Small Law Firms

Which Solo And Small Legal Practice Areas Will Go The Way Of The Dry-Cleaning Industry?

If you don't pay attention, some practice areas may dry up thanks to advances in technology.

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Lawyers can now add dry-cleaning to the growing list of casualties of the digital era, which includes carbon paper, fax machines, typewriters, bike messengers, and ugly suburban office parks.  According to the website Racked, the demise of dry-cleaning is attributable to two primary trends. First, most workplaces — even formally stuffy Biglaw firms — tolerate more relaxed workplace attire that doesn’t require dry-cleaning or allow workers to telecommute several days a week so they can work from home in pajamas. Second, because the price of professional attire has declined, the economics of paying $10 to dry-clean a $40 dress no longer make sense. And while there are still plenty of affordable $2/garment dry cleaners, it’s questionable how much longer all of these stores can survive when with decreased volume.

Just like many dry-cleaning business owners, many solo and small law firms are often caught off-guard when a practice area tanks as a result of changes in technology or economics.  For example, over the past five years, many lawyers handling basic trust and estate or small business matters failed to recognize that the significant improvement of DIY digital tools combined with nearly universal consumer reliance on the Internet would result in a significant loss of business. Indeed, many lawyers haven’t come to terms with this sea-change, instead reassuring themselves that most of these clients will eventually come back for assistance in fixing problems resulting from faulty forms. But as time goes on, many forms will continue to improve, and the rate of error will decline such that even the fixer-upper cases will evaporate.

Fortunately, not all lawyers are intentionally blind to change. Some simply lack the time or the interest to connect the dots between broader social changes and their specific practice areas. For example, as we move towards a gig economy, many traditional workplace laws no longer apply, and thus, a firm accustomed to handling employment discrimination cases under fee-shifting statutes may see that work diminish. Some changes are even further down the line — for example, will blockchain technology eventually obviate the need for complicated trust and estate work? (Oh, let’s hope so!)

As Alexander Graham Bell once said:

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.

So long as lawyers mourn the good old days when they put on a suit and headed into a wood-paneled office to mindlessly fill out forms for clients, they’ll miss out on the opportunities that technology can create.

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Carolyn ElefantCarolyn Elefant has been blogging about solo and small firm practice at MyShingle.comsince 2002 and operated her firm, the Law Offices of Carolyn Elefant PLLC, even longer than that. She’s also authored a bunch of books on topics like starting a law practice, social media, and 21st century lawyer representation agreements (affiliate links). If you’re really that interested in learning more about Carolyn, just Google her. The Internet never lies, right? You can contact Carolyn by email at elefant@myshingle.comor follow her on Twitter at @carolynelefant.

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