Extract from Doug Austin’s article “The Train is Leaving the Station! Are You on It?”
Happy New Year! Then again, as Keith Morrison would say, “Or is it?” Sometimes, it seems we’re dealing with more challenges than ever. That’s true in life, and it’s certainly true in eDiscovery. Those challenges are forcing change for legal professionals, and those who don’t respond may feel like they failed to get on the train that is leaving the station. Here’s what’s forcing change in the legal industry, what those changes mean for the legal industry, and why you should embrace change, not run from it.
Déjà Vu All Over Again
We’re not even three years from the last time we all were forced into a significant change in how we do things. Remember what happened when the pandemic hit? We were all forced into remote work and using web conferencing apps like Zoom to continue to meet with colleagues and clients. While some of us were already using these apps, many professionals weren’t using them before the pandemic.
Want proof? Just one month after the pandemic shutdown, Zoom had 300 million daily meeting participants worldwide, whereas, at the end of 2019, the number stood at 10 million daily meeting participants. That’s a 3,000 percent growth in less than six months! To paraphrase William Shakespeare, change was “thrust upon us,” and (one notable “cat lawyer” aside) we learned to adjust to it. Now, we all know how to use Zoom and other web conferencing apps. We handled the change that was “thrust upon us”.
Well, as Yogi Berra would say, we’re experiencing “déjà vu all over again” with regard to forced change.
