Links

The book “What Would Google Do?” By Jeff Jarvis (check out his buzzmachine.com blog)

http://www.abovethelaw.com/

Article about the ABA advisory opinion.

Outline of the video blog

“The law and its execution are aided by its obfuscation.” Jarvis, What Would Google Do? So true! Since the law is so complex, lawyers are [somewhat] insulated from the crowdsourcing/community control phenomenon. However, there are fewer opportunities in the legal marketplace today than there was last year. Part of the contraction in the legal industry is due to the economic crisis. Since money is tight, the market rewards efficiency which places a lot of pressure on bloated law firms. Will they return to their stature of enormity and power? I don’t think so.

What is a Googley lawyer?

Spartan attitude towards overhead. Leverages every technological advantage to drive costs down and passes savings over to clients. Outsources all simple legal tasks.

Authentic and unique. In the Google age, the trick is being found. There are hundreds of thousands of lawyers, but there’s only one you. Instead of showing a facade of perfection, be human, be unique and people will be drawn to the authenticity (which is rare). Check out Gary Vaynerchuk and you’ll figure it out in a few minutes.

Vast network. The Googley lawyer doesn’t deal much in atoms. They stay remote and for connections with partners in a virtual environment and pass the savings to clients.

The masses benefit but they don’t take control

The ABA won’t allow it (yet). None of these suggestions involve turning the reins over to the masses….But these changes do represent a huge transition from how services used to be delivered (with the associated fat/costs). Access will be more feasible for the masses.

I’m seeing more and more rhetoric of the large law firm paradigm crumbling. I wouldn’t really say that it’s “crumbling.” They’re more or less re-vectoring their resources to fit the realities of the market. There’s been a number of mergers occurring in the south. Also, I’ve seen more talk of legal work migrating overseas, commonly referred to as legal process outsourcing. In a recent article about the LPO industry, the author writes,

Every student thinking about going to law school needs to take a step back. Look at the global economy, look at the cost of attending law school. Use a calculator if you need to. It’s still a good deal for some people, but don’t get into this racket expecting milk and honey.

In my opinion, the legal services industry was an enormous bubble and it’s going to take a long time for it to correct itself. Whenever there is a monopoly over a product or service, you can charge whatever you want. Now that technology has officially flattened the earth, work will float downstream to people that can do quality work at a lower price. And like I’ve said before, there will always be large law firms, but I don’t think there will be as many.