We recently caught up with Millie Mowry to discover which legal issues and areas will dominate the next decade. This is what she said:
“The most evolving subject in which a student can pursue his higher education is law. Every day, there are new proceedings happening in the courts around the world, and a new judgment is coming, creating a constant change in how we understand the law. New areas are emerging in the world with growing issues that society is facing. There is a need for budding lawyers to understand issues that will be the talking point in the coming decade.
As we are about to cross the mark of 2020, we are on the verge of entering a new world that will be shaped by the scars left on it by a pandemic, climate change, and human rights violations. Across the world, new avenues are opening up for students whose understanding can make them a lawyer with the ability to fight against new age injustices and administrative excesses.
The need for such lawyers trained in modern legal issues is growing tremendously because each day we hear about new loopholes in the law that makes it possible for an organization or a person to exploit. A lawyer should be aware of its surroundings and address the issues that are popping up because of changes in power dynamics in society and governance.
Law as a subject is not a static code that remains constant once it has been written; it changes every day with something being added and something getting amended. There is always potential in a smart law student to evolve himself with changing dimensions of the subject to keep them out of the crowd of law graduates that the universities are churning out each year.
To make your mark on society, one needs to focus on the issues that will be of priority in the coming decade. This will help you build reputation and relevance in the current flow of times.
Online Platforms Related Issues
There are growing cases in courts around the world where e-commerce sites and social media platforms are being examined for malpractices. The issues range from data privacy to the destruction of small businesses.
The debate of data safety will not be ending soon as more and more pleas are being filed in cases of a privacy breach or commercial use of consumer data. These platforms seem to have made us ‘the product’ from being a consumer. There will be a growing need for lawyers who understand data privacy laws and use them to help their clients win court battles against big social media platforms.
There is another issue related to online platforms where data is being used to exploit small businesses by big online e-commerce sites. This area will be ripe for developing a law career as this litigation will keep growing with the ever-expanding world of online shopping and services.
There is also room for addressing consumer-related issues as there are growing cases of online frauds. Small cases get resolved by customer services, but there is a long list of online fraud cases that are still pending in galleries of courts.
Well, this was not the most important issue, as nothing can be more important than the health of the world we live in.
Climate Change Related Issues
Nobody is asking you to become an activist, but a lawyer forged in this era of global warming, many opportunities will come for you to become an earth warrior. There has been clear exploitation of natural resources and nature going on in several parts of the world. You can study the laws related to conservation and the environment to help protect the planet you live on.
Many activists are courts fighting every day for these issues; you can surely fight for them but keep in mind that it will only bring you fame, not money. What is more important though is that, you will be able to provide a safer place for generations to come.
The most elemental reason for such a state of the climate is because of unchecked business practices, which bring us to our next point.
Business Monopoly & Other Practices
The world has become so small that we cannot tell the origin of the products we consume today. Design is developed in some countries, parts in the other, and assembly in another. This has led to the expansion of organizations that are not bound by the laws of one single state.
This makes it difficult for lawyers in courts to corner these companies in cases of misconduct. Also, with growing cross-border investment, some companies have become too large to handle. This has fuelled the creation of monopolies again, like the ones that we got rid of a century ago.
This has resulted in hostile takeovers of smaller organizations or their exploitation using unfair practices. When you want to make a mark on society, you must fight a battle that has minimum chances of victory.
Human Rights
This topic has been going on for centuries and is still not getting old. There are daily cases of human rights violations. This can be clubbed with racial discrimination and class-based exploitation. This opens a wide channel for you to do something good for society.
Incidents are happening every day with minorities, migrants, and the underprivileged class of our society. The scope for fighting for the right things is growing every moment. Even the biggest democracies are being dragged to the International Court of Justice to make them more accountable towards the issues related to human rights law.
From here, we also have to move towards the issues related to the rights of a citizen.
Freedom of Citizens
There is a growing debate going about what a person is allowed to say and how it can express feelings towards government policies. It is not like that this issue only popped up just now, but the political environment today has enhanced the need to redefine laws related to the rights of a citizen.
This can range from freedom of expression or speech to liberty of movement or food choices. There is a growing trend of powerful leaders around the world controlling the basic rights of citizens, which we have been taking for granted for so many years. There is legislation coming all around, telling a person how to eat and how to conduct himself. A good new age lawyer can build a career around fighting for the basic rights of citizens.
There are a growing number of cases in the courts regarding state v/s citizens or power v/s citizens. These cases are of defamation cases, where a powerful person thinks that its criticism in public by someone has reduced its image in society. These cases are filed with damages worth millions of dollars attached to them. There is a need for lawyers who can explain that criticism of anybody doesn’t really mean that it has destroyed your wealth and can’t be evaluated in these terms.
Here were some topics that can make a rebellious young lawyer. The fame part is assured when you fight for the weak, but the monetary portion gets affected in such cases. But, even if you are on the side of the rich and powerful, you will be required to have a full understanding of the topic. So either way, as these topics will be dominating law circles in the coming decade, you better get your notebooks ready for them. You will be amazed at how much work is still left to be done in these areas and how wide their range is.”
Who is Millie Mowry?
Millie Mowry has been working for Global Assignment Help for a decade, providing students with help regarding law dissertation topics. She is a former law professional and has credentials of being a top legal thinker of the country. She likes to work with students to explore challenges for law in modern society.
