What will be the trends in the legal sector by 2022?

The legal sector focuses on ESG criteria

What will be the trends in the legal sector by 2022? Our managing partner, Marc Gericó, tells us in his article for Abogacía Española. According to him, the bets that law firms are making today will pay off tomorrow. For example, sustainability.

Gericó is clear that “the environment goes through the implementation of measures such as ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) criteria, with their importance for the functioning of the legal market for law firms and clients”. The use of these criteria is mainly based on sustainable investment, “based on efficient funds and linked to this ethical philosophy that has an impact on the performance and profitability of the firms themselves,” he adds.

This vision comes to Europe from the hand of international firms that have been experiencing the change since the beginning of the century and, with it, the use of ESG criteria. Gericó adds that “law firms such as Baker McKenzie or DLA Piper -at a global level- or Wachtell Lipton -the latter in the US- proposed that taking advantage of the opportunities of a market aligned with ESG criteria would mean investing in the future in specialized departments in areas such as the environment and compliance. In addition, they encouraged the development of existing departments such as corporate legal, investment, and M&A, areas to consider when assessing how firms are implementing ESG.

Large firms, such as the Big Four, KPMG for example, make an assessment of ESG criteria and expose them as necessary in today’s international market, “recalling the importance of having specialized departments in these issues because sooner or later client portfolios across Europe will require companies that have legal experts in sustainability,” he adds.

Many law firms are recruiting ESG experts. Examples include Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, which announced its new ESG practice this year, and Seyfarth Shaw, which formed an ESG group through two of its female lawyers.

What’s new in the legal sector in Spain in 2022: ESG as well?

«The advent of the sustainable corporate governance model, based on the essential principles of ESG, leads us to a reshaping of the business vision of many sectors, which need the expert help that law firms and legal departments can bring to that change, «, adds Gericó.

As our managing partner explains in the article, this type of model seeks to organize and meet objectives while engaging partners, always bearing in mind the adaptation to the legal market where sustainability is essential to attract clients.

He confirms that “investing in a client portfolio dedicated to the renewable and eco-friendly energy sector turns the need into an opportunity for law firms to provide integrated advice on the implementation of ESG criteria”. Some firms that carry out this criterion are Uría Menéndez, with its specialized departments, or Garrigues, with its spin-off G-Advisory, specialized in the energy environment and intrinsically connected to the use of ESG criteria, sustainability, and adequate use of natural resources for its clients.

Consolidation in Spain: development opportunities

“The establishment and development of ESG criteria in our country is based on the issue of projecting sustainability criteria, which is directly linked to the projection of the firm, which is becoming increasingly important in the decision-making process in firms of all sizes,” he adds.

Gericó concludes that “in the new post-pandemic era, the market will bet more than ever on ethics as opposed to pure aesthetics. Green” firms, with values and intentions of sustainable change, offering a service in line with this trend of Anglo-Saxon origin, which is changing the parameters of the international market and the mentalities that many partners and clients had in the projection of their firms”.

If you want to read the full article in the blog of Abogacía Española, click here