The End of Lawyers, or the beginning of something else?

• Author: Scalzi, Jeff
• Position: MESSAGE FROM THE EDITORS

She Said

I don't know if it's just me or if everyone has this recurring pang of anxiety about the need to change. There are signs and reasons all around. The economy is the Cause and the modified consumer behavior is the Effect. From Carville's quote at the LMA Annual Conference about everything tasting a little different to Richard Susskind's book "The End of Lawyers?" I'm trying to figure out how to constantly obtain insight on client business, turn their feedback into actionable projects then prioritize and implement into an efficient and cost-effective marketing program to position my firm as the client's preferred provider. But wait ... isn't that what we marketers were supposed to be doing all along?

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Yes, Web 2.0 technologies can be overwhelming if you allow them to be. Commoditization of legal work is here and certain types of lawyers and legal work will go away--but that's evolution, not doomsday. Michael Stern recently wrote an article titled "Change or Die: Reflections on Richard Susskind's book 'The End of Lawyers?'" and he suggested that the AmLaw 100 firms are in a position that many metropolitan newspapers found themselves in a 40-plus years ago: "Would newspapers remain relevant in the age of broadcast television?" Well I don't see our world as an "either/or" situation. Rather, it's a question of "when and how." And just because I don't know exactly "when and how" doesn't mean that I should consider myself a dying breed. In my mind, I view all of this as an invitation to keep an open mind and learn more about aspects of the business where marketing traditionally did not have a role.

Susskind mentions more collaboration and sharing of collective wisdom, using information technology to aid with efficiency and doing away with the traditional structure of the leveraged pyramid--all of these advancements feel like positive change that will undoubtedly bring client benefit.

--Jennifer Smuts, 302/888-6214, jsmuts@cblh.com

He Said

Though the words are slightly different and the tenor is more provocative in nature, Stern's review of Susskind's book--and the book itself--encapsulates many of the same themes our Strategies contributors have written about this year already. Value, the future of the legal industry, the economic realities that drive change. Interestingly, Stern is a former newspaper reporter and English professor, though now a partner in the technology transactions group at...