Embracing Evolution in the Delivery of Legal Services
| Publication year | 2020 |
| Author | By David Majchrzak |
By David Majchrzak
David Majchrzak is a seasoned ethicist, a certified specialist by the State Bar of California in legal malpractice law, and a shareholder with Klinedinst PC. David is rated AV® -Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell and, among many other bar-related activities, serves as co-chair of California Lawyers Association's first Ethics Committee.
Several jurisdictions and law-related organizations, including California, Arizona, Utah, the American Bar Association, and the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, are considering making fundamental changes in the legal industry. This includes opening up the practice of law to a broader group of professionals, permitting non-lawyers to have ownership interests in law firms, and further revising advertising rules. Although these concepts are not new, they usually have been dismissed fairly quickly in the name of public protection. But these ideas are gaining traction and it may not pose as much a threat to litigants (or litigators) as many may instinctively suspect.
As a preliminary matter, it is important to understand the context in which several changes are being suggested. In the Legal Market Landscape Report that the State Bar of California commissioned, William Henderson referenced data collected in 2015 as part of the National Center for State Courts study, "The Landscape of Civil Litigation in State Courts." Both documents are widely referenced for pointing out access-to-counsel issues for many litigants. The study examined 925,344 cases in 10 major markets. This was statistically significant in that it represented 5 percent of the total civil case load nationally. In 76 percent of those matters, at least one party was self-represented.
Economics are a driving force that are widening the access gap, but not necessarily for reasons some might expect. A dominant factor concerns the monetary value of disputes that are brought to the courts, much more so than what is charged for legal services. Consider that over 75 percent of judgments in the Landscape cases were for $5,200 or less. Thus, the value of a large majority of disputes are so low that it may not make sense to engage an attorney to represent a party. And the majority of the cases may be summarized into three categories: debt collection, landlord-tenant disputes, and small claims matters.
Even though these numbers provide...
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