LexisNexis this week published an updated GLP Index, focusing solely on the corporate, commercial and competition segments of the legal market. It predicts these areas of law will slow ‘significantly’ through to 2024, with the rate of growth likely to equal what it was before COVID-19.
The LexisNexis GLP Index is inspired by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but pulls data from a broad range of sources to measure growth across multiple practice areas from Q1 2016 through to predictions for Q1 of 2024.
The latest update suggests that, after a ferocious post-COVID return to growth, the market will cool down substantially. It cites new challenges including rising inflation, new regulations and sanctions, while the threat of a recession appears to have stagnated growth in some practice areas.
It predicts a 22% decline in demand for corporate law by the end of 2022, as compared to 2021. This follows a surge in activity last year due to pent-up demand.
For commercial lawyers, their workloads will have risen by a mere 1% by the end of this year, as compared to 2021, although it will rise again in 2023 due to a rebound in activity for imports and exports, foreign investments and new companies being created.
However, it predicts 17% growth in competition law for the full 2022 year in comparison to 2021, and forecasts growth of 32% for the whole of 2023 as compared to this year. It attributes this increased workload to Brexit, the Competition and Markets Authority’s heightened stance towards competition enforcement and new security and sustainability measures coming into play.
Dylan Brown, the Index report’s editor, said: ‘The GLP Index is useful in highlighting areas of the law that are growing or falling in demand.
‘It gives law firms and in-house teams some helpful hints as to where they could invest or reposition their resources. However, it is purely prediction, as we have drawn conclusions from publicly available data.
‘Today’s economically uncertain times have caused a great deal of unrest in the corporate world. There’s a constant barrage of conflicting reports coming out, and despite everything still being up in the air, the default setting for most businesses right now will be risk aversion.
‘It will be up to lawyers to instil confidence by guiding clients through the months and years ahead with accurate insights on economic activity, new legislation and regulations, and worthwhile growth opportunities.’
The report can be found here.
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