Is the Future of Law Up for Sale?

Future of Law Newsletter — Issue #7

December 2025 (5-min read)

Is the Future of Law Up for Sale?

By Brett Colvin, CEO of Goodlawyer

At the Future of Law Summit, I said something I believe, even if I don’t love where it leads: our profession feels up for grabs.

The signs aren’t subtle. Decisions that once lived inside partnership meetings and GC offices are increasingly influenced by two outside forces: private equity and fast-moving AI platforms, from OpenAI to the Legal AI startups raising rounds that look like sovereign budgets.

So where is this going?
What’s the endgame?
And are lawyers steering… or getting auctioned off?

Bid #1: Private Equity

In the UK, PE firms already own and modernize law practices. In the U.S., a firm has been effectively purchased by private equity. And across North America, a significant number of ALSPs — Caravel, Axiom, Consilio, Epiq — are all nestled in PE portfolios.

None of this is new. I’ve been a regulatory and business-model nerd since law school, and I’ve spent an unhealthy amount of time studying the UK and Australian regimes that have allowed outside ownership for decades. People have predicted a similar shift here ever since, and it finally feels like it’s landing in North America.

Why the rush?

Because law looks like a PE investor’s dream: stable demand, healthy margins, and decades of underinvestment. Add a business model with no retained earnings and firms eventually run out of ways to fund the future. When you don’t save, you rent your future from private equity. And with AI’s efficiency gains, the PE sharks aren’t just curious; they’re circling. Goodlawyer gets approached almost weekly.

Bid #2: Big Tech & AI

AI is redefining the production function of legal work. Not replacing lawyers, but massively expanding what a lean team can accomplish. Tasks that once took hours or weeks now take minutes. And when work moves that fast, any CEO will ask the obvious:

Why are we still paying for the slow version?

For law firms, the traditional levers of hours, rates, and headcount no longer explain capacity. And the more core workflows we hand to third-party platforms, the more power we surrender: our data, our standards, our rails.

So who's in control?

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: we didn’t just open the door; we held it open. Years of underinvestment and short-term thinking left the profession exposed. Show me another industry where 99% of firms keep zero retained earnings. You can’t.

The upside is that lawyers still have agency. Every legal leader should be asking three questions:

How are we actually funding the future we say we want?

What boundaries are we drawing around ownership and control?

Is technology an add-on or the backbone of how we operate?

If we don’t answer them, private equity and tech firms will answer for us.

As for me, I want to help build a profession that reduces the drudgery, elevates judgment, and makes it radically easier for in-house teams to get the right talent, in the right amount, exactly when they need it.

The future of law may be up for grabs.

Let's be the ones who shape it, not just live inside of it.

Brett Colvin
CEO, Goodlawyer

Pearl Takes Home the First Green Jacket

By Zak Biggs

From the ShamWow to billion-dollar cannabis deals — Pearl Chan’s legal career has been anything but boring. Zak Biggs spoke with her about flexibility, loving work, and being named Goodlawyer of the Year.

ZB: You’ve worked in energy, tech, cannabis and even psychedelics. What’s that kind of range taught you?

PC: I started out as sole counsel for a company that sold infomercial products — remember ShamWow? Eventually, I somehow found myself in the role of public company GC, negotiating and closing what was, at the time, the biggest cannabis merger in U.S. history.

It’s been a wild ride! But those experiences taught me that no matter the industry, what makes you valuable as counsel is when you find out what the business wants to accomplish, and using a combination of your legal and business expertise, helping them find a way. Being in the trenches with your team, solving problems together, building something real, that’s what’s always drawn me to in-house.

ZB: What drew you to try fractional?

PC: I was a newly single mom looking for a new role structure that fit my life. One night, I googled “fractional in-house counsel.” I reached out to several providers, but when I spoke to Pauline and the Goodlawyer team, I knew – this is it.

ZB: What do you like about this model?

PC: It lets me focus on the parts of law I love: solving business problems, working closely with clients, being part of the team. I also get to be more intentional about the work that I do and the clients I work with. I don’t have to deal with business development, invoicing, or internal politics. Just the good stuff.

Before joining, I had a wish list. I wanted remote work. Flexible hours. Sophisticated clients who appreciated me. Work I loved. A comfortable living. I didn’t think it was possible, but I’ve been able to tick off all five.

ZB: You were just named Goodlawyer of the Year — how does that feel?

PC: It’s been surreal. Honestly, I already felt like I had won. This career shift changed my life. The award is just the cherry on top.

ZB: If you could change one thing about the legal profession…

PC: I’d make it more human. People expect in-house lawyers to be all-knowing, but I think the best ones are collaborators – they say, “I don’t have all the answers, but let’s figure it out together.”

Connect with Pearl Chan on LinkedIn and check out the full list of Future of Law Award winners here.

LEGAL EVENTS

Future of Law Summit

Wow. Our community showed up BIG. Over 1,600 of you attended the Summit! You can replay the full 4 hours here (CPD accredited in Ontario and BC).

Today, we share a world premiere of our first Goodlawyer vlog – taking you behind the scenes of our Summit.

Click below to see Brett as our Chief Espresso Officer and the emotional rollercoaster that was the busiest day in Goodlawyer’s history! Watch the vlog.

Future of Law Awards

Here are your winners of the Future of Law Awards! 🏆

Unveiled at a packed ceremony in Toronto just hours after the Summit, this year’s winners are building a brighter future for our profession.

We’ll be back next year. If you’re pushing the legal profession forward, we might just be celebrating you!