Every day, there’s one article or another about big problems with the legal profession. Depression is rampant and young lawyers are stressed. Access to justice remains a problem – one that’s heightened in rural areas where clients must often travel hundreds of miles to meet a lawyer. And students still graduate from law school
In today’s tech world, we celebrate the wunderkind – like
the founders of Facebook or Google – who achieved so much at an early age. Law
isn’t all that different when it comes to early achievement – which accolades
like law review and judicial clerkship and second year jobs at biglaw often
based entirely on
Lawyer and legal business consultant Mark Cohen observes
that the legal profession is essentially a data
wasteland in the digital era , ranking behind all other private industries
in utilizing big data and its uptown cousin, artificial intelligence to make
decisions and serve clients. Still, both nature – and today’s clients –
abhor a vacuum
Retail industries have long recognized that great customer
service goes a long way towards retaining clients, encouraging favorable
reviews and increasing overall revenues. In fact, there’s a great
article from Small
Business Trends that offers ten
examples of customer service from brands that went the extra mile. Now,
not all of these ideas from
For many lawyers, starting or owning a law firm remains at
best, a consolation prize – sloppy seconds to employment as a lawyer – and at
worst, an undesirable career path that ranks far lower than positions in legal
ops or legal tech that don’t even require a J.D. At law schools, starting a law
In a digital age, solo and small firm lawyers can largely accomplish what they need to online. If you need help with getting discovery out or drafting a summary judgment brief, you can find project lawyers through sites like Law Clerk or Hire an Esquire. Most case filling and organization can be handled by
By now, 36 states have adopted
some version of the ABA’s updated Model Rule 1.1. duty of tech competence which
requires lawyers to keep abreast of the benefits and risks associated with
relevant technology. But there’s an even better reason than ethics
compliance for lawyers to learn more about tech: to retain clients.
A recent study by Deloitte reveals what today’s consumers want – and sad
to say, it’s not anything that remotely resembles what today’s law firms offer.
Take a look at this summary chart from the report – and
let’s run through how law firms stack up:
Value, Availability, Convenience and Ease Consumers’ top three