The pandemic has taught us that some things are beyond our control while others we have a greater chance to control. The past ten months have also given us a very interesting glimpse into the new year and what could be the most important trends in the personal injury industry.
1. Courts are going to drill down on the reasonable person standard.
What we are going to see as soon is the next two weeks in the cumulative effect of our holiday behaviors.
Was it reasonable for people living in areas of the nation where full or partal lockdowns were ordered for the holidays to gather with family? How are courts going to view injuries sustained as a result of questionable pandemic behaviors.
This will continue throughout 2021 as there is no magic pill, including a vaccine. As the virus continues to play a role in our lives, and our attention spans dwindle and we become less compliant, this is a critically important issue for the personal injury industry.
2. PI market size will grow.
The market size for personal injury law is currently just under $40B. While many experts had been predicting 1% annual growth through 2025, the pandemic has changed this.
There is also an expected increase in joint liability cases, These types of cases have become more popular since 2015 in part because joint liability cases produce larger overall settlements. This trend should continue in 2021 and help drive overall industry growth.
3. Ridesharing is quickly evolving.
How ridesharing will play out over the next five years is a great unknown. But what’s certain is that we will begin to see significant changes to the industry in 2021 that will affect personal injury law.
There’s a huge opportunity here for personal injury lawyers to differentiate themselves from the competition by becoming sub-experts in areas of ridesharing law, such as autonomous vehicles. Having personal expertise in AI and the data sets self driving cars are studying to determine the decision-making function of these cars would be a huge plus. There is also a great value-add for your prospective clients if you track potential legislation early in your jurisdiction and use your social platforms to share how this may affect them.
4. More competition is coming to the industry.
There are approximately 93,000 personal injury lawyers in the United States, which is around 6% of all the lawyers in the nation.
Growth areas in legal attract new competition. Many firms and practitioners will use technology to help define their practice and how they attract clients. There is more of an opportunity in 2021 than ever before to start a personal injury practice and grow quickly, powered by the right legal marketing strategy and tools.
So the winners will need to define themselves in more creative ways to stand out from a growing pack.
5. Drones are becoming more complex.
What a mess this area of personal injury law is about to become in 2021. More people than ever are fleeing drones. There is no training and every flight is literally a personal injury case waiting to happen.
Not only are the drones themselves becoming much better built and far more affordable (very good drones can be purchased for under $100 today) but the drone community is becoming more aggressive at hacking software and flying their drones in potentially dangerous ways that tests the limits of current legislation. This is a very interesting growth area in I law for 2021.
6. Distracted driving will take on new forms.
In 2021, how we drive will continue to evolve. Along with this evolution of the experience of driving a car comes new forms and determination of what our responsibilities will be in vehicles that are not necessarily fully autonomous but can run for extended periods in some sort of autopilot mode.
2021 will help solidify the liability delineation between the responsibility of manufacturers and drivers. .
7. The ever-changing workplace will continue to change.
As a massive number of us continue to work from home, home injuries will increase. How more of the injuries will be defined as work-related will help drive and shape legalization and litigation in and around the relationship between employers and remote employees.
As the gig economy continues to expand throughout 2021 along with it will surely come more scrutiny to the entire sector. This will create not only a healthy number of potential new claimants but interesting data sets that will help determine the future of the relationship and responsibilities between these workers and their industries.
8. Our consumer habits have irrevocably changed.
We all live in the Amazon now. When I lived in Beijing over a decade ago, I already saw what Amazon is becoming in the US - the nation’s most important supply chain. As the ways in which we use Amazon continue to grow, there are new areas of liability.
2021 is a critically important year for Amazon, as it moves towards its obvious goal of becoming the world’s most important logistics company.
About Aron Solomon
Aron Solomon is the senior digital strategist for NextLevel.com and an adjunct professor of business management at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University.