The practice of law is changing at a rapid pace, in large part due to the influences of technology. Cloud computing has made its mark, with more than half of all lawyers using cloud-based software according to this year’s American Bar Association Legal Technology Survey Report. The majority of lawyers also now use mobile devices in their practices, and many lawyers are no longer strangers to social media and legal blogging.
The next legal technology frontier is artificial intelligence, with new AI legal software products popping up every day. Many of these programs have the potential to displace administrative assistants, paralegals, and entry-level lawyers — or, at the very least, will replace some of the more mundane tasks undertaken by lawyers in the day-to-day practice of law.
Of course, technology is only part of the impetus behind the changes that are afoot. The 2008 economic downturn greatly affected the legal industry. And the liberalization of legal services occurring across the Pond — whereby non-lawyers are permitted to have an ownership interest in law firms — is likewise a contributing force of change. Similarly, flat-fee pricing, unbundled legal services, and virtual law firms are also playing their part.
The difficulty then becomes assessing the impact of these different factors and predicting how they will affect the delivery of legal services for firms both big and small. Predicting the future is never an easy task. So, when I learned that Mitch Kowalski’s new book, The Great Legal Reformation: Notes From the Field (affiliate link), was out, I wanted to read it right away. I’ve known Mitch for a number of years and have always appreciated his forward-thinking, innovative perspective on the effects of technology and 21st century transformative processes on the legal industry.
As soon as I received my review copy, I dove in. The book is organized by chapters devoted to specific law firms or legal entities, each of which are innovating and navigating the tumult of the 21st century in their own unique way. As Mitch explains in the introduction, his end goal is to share “their stories, not only to provide guidance and insight, but also to stir the imagination of a new generation of legal services workers.”
In the beginning of the book, Mitch focused on law firms in the UK and Australia, where recent changes in the law have allowed non-lawyers to have an ownership interest in law firms. This structural change has inherently affected the leadership perspective of the firms from those of the short-term personal interests of high-level individuals to that of the long-term survival of the entity as a whole.
In the first chapter, Mitch explains that “in a partnership … the most powerful partners are able to move the firm in a certain direction regardless of the long-term consequences.” Andrew Grech, the managing director of the publicly traded Australian law firm, Slater and Gordon, which is featured in Chapter One, astutely described this phenomenon as follows:
“In a partnership, partners often see the world only through the lens of their own personal interests. As a result, their decision-making is often coloured by personal interests. Operating as a corporation makes an enormous difference to our culture. It’s much easier to embed values in a corporate environment than in a partnership which many lawyers see as nothing more than a cooperative venture where office expenses and staff are shared.”
Another point of emphasis in the book was how the innovative use of emerging technologies can result in a law firm focused on the long-term benefits of improved client service through the use of the technologies, versus the short-term emphasis on annual profits. In Chapter 3, Mitch focuses the UK law firm Riverview Law, and suggests that its corporatized structure allows it to make “long-term investments in technology and process to build an entity-based approach to legal services delivery, designing its legal service offerings to ensure client loyalty to the entity, rather than client loyalty to a particular lawyer or team member.”
In Chapter 5, this theme emerges again. In this chapter, Mitch focused on Invicta Law, a UK-based legal corporation that has invested heavily in technology, including a software platform that streamlines the firm’s processes, thereby reducing errors.
Importantly, the platform includes a client portal, which is designed to allow legal clients to easily access important information related to their cases. According to Mitch, the portal “improve(s) client accessibility and service.”
As I read this chapter, a particularly adept observation about technology and its rather limited use by traditional law firms jumped out at me. Ben Watts explained the that truly innovative use of technology will ultimately improve client service:
The difference between ourselves and a traditional law firm is that traditional firms see technology purely as a cost-saving measure: if I do this, the cost can go down. Whereas we look at technology and say, yes the cost can go down, but how can it improve the service that we’re providing to the client?”
This focus on improved client service is ultimately the main takeaway of this book. In the final chapter Mitch explains that he’s often asked for a pithy sound bite that sums up each of his books, and for this one it would be that the “great legal reformation” will lead to a “significant and consistent long-term investment in client-centered service innovation (via technology or new processes) that creates unique client experiences).”
According to Mitch, the end result of the “great legal reformation” will be a change in perspective regarding the role of lawyers. Lawyers won’t be eliminated, but their job functions and their day-to-day focus will necessarily change, whereby they “will simply be specialists, filling gaps that can’t otherwise be addressed by technology and workflow.” This will result in the “transformation of legal services from a lawyer-dominated industry into a service that is merely augmented by lawyers.”
For many lawyers, this prediction will be a tough pill to swallow. Nevertheless, many legal futurists and others who study the industry remain convinced that the liberalization of the legal industry occurring overseas will eventually occur in the US as well. That, along with the proliferation of technology in the legal space — particularly machine learning — will ultimately lead to this result: The sacrosanct wall between lawyer and client will fall, resulting in the delivery of more efficient and client-focused legal services.
The future of legal services order will likely be more client-friendly, but not necessarily as lawyer-friendly. Those lawyers deeply invested in the traditional industry structure and delivery of legal services will be the ones impacted the most. But this prediction doesn’t mean that it’s the end of lawyers. Instead, I believe that lawyers can and will thrive in the new world order, but only if they’re willing and able to recognize the coming changes and pivot accordingly. Which type of lawyer will you be?
Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and the Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase, web-based law practice management software. She’s been blogging since 2005, has written a weekly column for the Daily Record since 2007, is the author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York. She’s easily distracted by the potential of bright and shiny tech gadgets, along with good food and wine. You can follow her on Twitter @nikiblack and she can be reached at niki.black@mycase.com.
