Futures for Young Lawyers | 46
MARLON HYLTON
Associate and Head of Discovery Management,
Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP
“Remain focused; remain flexible; let go
of whatever traditional ideas that you may
have about what your practice/career
should look like and remain alert for the
right opportunity.”
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In today’s world, our most important information
is contained in emails and documents stored on servers
and other devices. With the cost of litigation skyrocketing and concerns over data security increasing, there
needs to be an understanding of the best practices and
technological tools needed to deal with these records
when problems occur.
sources, the blogosphere and social media provide a tremendously rich source of information for law students/
young lawyers. The most important resource in my experience, however, is other lawyers, particularly once
you’ve identi ied the “new” value you wish to provide in
the legal marketplace. Our profession is by nature a mentoring profession and most lawyers are willing to offer
guidance to law students and younger lawyers. But given
the changing nature of the profession, it is also wise for
law students to look outside of the profession for guidance. 
Futures for Young Lawyers | 47
My practice focuses exclusively on e-discovery and
information governance issues. We offer strategic, customized and creative solutions for all clients on litigation,
audit or regulatory investigation matters — ensuring
legal defensibility, ef iciency and cost-effectiveness. For
outside law irms and other organizations, we provide
independent, professional advice on e-discovery and information governance best practices and techniques.
Who do I want on my team? People who understand
the intersection between technology and the law and are
able to deliver practical, leading-edge services to help
our group realize its vision of “being the best, most technologically sophisticated e-discovery/information law
group in the country.”
Law irms/lawyers who will survive in the new
technology-driven world will require forward-thinking,
tech-savvy, entrepreneurial minds that can spot opportunities and use technology to deliver new value to clients. We’ve just hit the tip of the iceberg in relation to the
disruptive change coming to the legal profession.
Because we’re operating in a changing world, it is
dif icult to come up with a concrete list of skills that law
students should start acquiring. Law students should
think instead about the following basic question: Given
the impact technology is having on our profession and
the competitiveness of the legal market place, what can I
do to deliver, or help my irm/employer to deliver, “new”
value to clients? The law students/new lawyers who
become obsessed with that questions will likely direct
themselves on the right path to taking a meaningful place
in the future of law.
If what students are concerned about is their future
in law, then paying close attention to the literature in
connection with the future of law is a good idea. While
one has to be careful with respect to the quality of these
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