Looking into My Crystal Ball . . . Hot Practice Areas for 2016

By Valerie Fontaine –

Hot and cold areas of law practice fluctuate with economic cycles. Areas that are hot right now may be completely cold in the future, and vice versa.

Right now, and for the foreseeable future, real estate and corporate transactional practices are absolutely hot. Real estate finance, development, construction, purchase and sale, and land use are booming. Likewise, mergers & acquisitions and all areas of corporate finance are in demand. But several years ago, those folks were being laid off in droves. Legal recruiters knew when law firms jettisoned most of the transactional real estate and corporate lawyers during the recession that, when the economy improved, they’d be looking for mid-to senior level transactional associates who wouldn’t exist, since none were being trained. That’s what’s happening now.

On the other hand, all types of litigation, which usually is in demand, is down across the country. During the recession, companies increasingly settled claims or otherwise manage their risks so as not to file prohibitively expensive lawsuits. Litigation avoidance practices continue even as the economy recovers. There’s always litigation ongoing, of course, but it’s not as hot as in the past.

Demand for “hard” IP expertise such as patent prosecution, as well as soft IP expertise, such as licensing, copyright and trademark, continues to grow as technology advances in virtually every area of our lives. There’s so much developing in computer technology, life sciences, content, and entertainment—all of which have intellectual property aspects to them. Additionally, there are interesting intersections between content and both computer and entertainment delivery systems. Companies that, previously, only were involved in delivery systems now make their own content (such as Netflix developing its own shows). Consequently, there’s significant new IP and tech transactions legal work in those areas, as well.

Another area of practice that will remain hot is healthcare regulatory, litigation, and transactional work. No matter who wins the next presidential election, fights over the Affordable Care Act (or whatever it morphs into) will continue, as well as over the regulatory schemes to make it workable.

There’s almost always demand in labor and employment although the specifics change over time. Whether it’s wage-and-hour class actions or disputes regarding classification of workers, various areas within labor and employment require clarification and resolution. Any company with at least one employee has employee relations issues, and labor policies and handbooks need continual updating.

And then, of course, there are practice areas that are evergreen, such as criminal law, family law, personal injury, and wealth management. Those are the “mom-and-pop” areas of law where everyday people need legal assistance to live their lives in our society. Moreover, as the population ages, the need for practitioners in the multi-disciplinary area of elder law continues to grow.

Predicting the future

You must keep an eye on what’s happening economically, politically, and technologically to figure out where things are going and keep ahead of the curve with your practice. For example, during a building boom, there’s construction contract and finance legal work. Looking ahead, if the building is done very quickly, there may be construction defect litigation coming down the pike. And then, insurance companies may fight over who must pay for that, giving rise to insurance coverage issues. Look at the domino effect of what’s happening in your practice area right now and ask yourself where that might lead.

Also, try to recession-proof your practice as much as you can. In other words, if you handle real-estate finance deals, you also want to know how to handle the “flip side”, such as restructuring and insolvency, because the economy is cyclical.

Blog Author

Valerie Fontaine is a partner in Seltzer Fontaine Beckwith, a legal search firm based in Los Angeles (www.sfbsearch.com). She can be reached at vfontaine@sfbsearch.com or (310) 842-6985. The second edition of her book, “The Right Moves: Job Search and Career Development Strategies for Lawyers,” was published in 2013 by NALP.