Lawyer Monthly - January 2022 Edition

2022 Trends Outlook In many ways, 2021 represented a continuation of themes firmly established in 2022 – those being the legal sector’s increasing decentralisation and reliance upon technology to go on thriving during a global health crisis. While there are still uncertainties as to how the profession will handle whatever new complications the COVID-19 pandemic throws its way, we can now look beyond the crisis and make some reasonable predictions as to how the sector will develop on a fundamental level. Lawyer Monthly’s own Rachel Makinson and James Gardner have penned features covering areas of high importance for the industry in the new year. Rachel’s analysis covers the legal sector on a macro level, with a focus on the technologies and business-related trends set to surge in 2022. Meanwhile, James offers his advice to lawyers and firms concerning the most significant forms of legal marketing likely to impact their practice in the months to come. Also in this section we hear from Richard McMeeken, partner at Morton Fraser, on the changes that are set to colour the Scottish litigation landscape. Finally, we are delighted to receive the insights of a trio of partners at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, one of the UK’s preeminent law firms, who discuss the emerging uptick in M&A disputes and what it portends. As the saying goes, ‘forewarned is forearmed’. We hope that this trends outlook for 2022 will help legal professionals to prepare for what is sure to be another challenging year.