What I really see going on around me. What is really becoming clear. What almost seems tangible.
By applying the virtual worker/independent contractor model in legal services, we are doing nothing more than is already going on in the world around us. In many ways, law seems a natural market in which to use technology as a force of change. The fundamental philosophy shift in play here is from an extremely patriarchal and geographically centered base to one where efficiency and raw talent are the only two tests. Conservative nature of law and lawyers would cause one to think that the law would be one of the last places to innovate with technology.
Why not the law? The legal market is ripe for change from both internal and external forces. The thought that everyone hates lawyers, even other lawyers, is one indicator. The reality that many people view lawyers right there with used car salesman. The grin that many people get on their faces when taking the legal profession to task, really says something.
Watch and see what happens. The technology revolution is coming to the law office near you. Business models will evolve quickly and the billable hour will become an ugly word which people don’t want to speak. The force for change will surprisingly not come from the top as much as it will come from the bottom. Great lawyers will give up all the fallacies of partnership, gain complete economy over their talents, ethics and business principles. The physical, cultural, financial and general business culture of the big firm will drive talent away and that talent will realize that they do not need the trappings of a large firm to make a great living changing the way law is practiced. You wait and see. It is starting to happen all around you. I’ve got a dollar in my pocket that says it is so.
Comments