New Paradigm of Legal Practice? We Are of Cyberspace

• Author: Adam Newhouse
• Pages: 121-137

121

CHAPTER 13

New Paradigm of Legal

Practice—We Are of

Cyberspace

These new changes . . . are ushering us toward . . . a world . . . where

only the connected will survive. A power shift is underway, and a

tough new business rule is emerging: Harness the new collaboration

or perish. Those who fail to grasp this will find themselves ever more

isolated—cut off from the networks that are sharing, adapting, and

updating knowledge to create value.322

—Don Tapscott & Anthony D. Williams

In previous chapters, I argued that only by adopting the Digital Mental-

ity do we stand a chance to reconnect with clients who slipped away

from us along the cultural and technological rift separating the digi-

tal and pre-digital minds. I also argued that to succeed in the digitally

driven economy, we need to adopt and live in tune with the Digital Vir-

tues so we can project new cultural attitudes and synchronize with the

values of digital times. All we need to do now is put this knowledge

into practice and reclaim our rightful share of the digital economy. Here

is how to do it.

Birth of the Digital Law Firm

Living Websites

In the twenty-first century, knowledge is flowing more freely than

ever, thanks to the Internet, but the Internet’s true potential was not

realized until the young people started using computers. Now they’re

helping to transform it into something new—Web 2.o, the living Web,

the Hypernet, the active web, the read-write Web. Call it what you

322. Tapscott & Williams, Wikinomics (cited in note 119) at 12.

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like—this ain’t your daddy’s Internet. It’s become a global, active,

networked computer that allows everyone not only to contribute but to

change the very nature of the beast.323

—Don Tapscott

Websites are rapidly engulfing all aspects of our business and social activi-

ties. They are places of vast opportunities to businesspeople and shopping

heaven to consumers. They are ready to educate, entertain, and keep us

informed. People and businesses, lawyers and law firms, are updating

homepages and registering new domains. Avatars are crowding cyber-

space. We are cloning our very existence in its deep reaches. In the process,

a curious thing is taking place: websites are miraculously acquiring lives

of their own. Far from merely carrying out personal or business projects

of their authors, websites—vivified and animated by the lifeblood of the

Internet—have opened up for us new dimensions of existence.

The Internet has created a new world where we can expand, dupli-

cate, or multiply our lives and tap into lives of others. As we upload our

knowledge and experiences, our conversations and dreams, our hopes

and fears, our loves and hates, the Internet becomes a repository of our

collective mind and memory.

What is happening on the Internet is very real. It is not a mere

impression of our thoughts or imagination, which was previously

possible by taking a photograph or writing a book. Our websites

and social networks are becoming our very essence. Websites are no

longer mere tools of communication or still images of their authors—

they are becoming their living extensions if not the very persons

themselves. Websites of our businesses are likewise becoming our

very businesses too—while their bricks-and-mortar relics assume

back office functions.

Websites Outgrowing Their Creators

The bottom line is this: The immutable, standalone Web site is dead.

Say hello to a Web that increasingly looks like a library full of chatty

components that interact and talk to one another. Increasingly, people

are engineering software, databases, and Web sites so that they not

only meet private objectives, but so that they can be used in ways the

originators did not know or intend.324

—Don Tapscott & Anthony D. Williams

323. Tapscott, Grown Up Digital (cited in note 232) at 53.

324. Tapscott & Williams, Wikinomics (cited in note 119) at 38.

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