It’s easy to to relax a bit when you have years of experience as an attorney. While your legal experience has helped you win clients and grow your estate planning practice in the past, today’s legal industry is evolving faster than ever — and attorneys who fail to adapt risk losing clients rather than winning them.

New technology and new competition are just two of many areas where attorneys need to adapt in order to retain clients, win new business and sustain a thriving practices. Refusal or failure to evolve with these trends in the industry will likely result in significant consequences for legal practices across the country.

A ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in 2017 resulted in a big win for seniors everywhere when it comes to Medicaid estate planning and preventing assets from counting against Medicaid eligibility. The court reversed two cases — Nadeau v. Director of the Office of Medicaid, and Daley v. Secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services — which pertained to eligibility for long-term assistance under the Massachusetts Medicaid program (MassHealth).

Much of life follows the 80/20 rule. Also known as the Pareto Principle (named for the Italian economist who devised it), this formula calculates that 20 percent of your conversations are responsible for 80 percent of the profitability of the relationship. That holds true whether it’s business or personal.