Canadian Lawyer

w w w . c a n a d i a n l a w y e r m a g . c o m O C T O B E R 2 0 1 8 17 In terms of an aging population, legal advisors will be in demand to sort out issues related to wills and estates and the expected $750 billion that will trans- fer to the next generation in the coming decade, according to a 2016 CIBC report. CIBC notes that 2.5 million Canadians are over 75 and 45 per cent of those are already widowed. Any estates litigator can tell you that people get weird when their relatives die. Expect a rise in estate litigation. Expect transportation law expertise to blossom as driverless cars, trucks and drones take to the roads and skies with greater frequency and companies deploy these technologies in their delivery systems and supply chains. The laws for much of this are still being written, but it will create demand for lawyers versed in the new rules. Litigators should also benefit, as accidents involving these technologies will need to be sorted out. Technology and intellectual property will continue to open new doors and create demand for legal advice. The next wave involves artificial intelligence, robot- ics and blockchain technologies. These tech- nologies raise a host of legal and ethical issues that will force governments to create new laws and regulations opening the doors for legal advisors. One of the more interesting areas is privacy, spurred by recent developments involving the internet, fake news and the way social media companies track users and their data. It's all pointing to the likelihood that we will see more government intervention in the way the inter- net is regulated. People's personal information, such as their internet surfing habits or cellphone location data, is increas- ingly being monetized by companies, and consumers are now figuring that out. Whether that will be enough for consumers to change their behaviours and abandon free services, such as Google and Facebook, and spawn the growth of new social media players that share the wealth with consumers or offer to protect their private information remains to be seen. How- ever, one thing is certain: Canada's privacy and anti-spam laws are in their infancy and lawyers can expect many more developments on that front. Expect the demand to increase for lawyers versed in cybersecurity issues. As more transactions are digitized, money moves with the click of a mouse and the Internet of Things links us all together, criminals will increasingly look to hack into those systems. Recent surveys of executives show that cybersecurity now ranks as one of the top concerns moving forward. We are in the early stages of what will likely be a cybercrime wave, as criminals and even foreign governments get more aggressive in their hacking and espionage efforts. The future of employment lawyers also looks prom- ising. Governments continue to layer on workplace regulation. Moreover, numerous studies about the future of work suggest we are entering an era where there will be a skills shortage, which will create more employee move- ment and spur legal activity. At the same time, automation will usurp low-end, repetitive tasks, likely leading to layoffs and firings. One area to watch is the rise of the gig economy, which features short-term contracts, independent, vir- tual and freelance workers. Randstad Canada calls it the "agile" workforce and notes that such "non-traditional" workers make up as much as 30 per cent of the work- force. As an increasing num- ber of companies move to an "agile" workforce, it will spur the growth of things such as pooled pension plans that workers pay into over their careers. Disputes over what qualifies as an independent contractor will likely force governments to examine policies and create laws to protect this fast-growing part of the work- force. Finally, in more than 30 years of writing about the legal business, I can honestly say I haven't seen too many underemployed tax lawyers, and I don't see that chang- ing any time soon. Taxes are central to government revenues, and politicians have big appetites. Current fights over transfer pricing, which are now nine-figure disputes, shows how high the stakes are getting. Expect internet commerce to come under more tax scrutiny. As the gap between the haves and have-nots increases, there are increasing calls by left-leaning think tanks to bring back inheritance taxes. Moreover, many government tax departments have beefed up their investigation teams to stop tax leakage, which will lead to more litigation. I could go on, but you get the point. The global legal services business, which is estimated to grow to US$726 billion by 2019, is alive and well, and I think the future is bright for legal talent. The big question, however, is where will those legal advi- sors work? Will it be companies, which continue to expand their in-house law departments, traditional external law firms, global consulting firms or some new form of entrant that uses technology to deliver rote services? That, however, is a column for another day. Jim Middlemiss is a principal at WebNewsManagement.com. "Follow the Money is about looking at the business side of law and examining emerging trends and issues. If legal soothsayers could see into the future, what would prognosticators see as the next hot practice areas?" 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

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