From Lawyer to Legal Engineer – How Legal Careers Are Changing
The digital transformation is changing almost every aspect of our lives and work – and the legal industry is not immune to this either. Technological developments such as artificial intelligence (AI), automation and digitization are increasingly transforming the traditional legal profession. New roles are emerging, such as “legal engineer” and “legal operations manager.” But what does this mean in concrete terms for a legal career?
What exactly does a legal engineer do?
A legal engineer works at the interface between law and technology. Unlike traditional lawyers, who focus primarily on legal advice, a legal engineer deals with the technological implementation of legal processes. For example, they develop automated contract solutions, digitize legal workflows or translate complex legal requirements into comprehensible technological applications. The aim is to use technology to make legal processes more efficient, transparent and manageable.
Legal operations manager – efficiency in focus
Another newcomer to the legal profession is the legal operations manager. This role focuses on optimizing processes within law firms and legal departments, increasing efficiency and strategically deploying resources. Legal operations managers implement digital tools, improve process management and coordinate complex legal operations. They ensure that legal departments and law firms not only deliver excellent legal work, but are also economically and operationally successful.
New skills – what lawyers will need in the future
The new roles entail completely new demands on lawyers. In the future, it will take much more than pure legal expertise. Technical understanding is becoming a key skill. Lawyers must have a basic knowledge of technologies such as AI and automation and learn to think systematically and procedurally in terms of legal processes.
In addition, data skills are becoming increasingly important. Lawyers of the future will not only have to understand legal data, but also use it intelligently – whether in risk analysis, compliance or contract drafting. Interdisciplinary collaboration is also becoming more and more important: lawyers are increasingly working with IT experts, data scientists and business analysts.
Career path legal engineer – opportunity or challenge?
The increasing digitalization opens up exciting new career prospects. The path from a traditional lawyer to a legal engineer or legal operations manager offers attractive opportunities for anyone interested in combining law and technology. At the same time, however, this development also presents a challenge: Will all lawyers have to think and act technologically in the future?
The answer is not necessarily “yes” – but it is becoming increasingly important to at least have a basic understanding of the technological developments that affect one's own area of work. Those who actively engage with this will find that completely new and attractive career paths and fields of work open up for them.
Impact on legal education
In order to optimally prepare lawyers for this new professional world, legal education must also change. Universities and further education institutions are called upon to integrate technological content more strongly and to promote interdisciplinary approaches. Some educational institutions already offer courses on legal tech and legal operations. However, there is still a great need for action here in order to optimally educate future lawyers and prepare them for tomorrow's job market (see article on legal education).
Conclusion: Rethinking a legal career
Of course, legal expertise remains indispensable. But in the future, it will no longer be enough on its own. A legal career will increasingly be defined by how well lawyers can combine legal expertise with technological understanding. New roles such as legal engineer or legal operations manager offer exciting prospects – provided you dare to think outside the box.
