Law is an ever-evolving field that can be hard to keep up with. Lawyers have to constantly innovate to serve their clients, find new ways to work with underserved communities and create strategies that would not typically be part of standard practice in the past. This concept is known as “law new,” and it’s a growing trend that all lawyers should understand.
The term “law new” is a catchall industry phrase that is sometimes linked to “legal ops,” “alternative legal service providers” (ALSPs) and “legal innovation.” But these things are all means to an end: change that is impactful for the client, the community or society-at-large. To have real impact, new law should not lead with technology; rather it should be an element of a strategic plan that is reverse-engineered from the client/end-user perspective and designed to deliver fit-for-purpose solutions.
Currently, the City has only one agency that provides a licensing scheme for third-party food delivery services: the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. This bill will establish a new subchapter of the Administrative Code to regulate these services and require that they be licensed. The bill will also prohibit these services from charging customers for items that are not delivered and require the agencies that oversee them to report data breaches involving private identifying information to DCWP.
To be a law, a proposal must go through the Cabinet process and be approved by Parliament to become a bill. Once it has been passed, the Government publishes the bill in the Gazette and makes it available for public review and comment. Then the bill is sent to each chamber of the legislature to be voted on. Once it is passed by both houses, it becomes a law.
This legislation would require that City agencies provide notices to employees and job applicants regarding federal and State student loan forgiveness programs. The bill also requires the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to prepare a list of third-party student loan forgiveness service providers.
A Q&A with NYU Law faculty member Adam Cox about the tensions inside the Roberts Court’s jurisprudence on administrative law.