The fast-evolving technology industry can leave lawyers quickly feeling disoriented, as a result practitioners need to become ultraspecialised.

The pace of change in the technology sector is frantic. As a result lawyers often find themselves wrong-footed by new innovations that do not have a relevant legal framework. As a result, it’s vital that technology lawyers are familiar with all the latest ground-breaking concepts and products, but this is no easy task. Consequently, there is a growing trend for technology lawyers to become ultraspecialised.

The technology media and telecommunications (TMT) & new technologies sector is changing so rapidly that new problems are continually emerging that need resolving with the help of legal advisers. Ecija’s IT/IP manager Carolina Garcia de la Rasilla says the TMT landscape is changing dramatically. «As previous embryonic technologies are experiencing exponential growth, the greatest opportunities for law firms in the TMT sector arise from the development of these new technologies,” she says.

Meanwhile law firms themselves will also be able to benefit from these technological developments, according to Garcia de la Rasilla. “Law firms will be able to use more precise tools to offer the best advice to clients as artificial intelligence (AI) will naturally help to solve legal issues,” she argues. Garcia de la Rasilla says that the media industry, in particular, will be impacted by the latest technological trends.