Biglaw, Small Law Firms

On Law Firms And ‘Changing At Scale’

Why aren't firms asking small groups of lawyers to develop ideas that will improve the practice of law?

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(Image via Getty)

What do you hear at a small law firm?

“We’ll land a new case, and the case will make us rich!”

What do you hear at a large law firm?

“We’ll hire a magic lateral.  That person will bring in a ton of new business, and we’ll be rich!”

Or:  “Blaine leads our capital markets practice, and he’s just hitting his stride.  He’ll soon have business coming out of his ears, and we’ll be rich!”

What do you hear at large corporations?

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“The only thing that affects the financial results of this firm is a new idea that can be implemented at scale.  We really don’t need ideas that rely on one person laboring in a field, or one person working with a mule or a horse.  We’re looking for the spacecraft that hasn’t yet been invented.  Think of something that doesn’t involve people at all, just technology.  And then create the technology.  If you’re going to move the needle, you must innovate at scale.”

And corporations assign groups of people to do nothing but think about — and create — the future.

I realize, of course, that big corporations are much bigger than big law firms.

But a law firm with 2,000 lawyers (which means 4,000 total staff) is a fairly big institution, and its financial results won’t be significantly affected by hiring a magic lateral.  Or even a magic lateral practice group.

If you really want to have a financial effect at a large law firm, then you’ll have to come up with an idea that doesn’t involve one person laboring in a field — or billing by that person’s hour.   You’ll have to gin up an idea that’s new and that innovates at scale.

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Folks are thinking about this in the eDiscovery space.  But big firms seem to be ceding that space to the newcomers.

Folks are thinking about this in the contract management space.  But that’s viewed as commodity work, not suitable to soil the hands of big-firm lawyers.

Unless corporations are wrong (and, on this point, they’re not), the big firm that innovates at scale will soon lead its peers.

I don’t know what that clever new idea is.  (If I did, would I really be typing away for Above the Law in my spare time?)  But that clever idea exists.  Perhaps it involves using artificial intelligence to process routine cases efficiently, or to improve the defense of mass torts, or to aid in the defense of complex cases.  Or perhaps it’s something else entirely.

But it’s odd that you don’t see folks at large law firms aggressively trying to create their future.  Why aren’t firms asking small groups of lawyers to develop ideas that will improve the practice of law?  I know that work isn’t billable, but it’s essential; won’t that suffice?  Why aren’t people trying to come up with the idea that will cause them to win the race?

Perhaps life is too comfortable, and the law hasn’t yet seen creative destruction at work.

Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and is now deputy general counsel at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Inside Straight: Advice About Lawyering, In-House And Out, That Only The Internet Could Provide (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at inhouse@abovethelaw.com.

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