I found Kennedy’s article to be especially interesting. It’s called “A Vision for Virtual Law Firms — Questions You Should Be Asking” (Law Practice Today, by Dennis Kennedy, Jan. 2004). Dennis says “To me, virtual law firm simply means an affiliated group of lawyers connected by technology rather than co-existing in common physical locations.” With that definition in mind, he asks some important questions. The first two give a good taste of Dennis’ current thought processes:
- What happens when you find that the mentors, experts and authorities you grow to rely on are not the people down the hall, in your offices, or even in your geographic area? With e-mail lists, this phenomenon is increasingly common.
- Do you best serve your clients by referring work to your partners when you have professional contacts clearly able to do a better job?
“Law firms think that they are in the profession of selling a process, such as counseling. While that clearly constitutes a significant component of what their invoices describe, in truth clients want to purchase something else. Clients want to receive, and pay for, a result. That result might be representation in a lawsuit. It might be the legal work necessary to close a business transaction. Their focus on process, however, causes lawyers to think of themselves as sellers of their time rather than their expertise (despite what they say in their brochures and other marketing materials). The result is legal fees calculated by multiplying time and rate.
If law firms view their output as a result, they can revisit the way in which they price their product. They should be able to apply more imagination and creativity to their pricing. This can enable them to address (and perhaps even anticipate!) clients’ concerns in that regard. Fees based on something other than an hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours devoted to a task (e.g., “alternative” fees) can be a basis for them to do so.
Like Dennis Kennedy’s issue of referring client matters to “virtual law firm” colleagues, Lauer’s focus on results (and information transfer) for clients asks the law firm to put the client’s interests first, despite a likely reduction in fees — at least in the context of any one project or case, and possibly overall.
The final article I want to mention is the next generation roundtable, “Looking to the Future: What Changes Do You See Coming in the Next Twenty Years?”, (LPT, January 2004, organized and edited by John Tredennick with assistance from Aman Bagga and Marisa Davies, and including law students from Stetson U. College of Law). The Questions about the likely future of the profession are important (e.g., role of billable hours, substituting software for lawyers, going global), and the editor says “Some of their answers might surprise you.”
However, I suggest you read the roundtable discussion mostly to spur your own responses. It seems, unfortunately, that today’s law students and newbie lawyers aren’t any more aware of the realities of law practice than they were in “my day.” (Am I kidding myself that we were more articulate than the current crop?) I won’t quote any of the less-then-edifying answers, to protect the “innocent”. However, Young Lawyer Division representative Aman Bagga, who surely had more opportunity for serious consideration of the issues than the students, had some insightful comments on the most important role changes we can expect for lawyers, due to new technology. For example:
Bagga: On the consumer side, software will change the function of a lawyer. Lawyers in the future will review documents after their clients first prepare a preliminary version. The work balance will shift from one where the lawyer does all the preparations to a model where customers do some of the groundwork and the lawyer reviews the document.
Already there are many legal programs that help the average person fill out legal documents using a “check-the-box” method. This is similar to taxes, which can be completed either by hand, by using software or by using a professional. Some legal documents will initially be created using software by selecting clauses that a person wants to include in the document. Lawyers will then earn their fee by reviewing the document for completeness and by offering advice to make sure all the issues are covered.
I’m happy to note that most young lawyers seem to get their sea legs, and smoother tongues, rather quickly once thrown into the real world of law practice. (See, e.g., Ms. Scheherazade.) Now, if we can just get them to be more interested in service over profits, they’ll soon be teaching the gray-beards (and those who cover their gray) some important lessons in professionalism and ethics.
Follow-up (01-27-04): See the “What Do Lawyers Sell” posting at the [non]billable hour.