What’s in Store for Young Lawyers?

AYLA PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

BY DAVID KING, ARMBRUST & BROWN

Now a third of our way into 2021, there is good reason to be optimistic about the rest of the year. With the federal government predicting there will be enough vaccines to cover every American adult by the end of May, it’s not that hard to start picturing a brighter, post-pandemic world. The pent-up demand for the things we missed in 2020—travel, live music, movie theatres, etc.—is palpable. It’s no wonder that many are predicting that the economy—both in the United States and globally—will come roaring back as consumer spending increases. 1

So what might be on the horizon for young lawyers? Here are some of my thoughts and predictions:

We’re going to be busy.

This prediction isn't unique to young lawyers, but rather for everyone across legal fields. On the transactional side, a rebounding economy is going to mean more deals. On the litigation side, disputes that have been percolating during (or perhaps because of) the pandemic are going to find their way into courts that are seating juries again. Public-service-oriented lawyers may be the busiest of all as they work to confront the backlog of legal issues faced by our most vulnerable populations during the pandemic. On a side note, please schedule time for some pro bono work! If you need help finding pro bono opportunities, contact me at dking@ abaustin.com, or Debbie Kelly at debbie@austinbar.org. Among other projects, AYLA is launching a new pro bono project in May in partnership with the Area Agency on Aging of the Capital Area, Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, the Texas Legal Services Center, and the State Health Insurance Assistance Program. All AYLA members are invited to participate.

More solos.

We learned during the pandemic that we can do our jobs remotely. I suspect many young lawyers also learned they can do their jobs autonomously. Mentoring and training is, of course, critical to the development of young lawyers, but being forced to be “on their own” over the past year has led a number of young lawyers to gain more confidence in themselves and to consider what it would be like to hang their own shingle. For those who preferred more independence, I expect we’ll see a new batch of ambitious young lawyers striking out on their own in the coming years.

Back to normal?

Here’s my most daring prediction of the year: The majority of lawyers will be back in the office by the end of 2021. This may sound crazy; in fact, it contradicts the predictions I made last summer when I envisioned a post-pandemic legal world in which law firms, realizing they could save money without reducing productivity, would renegotiate their leases and shrink their footprints dramatically.

I’m not so sure about that anymore. Are we really ready to make remote working permanent—which means permanently blurring the line between home and work? Maybe so. But I think there is a countervailing pressure to get back to “normal”—the same pressure that is making us book our travel plans this summer and daydream about going to live concerts again. So, while remote working has its perks and could be here to stay, I’m going to go out on a limb and say it is not here to stay—at least, not for the majority of lawyers. Instead, we’re going to hit a “FOMO” tipping point where enough people are going into the office to make others think they need to be there, too.

As the old saying goes, “It is tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” But it’s still fun to try! AL

Footnote

1. See Peterson Institute for International Economics, Global Economic Prospects: Spring 2021, available at https://www.piie.com/ events/global-economic-prospectsspring-2021.

David King