Is The Legal Profession Ready For The Sharing Economy?

Lawyers have information that is suitable for collaborative consumption. How can you become a part of the sharing economy?

If you haven’t heard yet, we are in the age of Hypercapitalism:

Hypercapitalism is a term used by Marxist scholars, in their continuing critique of political economy, to depict a relatively new form of capitalistic social organization marked by the speed and intensity of global flows that include exchange of both material and immaterial goods, people, and information.

Most of us don’t define ourselves as Marxist. We more optimistically call ourselves participants in the “Sharing Economy” as we try out AirBnB, or tap our Uber app for a ride. What about workers on demand?

The Sharing Economy is a socio-economic ecosystem built around the sharing of human and physical resources. It includes the shared creation, production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods and services by different people and organizations.

Another description is:

The Sharing Economy encompasses the following aspects: swapping, exchanging, collective purchasing, collaborative consumption, shared ownership, shared value, co-operatives, co-creation, recycling, upcycling, re-distribution, trading used goods, renting, borrowing, lending, subscription based models, peer-to-peer, collaborative economy, circular economy, pay-as-you-use economy, wikinomics, peer-to-peer lending, micro financing, micro-entrepreneurship, social media, the Mesh, social enterprise, futurology, crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, cradle-to-cradle, open source, open data, user generated content (UGC).

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Of the 44 percent of American adults who are familiar with the sharing economy, 86 percent say it makes life more affordable, 83 percent say it makes life more convenient, and efficient and 78 percent say it builds a stronger community, according to NPR.

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Without one key ingredient, however, none of this would be possible. That ingredient? Trust.

At present, almost a quarter of the population in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada are using a form of economic sharing. We are seeing a shift away from amateurism that has defined the sharing economy to date, heading towards a curated professional experience which is required to move forward. But all this would not be possible without the element of trust.

The sharing economy is nothing without this important ingredient. While in many ways the emerging sharing economy represents an entirely new way of doing business that is disrupting the old order, sharing economy companies still rely on the age-old concept of trust to promote transactions between actors. This same element trust, that was once present among community members is now established by utilizing reviews, ratings, and social media features.

With a suitable confidentially workaround, professional services will get “Uber”-ized soon because of the extraordinary costs associated with one person hiring one lawyer to provide a service that the lawyer repeats many times over the course of her career. It’s arguably the “old order” discussed above; selling time for highly individualized attention. Yes, each legal matter has uniqueness. However, in many practice areas this uniqueness can be addressed differently than the current model of a soup-to-nuts, one-on-one relationship, standard unbundling services or even the burgeoning DIY lawyering services and products popping up. It is more of a hybrid which has a lawyer delivering both the “commoditized” portion of legal services combined with discreet individualized attention but with “sharing economy” delivery methods and pricing.

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Imagine, if you will, that you have a goal of earning $1000 a day. Traditionally, you will have to bill anywhere from 3 – 7 hours a day based upon your hourly rate. It also turns on your number of clients, their retainer, the overall value of their matter, and length of time before you can actually collect. In many ways, it’s a crap shoot unless you are overflowing with clients. Now imagine if you have the same weekly goal. Your area of law is small business startups. For the sake of argument, you are already getting a name for doing this type of work and get one or two new clients per week. It’s a nice living. If it were “Uber”-ized, however, imagine you take one day a week and a hold a “Learn and Launch” program which includes one segment for group education, a small segment of time carved out for individualized attention for confidential matters pertaining to “uniqueness” and building trust. But you are actually retained by a group for that day to teach and provide legal advice to startups. The cost for that day is predetermined and the group pays a flat fee divided over the number in the group. (You certainly can cap the number in the group or change the fee accordingly if more participate and you want to bring in another attorney for the individualized segments). If subsequently, individuals within that group retain you for additional individualized legal advice, even better. Or, if the group advances to the next level in the legal process, they hire you for another group session organized along the same lines as the first.

This idea follows the principles of the sharing economy; what can be a shared is and at a shared cost because it is desired, affordable, and efficient, and not just for the client. Lawyers have information that is suitable for collaborative consumption and they certainly can design a delivery program that would be attractive to potential clients and financially attractive to themselves and which addresses the more individualized aspects of representation.

And for those who like Jeremiah Owyang, here is a great slide presentation on the whole sharing economy phenomenon: Sharing is the New Buying: How to Win in the Collaborative Economy.


Susan Cartier Liebel is the Founder and CEO of Solo Practice University®, an online educational and professional networking community for lawyers and law students who want to create and grow their solo/small firm practices. She is a coach and consultant for solos, an entrepreneur mentor for LawWithoutWalls.org, a member of the advisory board for the innovative Suffolk School of Law – Institute on Law Practice Technology and Innovation, an attorney who started her own practice right out of law school, an adjunct professor at Quinnipiac University School of Law for eight years teaching law students how to open their own practices, a frequent speaker, and a columnist for LawyersUSA Weekly, The Connecticut Law Tribune, The Complete Lawyer, and Law.com. She has contributed to numerous legal publications and books offering both practical knowledge and inspiration. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+, and you can email her at Scl@solopracticeuniversity.com.