The combined output of the three leading South economies—China, India, Brazil—will surpass the aggregate production of the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada by 2020. According to United Nations Human Development Report 2013, the rise of the South is radically reshaping the world of the 21st century, with developing nations driving economic growth, lifting hundreds of millions of people from poverty, and propelling billions more into a new global middle class. The Report shows that more than 40 developing countries have made greater human development gains in recent decades than would have been predicted. These achievements, it says, are largely attributable to sustained investment in education, health care and social programmes, and open engagement with an increasingly interconnected world. Further, report reveals that this historic progress is creating opportunities for the South and the North to collaborate in new ways to advance human development and confront shared challenges such as climate change. Report pointed that the South as a whole is driving global economic growth and societal change for the first time in centuries, thereby providing a detailed look at fast-changing world. Some of the snapshots of report are: China and India doubled per capita economic output in less than 20 years—a rate twice as fast as that during the Industrial Revolution in Europe and North America. The Report projects that by 2020, the combined output of the three leading South economies—China, India, Brazil—will surpass the aggregate production of the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada. With living standards rising in much of the South, the proportion of people living in extreme income poverty worldwide plunged from 43 percent in 1990 to 22 percent in 2008. Report notes that developing countries nearly doubled their share of world merchandise trade from 25% to 47% between 1980 and 2010. Trade within the South was the biggest factor in that expansion, climbing from less than 10% to more than 25% of all world trade in the past 30 years, while trade between developed countries fell from 46% to less than 30%. However, report projects that trade between countries in the South will overtake that between developed nations. The South is increasingly interdependent and interconnected. Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Mexico now have more daily social media traffic than any country except the United States. The South’s growing global interconnections are personal as well virtual: migration between developing countries recently surpassed net migration from South to North. The world is witnessing an epochal “global rebalancing.” The tectonic shift has put developing countries on an upward curve. The Report predicts that the so-called “Rise of the South” should continue and could even accelerate as the 21st century unfolds. Global institutions have not yet caught up to this historic change. China, with the world’s second largest economy and biggest foreign exchange reserves, has but a 3.3 percent share in the World Bank, less than France’s 4.3 percent. India, which will soon surpass China as the world’s most populous country, does not have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. And Africa, with a billion people in 54 sovereign nations, is under-represented in almost all international institutions. The report suggests that south itself has both the expertise and the resources to be a more powerful force in global development. Developing countries now hold two-thirds of the world’s total $10.2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, including more than $3 trillion in China alone, and about three-quarters of the $4.3 trillion in assets controlled by sovereign wealth funds worldwide. The rise of the South is challenging existing global institutions to change and showing new ways that countries and regions can work together to confront shared challenges. As older international institutions fail to adapt, new mechanisms are emerging. Further, the South needs greater representation in global governance, which also requires assuming greater responsibility. It urges the convening of a new “South Commission” where developing countries can take the lead in suggesting constructive new approaches to effective global governance. Hence, the report lays emphasis on
the rise of the South and its potential for accelerating progress for future generations should be seen as beneficial for all countries and regions, as living standards improve and the world as whole becomes ever more deeply interdependent.
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South Asia drives World Economic Growth
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Atotrney, Brazil, China, India, Law Firm, lawyer, South Asia drives World Economic Growth
Law Firm Marketing
Referrals are critical component for generating the work for the law firms. It reminded of the importance of networking, and those who build strong referral partners are often very successful. Word of mouth and referrals continue to be cited by consumers as the primary way, but the Internet has recently changed the referral process. Clients view the Internet as a valuable information resource, and in virtually all cases, the Internet will be used to provide additional perspective and details which will affect decisions.
After receiving a referral the Client decides to research the provider being referred before contacting him/her. Even when a Client receives a strong referral, often they will still “Google” the lawyer or law firm and look for their website. What they find may help or hurt their’s chances. A referral in itself helps Client to make the decision but Client will make evaluations based on the information collected from internet and other resources, all before they contact him/her. The Client is also likely to research topics or issues pertaining to their situation. Therefore, clients are fairly well-informed (or they believe they are) when and if they call the provider. When someone asks for a recommended provider, they typically receive several responses. This creates a lot of options, and possible work for the client, and many are willing to do it to make their decision.
As a professional who seeks to build a strong network of referral partners, there are a few things you can do to help yourself:
- Deliver a great service that is worth talking about by others. If you do something that others do not, and delight your clients, it will give both you and them something to talk about with others. You will stand out from the crowd.
- Your referral partners should know who your ideal client is and how you can help them. Law firm or lawyers should explain their services in detail to their referral partners as as clients. The lawyer will get the right kind of clients this way. The happy clients refer a lot of business and create an image for the lawyer.
- Make sure you help yourself with your online presence and image. Make sure it reinforces your brand and credibility.
- Use marketing and advertising to supplement your referrals so you have both referral business and newly generated business for your firm. This blend will keep you busy and well-fed.
Business of Law or Practice of law
For years, some members of the bar have fought a pitched battle to preserve the practice of law as a profession than a business like any other. Often, this was done with the best of intentions: after all, lawyers are assigned a public trust when licensed. Officers of the court ought to be expected to see the greater lovely. Sometimes, though, the motives were less pure: a thinly guised try to protect cherished revenue streams.
Either way, at this point the battle is largely a rear-guard action. Legal practice is changing, not because lawyers need it to but because clients are changing it for them – increasingly insisting that attorneys utilize the discipline driven by the same market forces to which every other business is subject.
Clients are imposing more sophisticated & varied cost controls on legal expenditures. The increasing need for both predictability & cost containment makes the business case for legal outsourcing as part of the solution more compelling to clients on a regular basis. If legal sourcing vendors offer quality work product, they can expect that, as in IT & back office outsourcing, they will gradually but steadily move up the worth chain.
The expertise of the senior partner, whether through local knowledge of judges & juries or ability to offer high-end strategic advice, will likely never be outsourced. Still, lawyers must understand that, as never before, their work will need the same relentless drive to accomplish more with less that their clients have been dealing with for years. The days of unquestioned year-on-year fee hikes, independent of increased value-adds, are coming to an finish. Adjust your business model accordingly because trying to hold on to sure profit centers in the short term may cost you clients in the long term.
For young lawyers, recognition of the competition that they face from abroad is critical. Clients will become increasingly less tolerant of having to pay premium rates to train them how to do basic tasks. Lifelong additions to their skill sets to provide something uniquely valuable to the client will be a must if wage levels are to be maintained in this surroundings. The responsibility for seeing to it that such opportunities are made obtainable falls to legal educators. Practical training beyond basic writing & research & elective courses in trial & appellate advocacy must be instituted now.
Posted in Lawyer India
Tagged Attorney India, Business of Law, lawyer, lawyer india, Practice of law
