As part of our ongoing experiment to test the potential value of artificial planning in law firm management, we asked the newest version of our chatbot, openai GPT-4, what Indian law firms should be considering in their planning for the incursion of foreign law firms into the Indian legal market.

The response outlined eight good starting points.

opening in a brick wall

The  Global Legal Post has published an informative article about the news that the Bar Council of India has approved rules to permit foreign lawyers and law firms to open offices and practice in India.

This is nothing new, but it is important news. National and local law firms in India have been concerned for more than a decade about how the entry of foreign lawyers and law firms could change the competitive dynamics of the Indian legal market. 

This article combines two areas of intense interest for us at Walker Clark LLC: contingency planning and the possible usefulness of artificial intelligence in law firm planning and decision-making.

We are saddened to announce the passing of our colleague and friend, William C. Henderson, II.

Can artificial intelligence help law firms make important strategic and management decisions?

Walker Clark LLC is currently researching the opportunities and risks of using artificial intelligence in managing a law firm. So, we thought it was only fair that we begin by asking an AI system, chat.openai.com.

Here is what it told us, transcribed vebatim.

iStock image licensed by Walker Clark LL

As the legal services world has emerged from the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to observe an unusually high degree of "churn" in associate and partner movements in legal markets worldwide. In most instances, compensation has been a significant factor in these departures, although not the only one. Remote working during the pandemic opened new opportunities for discrete lateral recruiting, with the "losing" law firm not finding out about someone's decision to leave until it is too late. Larger law firms with more resources, especially in the United States and United Kingdom have been drawn into what appears to be an ever-escalating bidding war even for newly-qualified lawyers.

Saudi Arabia is in talks with Sweden to develop a joint economic action plan for 2023 to bolster trade and investment relations between the two countries.  

-- Arab News, 5 January 2023

 

A report from the American Bar Association suggests that the demand for lawyers, at least in the United States, might have begun to subside. 38,020 students started their first year of law school during the fall 2022 term, compared to 42,718 in 2021, according to the report. Meanwhile, there has been a significant increase in enrollments in non-J.D. programs.

Planning Now for the Next Crisis

Even the best business strategies can be knocked off-course, or sometimes even wrecked, by a crisis that the law firm only vaguely anticipated, if at all.

iStock image licensed to Walker Clark LLC

Here are two resources to help intellectual property practices capitalize on opportunities for improved profitability through the outsourcing of tasks and functions currently performed in-house.