ANALYSIS: It’s Just Us Lawyers Here, On a Multidisciplinary Team

Multidisciplinary teams are commonly used by legal departments and law firms. In fact, more than four out of five lawyers utilize them, according to surveys conducted by Bloomberg Law in 2020 and 2019. But survey results also suggest that lawyers may not fully understand what is required for a team to be “multidisciplinary.”

According to Bloomberg Law’s 2020 Legal Operations Survey, multidisciplinary teams are used primarily on an ad hoc basis, with teams compiled for a specific project and then disbanded.

This seems intuitive enough. Project needs can differ significantly, so individuals with skillsets and networks that match the ...