While law firms weren’t caught completely off-guard by the COVID-19 pandemic, its extended duration has caused many to rethink how they are delivering services to clients, in addition to making the most of their remote workforce. While the past 18 months have brought both challenges as well as more pleasant discoveries, lawyers can agree that how they work has changed permanently.

The use of legal technology has been growing rapidly among both law firms and in-house teams in Japan, and the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have accelerated the process. While lawyers appreciate the efficiencies that legal tech brings, they also acknowledge its limitations.

Japan’s hostility towards crypto assets is unlikely to change anytime soon, as the new head of the financial industry watchdog recently reiterated the country’s tough regulatory stance.

As face-to-face meetings are reduced to a distant memory and continue to be substituted by video and phone calls in some offices, the global pandemic remains an unmistakable challenge for law firms. And legal networks are stepping in to help them out during an uncertain time.

Data has become an increasingly critical part of the way law firms do business, with difficult decisions now being weighed using analytics and information. While lawyers are united on the fact that data is the way forward, firms take different approaches in how they get the best out of the information at hand.

Since the military coup earlier this year, devastating scenes of brutal violence and deep civil unrest have continued to emerge from Myanmar, along with allegations of human rights breaches and telecommunication blackouts.

As lawyers in Asia continue to work hard under the challenges of a sustained global pandemic, the pressure is on managing partners to guide their teams through a rapidly changing landscape.

In 2019, Cambodia had its best year in terms of foreign direct investment. According to the 2020 World Investment Report by UNCTAD, Cambodia saw $3.7 billion of FDI, a rise of 16 percent compared to the $3.2 billion it received in 2018.

Indonesia is shaking up its listing rules as it seeks to attract start-up giants and cultivate a reputation as an IPO hub. The new regulations, which relax a number of curbs and allow firms to go public with multiple classes of shares with different voting rights, are a long time coming, say lawyers.

​​​​​​​It’s no secret that Asia is emerging as a top choice for arbitration and dispute resolution, and with such developments come opportunities and access for Asia-based businesses to world-class dispute resolution mechanisms, and plenty of work for lawyers in the region. But the pandemic has had a significant impact on the way disputes across Asia are carried out. In order to get the best out of dispute resolution mechanisms, digital transformation is key, say lawyers.