.
A new law aimed at ending the so-called “pink tax.” The law prohibits retailers from charging different prices for very similar items that are marketed to men and women. The law is expected to save shoppers $1.3 billion a year.
A new law to require employers with a payroll of $1 million or more to provide employees with one week of paid leave each year. The law is in addition to the current law that requires employers with five or more employees to provide their workers with emergency paid leave during a COVID-19 pandemic.