This article appeared in Cybersecurity Law & Strategy, an ALM publication for privacy and security professionals, Chief Information Security Officers, Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Corporate Counsel, Internet and Tech Practitioners, In-House Counsel. Visit the website to learn more.

For the legal technology job market, the first half of 2020 is a tale of two realities. The undeniable momentum of job growth seen in 2019 has been shattered by the equally incontestable effect of the coronavirus and other recent sociopolitical events on the legal technology job market. The trends that propelled job acceleration in the bulk of the first quarter of 2020 have reconfigured since mid-March, creating new priorities for hiring managers and executive stakeholders and thus new, though perhaps not as voluminous, opportunities for some professionals in the space.

For many mid-market and middle management-level professionals and below, patience may be their greatest asset as the job market marinates and moves toward a bell curve of growth in the fourth quarter of this year. But, for seasoned professionals with depth of experience in their area of expertise, now is the time for them to consider a strategic move to an organization aligned with their professional goals and cultural values. This deep dive into the specific cause-and-effect paradigms impacting the data privacy and e-discovery verticals illustrates broader trends in the overall legal technology job market while simultaneously giving professionals in (or eager to be in) those disciplines a clear roadmap of where the legal technology, data privacy, and ESI job market was, is today, and where it will be in the future.