NCPA presentation on the evolution of "the law firm." This presentation explores the climate of the law industry and the direction it's heading. This presentation is a great resource for new and seasoned law professionals. Are you prepared for the future?
3. AGENDA
Discuss law firm of 1980
Statistics
What keeps lawyers up at night
What keeps paralegals up at night
Furlongs 4 stages
Law Firm of future
Employee of future
4. LAW FIRM OF 1980
No computers – they filled rooms
Selectric typewriters, carbon paper, mag
card machines
Fax machines – 1 page in 6 minutes
Large firm was fewer than 20 lawyers
Libraries had books, we filed advance
sheets and pocket parts
Stood in line at banks to deposit cash and
checks
5. STATISTICS
2012 - 44,500 law grads, 21,800 new jobs (from
ABA and US Bureau of Labor Statistics)
20 – 25% fewer lawyers in law firms in 10 years
(from Altman Weil)
6. WHAT KEEPS LAWYERS UP AT NIGHT
Should I open my own office, keep my office
space?
Hire staff, associates – keep
staff, associates?
My clients want less service, less fees, only
advice, no forms
How do I invest in technology?
7. WHAT KEEPS PARALEGALS UP AT NIGHT
Firm economics
Firm relationships are deteriorating
Change in relationship with supervising
attorney or team
Firm’s reaction to changes
Am I next?
8. THE EVOLUTION OF THE LEGAL SERVICES
MARKET (JORDAN FURLONG, LAW21 BLOG)
Stage 1 – Closed Market – most of 20th century up
until no later than 2008
Law has one authorized provider – lawyers
Jobs increase out of proportion to demand for
services
No outside competition
No pressure to innovate
Little incentive to use technology
Services are expensive
9. THE EVOLUTION OF THE LEGAL SERVICES
MARKET (JORDAN FURLONG, LAW21 BLOG)
Stage 2 – Breached Market – 2008 – 2016
Economic upheavals disrupt market
Technology disrupts lawyers from traditional
roles
Limited regulatory options against emerging
competition (such as Legal Zoom)
Firms cut positions to preserve profits
Declining demand for lawyers leads to
overcapacity in firms
Law schools experience pressure
10. THE EVOLUTION OF THE LEGAL SERVICES
MARKET (JORDAN FURLONG, LAW21 BLOG)
Stage 3 – Fully Open Market – 2016 – 2024
Small, high-value portion of legal work is reserved
exclusively for lawyers
Many consumer legal services shift from lawyers to
non-lawyer providers, much corporate work shifts
from law firms to non-firm providers
Most mid-size and large law firms downsize
dramatically and some close
Non-lawyers evolve to fill in gaps in market
Client access to legal services has never been
greater
11. THE EVOLUTION OF THE LEGAL SERVICES
MARKET (JORDAN FURLONG, LAW21 BLOG)
Stage 4 – Expanding Market – 2019 - ?
Combination of multiple providers and affordable prices
open huge, previously latent market
Innovation in services increases range and depth of
accessible legal work
Market expansion accelerates rapidly – legal job growth
returns, systems and IT advances achieve
unprecedented levels of accuracy and efficiency in basic
documents and processes
Routine legal work is subject to fierce competition
Elite firms – both solo and global - thrive by handling
high-quality, highly paid, mission critical work – lawyers
are strategists, counselors and trusted advisors
12. 5 TRENDS
Consider outsourcing options
Consider real estate options
Better to have variable costs than fixed costs
Clean up books and experiment with fee
structures that work for your clients
Be open to change
13. EMPLOYERS OF THE FUTURE
Transitioning from lifetime employment model to
one in which jobs and companies are likely to
disappear (or reinvent themselves) in 5 or 10 years
Once you are more efficient, you don’t go back to
prior inefficiencies
High value to clients is advocacy and counseling
(skills, experience, expertise, judgment, knowledge
of the client and the industry)
Low value to clients is process and content (due
diligence, document draft, research, assembly and
review)
14. NEW COMPETITORS – NEW ENVIRONMENT
New model of traditional law firm – Morningstar
New model of non-traditional law firm – Axiom
LPO’s or Legal Process Outsourcing – obtaining legal
suport from an external law firm or legal support
services firm for work such as data analysis and
management, doc drafting, doc prod, due diligence, e-
Discovery, IP services, legal research, legal transcription
Traditional firms with in-house affiliates – WCSR – Case
Management Facility
Online providers of legal services – Legal Zoom
Virtual Law Offices
IBM’s Watson – replace 500 associates
15. EMPLOYEES OF THE FUTURE
Have a mindset open to change
Adapt to changing conditions
Research, study, assess market changes then use
the information for strategic decision making
and continual evolution of your strategy
Ability to be creative as well as analytic
Being adaptable and unique
16. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE PROFESSIONAL?
Face to face contact
Return calls promptly
Dress professional – judge’s comment about the
club – look up photos of professional dress
Shake hands
Good communication skills
Good email communications – avoid careless
mistakes
Show respect
Show loyalty
Put away gadgets, phones, no bluetooth in your ear
Show good manners
18. RESOURCES
Law 21 – blog by lawyer strategic consultant Jordan Furlong –
The Evolution of the Legal Services Market – 4 part series
December 2012
Growth is Dead e-book available on the Adam Smith Esq.
website – written by lawyer and consultant Bruce MacEwen
The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services
by Richard Susskind
ABA Law Practice Magazine Jan / Feb 2013 – “Reinventing Law
Firms” – with a feature story on Raleigh NC firm Morningstar
NC Bar Association Law Practice Management section
ABA Law Practice Management section
19. CONTACT INFORMATION
Camille Stell, Director of Client Services
Lawyers Mutual Liability Insurance Company Of North Carolina
P.O. Box 1929, Cary, NC 27512-1929
Tele: 919.677.8900 | 800.662.8843
www.lawyersmutualnc.com
Follow us on Twitter:
@LawyersMutualNC, @CamilleStell, @MarkScruggsEsq,
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