In recent years, the concept of industry-specific and interdisciplinary practice groups within law firms has gained significant traction. This shift reflects a major change in the internal structure and business strategies of law firms in their aim to increase profits and improve economic efficiency. Fintech, in particular, stands out as a transformative area. It has evolved from being distributed among multiple practice areas into a dedicated field and single area of practice at many firms. By reorganizing themselves to better align with the needs of their clients and the evolving market landscape, law firms are making fintech a critical focus for future growth.
The Evolution of Fintech as a Practice Area
As fintech began to take shape as a distinct and rapidly growing vertical, attorneys who represented fintech clients would often be housed under various practice groups that didn’t fully capture the nature of their work or the complete scope of legal matters within the industry. Attorneys in various regulatory, financial institutions, corporate, and litigation groups often found that addressing fintech clients’ needs required a multidisciplinary approach. In essence, the diversity of work produced by an entire industry vertical never fell neatly into one or even two specific areas of practice. This categorization posed challenges for law firms as the interdisciplinary nature of fintech, like that of practice areas such as privacy/cybersecurity or, say, life sciences, often meant that the work attorneys were doing did not fit neatly into existing practice areas.
