Small Law Firms

Why Are Clients Leaving Traditional Law Firms? Because Lawyers Can't Keep It Simple, Stupid

Legal mumbo-jumbo is how we’ve gotten to where we are. We need to simplify what we do and how we do it.

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Have you heard of the term “Occam’s Razor”? It’s a problem-solving principle attributed to William of Ockham, who lived almost 700 years ago, long before smart phones, online legal research, social media, and other things we have learned that we can’t live without.

The essence of Occam’s Razor is that if there are two explanations for something that has happened, the simpler explanation is usually better.  The more assumptions that are needed to arrive at a conclusion, the more likely it is that the conclusion is not the right one. It’s the KISS principle (not the Gene Simmons/Paul Stanley rock group). It’s the acronym for “keep it simple, stupid.” The principle is used in philosophy, science, medicine, and other disciplines.

I think that the principle of Occam’s Razor aka KISS applies to us. We often needlessly complicate things, to the despair of our clients, both in understanding what we’re trying to say, as well as in the bills the clients receive. How many times has a client asked you to explain something in “plain English, not legalese, please”? Can we count that high?

There’s no disputing that many legal issues are complicated and hard for even us to explain (the Rule Against Perpetuities as just one example), but that doesn’t abdicate our responsibility to explain them to the client in a way that the client can and will understand. After all, it is the client’s case, not ours, and it’s hard to make good decisions when a client doesn’t understand the underlying premises on which the issue is based.

Legal mumbo-jumbo is how we’ve gotten to where we are — that is, clients looking to alternative legal service providers who demystify the law (to the extent possible) and who offer similar, if not identical, services at lower prices.

So, if the best explanation is the simplest, why do we have such a hard explaining concepts in simple terms? What if a client gives a convoluted and confusing answer to a question? Do we believe that answer or do we think that there’s a simpler answer and that the client is confused, uncertain, or perhaps just outright lying?

I think the Occam’s Razor principle also applies to working smarter, which may well affect, to lawyer detriment, the concept of the more hours billed the better. See how hard I’m working? See how many hours I’ve billed? Will I make partner? Will I keep my job?

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So, suggestions about how to work “smarter,” not “harder,” abound. Here’s one list which I’m sure will provoke shudders to those whose metrics depend on hours billed and not results achieved.

The first: take more breaks. Really? That’ll go over big with the powers that be.   Apparently our brains can only focus for 90 minutes at a time, and after that, brains need rest, preferably 15 to 20 minutes. So how efficient and effective were all those all-nighters that clients were billed for?

Second: take naps. Another suggestion that will horrify the powers that be. If you’re not at your desk or, if offsite, readily available at a moment’s notice, then those powers know beyond a reasonable doubt that you’re not working. I don’t know whether an air mattress under your desk qualifies for napping purposes. Do work, if you have to, and we all know what that is like, but be working and make sure that’s on those timesheets.

Third: spend time in nature.  More easily said than done, but perhaps for those working at home or any place where the outdoors is readily accessible, it’s doable. Spending time dodging traffic in a downtown city canyon does not constitute time spent in nature.

Fourth: divide your work into blocks and move around, not just around the desk, but physical locations. The rise in “open architecture” office spaces seems to allow for that, but it’s not just moving around in an open architecture environment, but moving physically from one coffee bar to another, focusing on one discrete task at each location. I wonder how schlepping from one place to another is actually productive to working smarter, not harder. Is this non-billable time?

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Fifth:  Check your email first thing. I had never really thought about why I do that, aside from being OCD and making sure I haven’t missed anything, but the reason makes sense, especially in today’s world where people on a team work remotely from all different time zones.  If you check it first thing, then you know what you have to do straight away, pushing things down on your to do list in order to respond to whatever crises or emergencies have arisen while you were unavailable.

Not on any list but my own, and heretical as it may sound, although coming from this dinosaur, not all that surprising, reduce the time spent on social media. As the economist Herbert A. Simon said, “A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.”  He said that long before social media, and he was spot on. We suffer from information overload and problems concentrating.

Some people are starting to throttle back on social media. Do you think that social media helps you to work smarter? Doubtful, but it does make you work harder because of all the time you spend on social media and the late nights you have to spend foraging for billable hours.

As an aside, a recent Instagram feed, @attorneyproblems, is hilarious and truer than most attorneys will cop to.  Request for Admission Number 25 supports my Occam’s Razor theory.

We need to simplify what we do and how we do it. Making the changes the profession needs to make to stay competitive, to avoid having all our meals eaten by upstart innovators is what Biglaw, small law, solos, and every firm in between must do.  It really is a matter of KISS.

old lady lawyer elderly woman grandmother grandma laptop computerJill Switzer has been an active member of the State Bar of California for 41 years. She remembers practicing law in a kinder, gentler time. She’s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see dinosaurs, millennials, and those in-between interact — it’s not always civil. You can reach her by email at oldladylawyer@gmail.com.

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