Half of the Legal Team Won’t Be Lawyers—Real-World Examples of This Transformation

Introduction: The Legal World is Changing Fast

The traditional legal world is rapidly evolving. What was once a profession dominated by lawyers buried in paperwork is now shifting toward something far more dynamic. Businesses today want legal services that are efficient, cost-effective, and strategically aligned with their goals. This new reality means that legal teams are no longer made up solely of lawyers. We’re moving toward a time where half the legal team may consist of non-lawyer professionals, and this change is driving major benefits.

1. What’s Driving This Change?

Several key forces are reshaping legal teams:

• Tech is Taking Over: Legal tasks that once took hours or even days are now automated, thanks to AI and machine learning. Platforms like Kira Systems and Luminance are speeding up contract review and due diligence by scanning and analyzing documents in seconds, reducing the need for manual legal work.
• Pressure to Do More with Less: As companies face budget constraints, they’re looking for cost-effective ways to handle legal work. Many are now turning to alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) like Elevate and Axiom , which offer a mix of legal expertise and non-lawyer support, leading to quicker and cheaper results.
• New Expectations from Clients: Clients now expect legal services that are not just reactive but proactive, fast, and strategically aligned with business goals. Legal operations experts and project managers are stepping in to meet these demands, bringing efficiency and a business mindset to legal work.

2. The New Legal Team Makeup

The composition of legal teams is shifting dramatically. While lawyers are still essential, the rise of new roles and expertise is reshaping the landscape. Let’s explore some of these new players:

• Legal Ops Managers: These professionals focus on process improvement, implementing tech solutions, and optimizing workflows. Take Cisco, for example. Their legal operations team has been a pioneer in integrating tech and operational efficiency, reducing legal costs by millions.
• Data Analysts: Analyzing legal data is becoming more crucial as companies look for insights that can inform decision-making. BT Group, a major telecom company, has embedded data analytics in their legal function, using metrics and trend analysis to predict legal risks and optimize resource allocation. It also announced that the law firm that makes the best use of AI and legal tech will gain an automatic place in the next panel review.
• Project Managers: Applying project management principles to legal work ensures that everything runs on time and within budget. Companies like Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and Kirkland & Ellis are leveraging legal project managers to oversee large-scale legal projects, ensuring they stay on track and meet strategic goals.

3. How Technology is Shaping the Legal Future

Technology is fundamentally altering how legal work is done:

• AI Contract Review: JP Morgan’s COIN (Contract Intelligence) is a standout example. This AI tool automates the review of commercial agreements, handling what used to take 360,000 hours of legal work in just seconds.
• Legal Chatbots: Law firms like Clifford Chance and Norton Rose Fulbright are deploying chatbots to handle routine queries, freeing up lawyers for more strategic tasks. These bots can answer common legal questions, provide basic contract templates, and guide clients through simple processes.
• Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Tools: Companies like Ironclad and Docusign are automating end-to-end contract processes, allowing legal teams to manage agreements more effectively without getting bogged down in manual work.

This tech-driven transformation means that the role of lawyers is changing. Lawyers are now focusing on high-value tasks—like strategy and complex problem-solving—while technology and non-lawyer professionals handle the more routine work.

4. Non-Lawyers Leading the Charge

In today’s legal world, non-lawyer roles are taking the lead in several key areas:

• Process Engineers and Legal Technologists: These roles focus on integrating technology into legal operations and driving innovation. 通用电气 has built a legal innovation team that blends legal technologists with traditional legal experts to develop AI-driven solutions and optimize processes.
• Compliance and Risk Experts: In heavily regulated industries, non-lawyers with specialized knowledge are increasingly handling compliance and risk management. 汇丰 , for example, has developed a compliance team where non-lawyers outnumber lawyers, ensuring specialized expertise and faster responses to regulatory changes.

5. The Upsides (and a Few Challenges) of a Multidisciplinary Team

Mixing things up brings clear benefits:

• More Efficiency and Cost Reduction: With non-lawyers taking on routine and specialized tasks, the cost of legal work drops significantly while improving response times.
• Flexibility and Agility: Diverse teams can adapt quickly to shifting business needs or sudden changes in regulations.

However, there are also challenges to managing such teams:

• Cross-Disciplinary Communication: When you have lawyers, tech experts, and data scientists working together, clear communication is key. It requires strong leadership to keep everyone aligned toward common goals.
• Balancing Different Perspectives: While diversity in expertise is valuable, aligning different viewpoints toward a unified strategy can be tricky. It’s essential to ensure that all team members understand the overall objectives and how their roles contribute.

Conclusion: The Future is Now—Get Ready for the Shift

The legal industry is rapidly changing, and the shift toward multidisciplinary teams is here to stay. The key is to start building a team that integrates diverse expertise, adopts the right technology, and focuses on what really matters—delivering smart, strategic legal solutions.

So, what is your legal team doing to prepare for this future?