We make earning CLE easy so lawyers can get back to what matters most. Find the credits you need, in the topics you care about… From Practising Law Institute Our next thought is a shameless, self-laudatory “we told you so” point. Last spring, most media reports were all forecasting doom and gloom for the legal industry, reporting on compensation cuts, layoffs, furloughs and the like. On the other hand, a year ago, nearly to the day, in this Above the Law post, we predicted the opposite, saying (among other things): Until the dust settles, most would agree that the near-term demand for legal services will be only in “essential” areas, such as healthcare, employment, bankruptcy, and criminal law. The dust will eventually settle, though. Then there will be an UNPRECEDENTED level of demand for legal services. Unlike the aftermath of the 2008 Great Recession, where the legal industry was unable to drive any aspects of a recovery, the U.S. legal industry can be a critical force in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Legal industry professionals will pore over mounds of insurance policies, contracts, and other documents to assess the legal rights of the afflicted, to be followed by years of lawsuits. These lawsuits will be complex and multi-jurisdictional (or multi-national) and, quite literally, without precedent. Demand will skyrocket, giving the entire legal industry a serendipitous “do-over” to re-imagine new ways to deliver legal services.