This book was a two-year collaboration between two Davids. David Galbenski conceived the project, defined the trends, and edited many drafts, while David Barringer organized, wrote, and designed the book. The project changed as the global marketplace changed, especially during 2008 and early 2009. In the end, the intent of the authors was not to present an exhaustive portrait of a still landscape but to explore overarching trends in a fast-moving world. In the next few years, there will surely be remarkable developments to add to a revised edition.
The purpose of this book is to inspire readers to think in new ways about law and business. As an entrepreneur, David Galbenski is excited by today’s trends and what they promise for the future. The legal industry is becoming unbound from its limitations. It is flexing its muscles and expanding its vision. Those individuals who are currently highly successful in the legal industry might have cause to be ambivalent about the pressures of the business model on their profession. But they also have good reason to become more alert to global as well as business trends and to seize the opportunity to adapt, innovate and thrive in the changing environment.
Galbenski synthesized information about several trends affecting the legal industry. Journalists and industry researchers have been describing the current state of these trends for years now, but Galbenski wanted to encapsulate the importance of all these trends into a single book and especially to draw the reader’s attention to where these trends might be going. In light of these trends and the current economic crisis facing the globe, those in the industry will need to revisit their three- to five-year business plans to remain relevant in the industry.