Modern legal practice is poised at the intersection of tradition and transformation with lawyers and firms struggling to fit the square pegs of ancient doctrines and procedures into the round holes of globalization, technology and economic shifts, and to do so at a time when clients are more informed, cost-conscious and result-oriented than ever before. Clients want and need an overall strategy to see if the result they seek is likely or even possible.

Practice areas such as cybersecurity, digital asset protection, environmental compliance and globalization are no longer a sub-specialty handled by boutique firms or specialized units in large firms. Rather, once arcane legal topics have seeped into general practice.

Simultaneously, technological advances—once merely tools—are now legal subjects of their own. Lawyers must not only know how to use tools such as electronic discovery and legal research platforms powered by artificial intelligence, but understand their limitations and ethical implications. Novel legal questions dealing with such complicated issues as digital evidence preservation, confidentiality and algorithmic accountability are transforming legal practice.

In a mega law firm with hundreds of lawyers and dozens of practice areas, there’s bound to be someone with knowledge of just about any legal dilemma. Even so, are the attorneys communicating with their colleagues for an overall strategy? While there are certainly very large law firms with offices in Nassau and Suffolk counties, the history and trend on the Island is toward the smaller, boutique firms and practices. Do they need assistance when dealing with a multidisciplinary approach for client success?

From my years as a law school dean, I know today’s graduates are “practice ready.” But I also know that three years of even the best legal education isn’t nearly enough to establish the adaptive reasoning skills that, in today’s marketplace, will define success or failure.

I recently started a new blended initiative at Burner Prudenti Law known as Judicious Advice, providing counsel to attorneys, firms and individuals; mentoring for young lawyers; and tips on how to deal with disciplinary matters. I’ll also strategize with attorneys on trial court appearances, trial preparation, settlement negotiations and the benefits and risks of taking an appeal.

To avoid even a perception of bias, I will never take any referral fees—there will be no financial incentive for me to steer a case to a particular lawyer or law firm—my fees will be based purely on an hourly or per-matter basis.

Judicious Advice will draw on all my experience, especially my 45 years of legal expertise hearing every type of case in the New York State Judicial System and having intimate knowledge of the practices, proceedings and operations of the entire court system.

During my tenure at the Appellate Division, Second Department, the largest and busiest appellate court in the state, the judges hear about 2,000 oral arguments a year in four-judge panels and decide roughly 8,000 motions. That’s a lot of cases, and a whole lot of law. The panels are mixed so all the judges have a chance to sit with their colleagues, each of whom brings a different experience and knowledge to the table. All of the judges hear all types of cases. They do not specialize in civil, criminal or any other type of law, regardless of their prior experience. Having presided at that court and serving for 11 years, I have observed successful and unsuccessful strategies.

For me, that meant I had no choice but to expand way beyond my practical experience, which was largely in surrogate’s court matters, and learn the law of every type of civil and criminal matter, from mergers to murder, from biotechnology to fraud, from matrimonial to insurance subjugation. Since the appellate division is in charge of attorney discipline, I also had to dive deeply into the can of worms that is attorney ethics. Today, maintaining trust, confidence and integrity is more difficult and more important than ever before.

Often lost in the complicated and nuanced new world of legal practice is the human dimension. Lawyers and law firms struggle with such issues as burnout, work-life balance and mental health. I don’t think there has ever been more pressure on lawyers, especially young ones, and I am eager to help attorneys maintain their perspective and provide heartfelt advice.

Gail Prudenti is the former chief administrative judge of the courts of the State of New York; former presiding justice of the Appellate Department, Second Division; and the former dean of Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. She currently serves as partner at Burner Prudenti Law, P.C.