The Modern Lawyer Movement: How a Growing Number of Colorado Lawyers Are Changing the Practice of Law, 1219 COBJ, Vol. 48, No. 11 Pg. 8
| Author | BY JP BOX, ERIKA HOLMES, AND LAUREN LESTER |
| Position | Vol. 48, 11 [Page 8] |
LAW PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
BY JP BOX, ERIKA HOLMES, AND LAUREN LESTER
The legal profession is at a crossroads. With the traditional practice model buckling in a rapidly changing marketplace, lawyers in Colorado are now compelled to ponder the future of the legal profession.
The CBA's Modern Law Practice Initiative (MLPI) positions itself at the forefront of a movement to make the practice of law more accessible to clients and more fulfilling to lawyers. Before launching into the modern lawyer movement, however, it is important to pause and consider the motivation for building this new practice model.
Changing the Way Lawyers Practice
A growing consensus recognizes that the traditional practice model must adapt to thrive in the current legal marketplace. While the market has its challenges, a lucrative opportunity exists for innovative lawyers and firms. Recently, for example, the 2018 Report on the State of the Legal Market issued an urgent plea for law firms to cast off their systemic "blind spots" and "consensual neglect" and instead embrace a new path forward.1
The report warns against the pitfalls of lawyers remaining committed to traditional practice models that fail both lawyers and clients alike. Despite mounting evidence that "old approaches ... to managing legal work processes, pricing, leveraging, staffing, project management, technology, and client relationships... are no longer working," many law firms "choose to double down on their current strategies rather than risking the change that would be required to respond effectively to evolving market conditions."2
The report further noted that 2017 marked another year marred by financial uncertainty in the legal industry. Stagnant growth in demand for legal services, productivity declines, and falling realization rates represent the new norm.3
Like
the traditional business model, the health and well-being of
lawyers also suffer when change is averted. In 2017, the
American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Lawyer
Assistance Programs issued an eye-opening report as part of
its National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being.[4] The report
stated simply, "To be a good lawyer, one has to be a
healthy lawyer. Sadly, our profession is falling short when
it comes to well-being."
Chronic stress, high rates of substance abuse, and depression continue to plague legal professionals at disturbingly high rates.6 The report concluded that "the current state of lawyers' health cannot support a profession dedicated to client service and dependent on the public trust."7
Law firms and lawyers aren't the only ones feeling the squeeze. For the past decade, legal practitioners have sounded the alarm concerning urgent access to justice problems affecting litigants and non-litigants alike. For example, in a 2010 New York Times op-ed, the Chief Justices of California and New Hampshire highlighted the "growing challenge" of unrepresented litigants, which has created "an inaccessible, overburdened justice system [that] serves none of us well."[8]
Despite such siren calls, the problem continues to worsen. In its 2016 Report on the Future of Legal Services in the United States, the ABA lamented that "significant unmet needs persist," as the "traditional law practice model constrains innovations that would provide greater access to, and enhance the delivery of, legal services."9
Surprising to most, these access to justice trends plague a broad socioeconomic spectrum of individuals and businesses that simply cannot access quality legal services.[10] Incredibly, a majority of people involved in civil cases do not have legal representation.11
In Colorado in 2017, neither party had representation in 67% of the domestic relations cases filed, and 75% of parties in domestic relations cases were unrepresented.[12]Similarly, 61% of parties in civil cases filed in county courts and 38% of parties in civil cases filed in district courts were unrepresented.13 Even more concerning, 98% of respondents in county civil cases were unrepresented.14
Simply put, our profession's traditional practice model is failing the public and lawyers alike. Fortunately, there is a silver lining: these challenges have created an opportunity for lawyers to reimagine the practice of law to better meet the needs of more clients and more lawyers.
The Win-Win of Modern Representation
A growing number of attorneys in Colorado have flocked to the modern lawyer movement. At its core, modern representation expands access to affordable legal services through innovative, client-driven, and cost-effective legal strategies that empower lawyers to build thriving law practices.
The members of MLPI believe that high-quality legal services should, and can, be available to a broad spectrum...
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