The growing technology scene in Silicon Beach, home to more than 500 technology start-up companies, has shifted the economic tides of Los Angeles. As the third largest tech hub in the country, LA has put its unique stamp on the landscape with the intersection of media, tech, entertainment and marketing, followed by digital support of the medical industry. As this ecosystem grows, so too do their legal needs. For the legal industry, a world of unique opportunities has opened for lawyers looking for a new challenge.
These tech startups are in immediate need of specialized legal talent to handle the myriad rules and regulations associated with technology today. In addition to an understanding of intellectual property (IP) and IT issues, tech startups require lawyers to have a deeper understanding of how to protect their consumers. While that presents many opportunities, it also creates challenges. Privacy and cybersecurity law, though buzzwords in business legal news and a hot new area of the law, are not practice areas that existed 15 years ago, at least not in the form needed today with rapidly evolving social media platforms and internationally diverse regulations. That means finding the right legal talent can be difficult. Furthermore, because of the conservative nature of the legal profession, lawyers up for the challenge of developing expertise in these burgeoning areas may not be ready for the cultural experience of working in a startup.
