INDUSTRY LEGAL
SPECIALTY CORPORATE LAW MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
DISRUPTIVE TECH: TRENDS IN LEGAL SERVICES DELIVERY MARK LEVINSON Partner, Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions, Securities, Capital Markets Finance, Real Estate Thompson Coburn LLP Los Angeles, CA
Optimizing technology to better serve clients is a win-win CSA - Levinson
William Mark Levinson is a seasoned attorney primarily advising and guiding individual and corporate clients through a range of corporate, securities, real estate, and financing transactions. Levinson was nominated by The M&A Advisor as an award finalist for a complex public company spinoff that was listed on the NYSE, and he was named to the Los Angeles Business Jour nal’s 2013 “Who’s Who in Real Estate Law.” Levinson is a trusted advisor, known for his effective negotiating approach, who routinely counsels financial institutions, real estate development companies, investment banks, entrepreneurs, and individuals. A graduate of Brandeis University and Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law, Levinson resides in Calabasas, Calif., and is the proud husband of Carrie and father of Emily, Lauren, and Max.
PHONE 310/282.2520 EMAIL mlevinson@thompsoncoburn.com WEBSITE thompsoncoburn.com ADDRESS 2029 Century Park East, 19th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90067
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C-SUITE ADVISORY
Technological and digital advances in the last decade have been dramatic. Years from now, historians may view this to be as momentous a time period as the Industrial Revolution. It’s an exciting time for many, but others feel anxious about the pace of change. There are winners and losers. Most, however, will benefit. But one thing is certain: New technologies are allowing us to create new opportunities and businesses, to gather big data, analyze issues, assess outcomes, and act faster and more efficiently than ever before. There is disruption abounding, and it has dramatic implications for the legal services community. What are we, legal practitioners, doing to take advantage of these technological advances? Are we using the latest technology to better serve our clients? Are online legal document service providers or “virtual law firms” the future of legal service delivery? What are the implications for legal consumers substantively and qualitatively? What are the risks for retail legal service consumers who choose to digitally download legal forms and fi ll in the blanks, rather than retaining a traditional lawyer? And what about clients utilizing the more traditional
law firm model to help them navigate new laws, rules, regulations, and market developments? Clients are demanding services be delivered more rapidly and cost effectively and they deserve to have the latest technological and digital advances to meet these important goals. Technological innovations touch four key areas for lawyers: 1. Legal cost and process 2. Risk management 3. Legal and markets guidance 4. Accessibility Legal Cost
First, clients want more certainty in their legal costs—and efficiencies to reduce such costs. This demand has led law firms to develop data to challenge and revamp the 100-year-old billable-hour tradition with new alternative billing models, such as fi xed, flat, blended, or capped fees. Studies have shown that, in corporate law departments, approximately 70% of fees paid to outside counsel were based on billing arrangements other than standard hourly rates or billable hours.