5 Forces Reshaping The Legal World Gradually, Then Suddenly

To paraphrase Ernest Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises, transformational change happens in two ways: gradually, then suddenly. The first phase is incremental, prolonged, and often induces complacency. The second phase can feel cataclysmic and unexpected to those experiencing it—though, of course, the cracks have been forming for some time. 

One thing Hemingway didn’t spell out, but others have, is that it takes multiple, converging forces for “gradually” to reach an inflection point where “suddenly” arrives. 

The legal world has been experiencing incremental pressure for decades—so long, in fact, that predictions of transformation may sound stale. But the five forces we describe below are converging in ways that make major change inevitable and proximal.