COVID-19 has caused a major disruption in the world, and has left both consumers and businesses in the midst of a turbulent situation. As a result of the pandemic and surrounding events, the economy has consequently taken a turn for the worse. But amidst the economic downturn, a positive outlook remains for many areas in the legal industry.
In fact, it is evident that demand for many legal services will actually increase during this time. Below we’ve broken down multiple practice areas to take a deep dive into the opportunities that will be presented to the legal industry in the coming months, as well as a brief look into the changing landscape surrounding law firms:
Opportunities for Legal Services: A Breakdown
Personal Injury
In times when people are short on cash, they may be more likely to go through the process of filing a personal injury case with the hopes of getting a huge settlement in the end. Considering that in most cases victims have up to three years after an accident to file a claim, many people may use this time as motivation to file.
The only negative restraints stemming from COVID-19 are the fact that no one is driving due to shelter in place orders, and in order to file a personal injury claim, the victim must receive medical attention. With tight guidelines affecting what types of patients that doctors offices and hospitals can take due to coronavirus, this may affect who is able to file new personal injury cases if the victim isn’t able to receive treatment.
Bankruptcy
COVID-19 and a tanking economy has put people in huge financial strains. People that may have been on the fence about filing for bankruptcy before a recession, will most likely have to file for one now.
Estate Planning
The spike in deaths from COVID-19 will make people eager to update their wills and trusts. Estate planning attorneys have a huge opportunity to reach these people as well as those who want to change trustees, executors and agents who will oversee their finances and health care if they are unable to make decisions on their own. Overall, this shocking time will result in a high number of people looking for estate planning attorneys to help plan out their future and their family’s future.
Divorce
With shelter in place orders and community lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, many relationships are likely to be make or break. As a result, we are likely to experience a spike in divorce rates in the coming year.
Workers’ Compensation
In some cases, if a person gets sick with coronavirus while on the job they may be eligible to receive workers’ compensation. Like some other diseases such as tuberculosis, COVID-19 is considered work-related if you are infected at work. These may be tricky cases though, as it will have to be determined if the disease was actually contracted on the job or if it was through offsite exposure.
Medical Malpractice
Being a new virus, there are likely to be many medical malpractice claims arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Misdiagnosis and improper treatment of the virus is likely to result in many repercussions which will require legal representation.
A Changing Legal Landscape
While this only encompasses a few practice areas, there is an overall positive outlook for the legal industry in general. With a rise in demand for many legal services, it is crucial that affected law firms know how to handle and manage the influx of new business - especially in a time when we are forced to do our work remotely.
At RocketLevel, we spoke with one of our clients, Deborah Barron of Barron Law, about changes that she has had to put in place due to COVID-19 and how it has affected her law firm.
“Due to COVID-19, there are even more potential clients with lots of legal questions and issues who are seeking legal counsel,” said Barron. “Since we handle multiple practice areas, including employment law, there is lots of activity right now.”
Barron says that while things have been moving slower due to courts being closed and most counsel working remotely, it has not negatively affected her business. “The positive impact is freeing up time usually spent in litigation to spend more time on new clients’ cases,” she said.
Barron Law is now holding mediations by Zoom video conferencing to replace in-person interactions and is using email to communicate with opposing counsel since most are not in the office to receive documents sent by traditional mail. Just like Barron Law, law firms of all practice areas will have to put many new processes in place to complete business as usual.
In more specific cases, other changes and exceptions to legal processes have had to be made as a result of social distancing. For example, while estate planning lawyers can draft documents remotely, they must be signed by clients, witnesses and notaries - all who must be present for the documents to become legally valid. With social distancing in effect, this isn’t possible.
To combat this face-to-face interaction, the governors of New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, New Hampshire, Washington and others have issued executive orders to temporarily allow video notarizations.
While this is only one of many legal challenges that will be encountered in the coming months, we are likely to see other executive orders put in place to keep the flow of legal assistance strong for U.S. citizens.
Conclusion
Aside from governmental changes regarding legal processes, law firms and attorneys must think creatively and remain positive in order to keep their businesses strong. During a recession it is important to move fast and cut where necessary. By strengthening communication and implementing technology strategically, law firms should be able to stay afloat and even excel during these uncertain times.
