alt.legal: How To Make A Billion Dollars -- From Biglaw To Big Bucks

By 2027, the legal industry will produce many billionaires -- but few, if any, will be practicing attorneys.

greed-greedy-money-cashLet’s kick off 2017 with a cliché, shall we? What follows is a bold prediction (with emphasis even) for the next decade.

(Drumroll, please.)

By 2027 the legal industry will produce many billionaires, but few, if any, will be practicing attorneys – they will be alt.legal entrepreneurs solving huge problems at scale.

Since launching this column, my confidence in this sector has continued to soar. Why? Because the opportunity is huge, and the few are chasing it (big pond without many big fish). Let’s discuss . . .

The Market For Legal Innovation Is Huge

“Want to become a billionaire? Then help a billion people.” Peter Diamandis

My first point is simple: there is a massive opportunity to innovate in legal. There are over seven billion people on the planet today. Is there a single person who wouldn’t gain from a better, faster, cheaper legal system?

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I don’t have to tell you that technology and globalization have led to incredible quality of life improvements in other industries. The cost of food, for example, has declined as a percentage of income from 17.5% in 1960, to <10%, today, due to new technologies. Similarly, innovation in the computer sector continues to decimate the costs of consumer electronics, providing us with demonstrably better products at lower costs every year.

The cost of justice, though, has stubbornly refused to give in to the promise of a better future. Why?

The traditional answer is that the legal system is simply too complex and labor-intensive, and that technology simply cannot act as a viable substitute. I don’t buy that, and a year-end review of our alt.legal columns evidences an ever-growing list of traditional legal activities that can be dramatically improved by and through the use of technology.

I also call BS from personal experience. Think about my adopted business (I didn’t invent it!), legal process outsourcing. A fairly simple but powerful idea: leverage existing global IT infrastructure to instantly send legal support work anywhere in the world. This cut the cost of certain aspects of litigation and contract managment by 90%, while improving quality and creating specialized expertise. Today legal outsourcing is estimated to generate over $1 billion in revenue per year. Big business.

Why did it take so long for lawyers to put these pieces together (note that similar white-collar outsourcing work was already being done in every other industry, especially accounting, finance and computer coding)? Well, it’s hard to solve a problem almost no one is thinking about!

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The alt.legal Community Is Tiny

From the front lines, as an alt.legal manager, author and investor, I see a small but passionate community — it’s not enough. How small? See for yourself.

Next year I beg you to come with me to Stanford’s Codex conference (it’s awesome anyway). Then, return, as I have, a couple years in a row. You’ll be inspired and ready to invest, but you’ll also see the same few energetic people over and over, not the army we need.

I have a theory as to why: a side effect of a top-tier legal education is the false belief that we CAN’T lead businesses!

“The man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t, are both right.” – Henry Ford

This parasitic false belief is buried deep in the psyche of nearly every T14 law student with whom I interact. Have you seen this yourself? Did you know any brilliant, confident undergraduates (with degrees in economics, premed, mathematics or English), who went on to get their JDs, and now no longer believe they can lead successful entrepreneurial careers outside of the traditional practice of law? Careers, which no one would have doubted they could lead BEFORE getting JDs?

I understand this sickness well, because I suffered from it myself. Those afflicted think, “I don’t know a damn thing about starting or running a company!” Well, you are right, but neither does anyone else when they start. What the entrepreneur sees is a problem, and then they work to apply a solution.

Fortunately for us, there are problems galore! I’d explain it to you, dear reader, but you know it in your heart. You feel it every time you are asked to “edit” a complex brief after two days without sleep. You understand it when you are asked to manage 30 contract attorneys, despite having no training in management whatsoever. You believe it when asked to make a million-dollar technology purchase from scratch (with your client’s money) for discovery technology (with your client’s money) as if no one at your Am Law firm has made such a purchase before.

Your Skills Will Translate

Finally, you may agree that that the alt.legal world is brimming with opportunity, but think to yourself, “I’m crushing Biglaw anyway! I’m going to make partner!” Look, if you love it, stick with it. It’s a hell of a career.

But, if you are crushing Biglaw and DON’T love it, then consider the wise words of Kumar (from Harold and Kumar): “Just cause you’re hung like a moose doesn’t mean you gotta do porn.” I can promise you this: the same skills that make you shine at Biglaw (hard work, great writing, persuasion, and organization), will make you shine as an alt.legal business leader and innovator.

So maybe (hopefully sometime within the decade), it’s time to go out there and help a billion people.

Special thanks to my colleague and friend Hitesh Talwar, who helped me research and edit this piece.


Joe Borstein Joseph BorsteinJoe Borstein is a Global Director with Thomson Reuters Legal Managed Services, delivering Pangea3 award-winning legal outsourcing services and employing over 1800 full-time legal, compliance, and technology professionals across the globe. He and his co-author Ed Sohn each spent over half a decade as associates in BigLaw and were classmates at Penn Law. (The views expressed in their columns are their own.)

Joe manages a global team dedicated to counseling law firm and corporate clients on how to best leverage Thomson Reuters legal professionals to improve legal results, cut costs, raise profits, and have a social life. He is a frequent speaker on global trends in the legal industry and, specifically, how law firms are leveraging those trends to become more profitable. If you are interested in entrepreneurship and the delivery of legal services, please reach out to Joe directly at joe.borstein@tr.com.

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