Legal practice
A wake-up call to lawyers
Professor Richard Susskind is, as I write, no doubt completing the final draft of his forthcoming treatise, The End of Lawyers? to be published in June by Oxford University Press. More than 12 years ago he wrote its predecessor, The Future of Law. Then only a few of us had awoken to the internet; only […]
A legal profession on the brink
Time to mention Jordan Furlong’s Law21 blog – dispatches from a legal profession on the brink: In the 21st century, the practice of law is shaking loose from its traditional moorings and heading out into uncharted territory. Opportunities abound, but so do pitfalls. Most of the old rules won’t apply anymore, while some will matter […]
The death of the high street practice?
John Bolch on Family Lore relates the sad tale of local (Kent) firms who are shedding staff by the dozen due to the property slump. And following their conveyancing business may well be their whole business. Anecdotal evidence is that HIPs are as much to blame as the sub-prime crisis. Who agrees? Who disagrees? Who […]
Who’s got the offshoring habit?
A partner in a Silver Circle firm comments: Was noticing that while your site is very detailed in some areas, your discussions, views etc on LPO [legal process outsourcing] are very light. Although you could say that Susskind’s views overlap here? But is this deliberate from you? It seems to be finally moving and I […]
Susskind 2.0 digested (6)
In the last Times extract from The End of Lawyers? Richard Susskind answers his critics. There are those that argue that “computers cannot replace legal work. Full stop.” and others who believe that IT will have no or minimal effect on lawyers. To which the reply is: Open-minded lawyers, and those who genuinely care about […]
Susskind 2.0 digested (5)
From the fifth Times extract from The End of Lawyers? No-one who might be thought to be in the driving seat of the legal system [not law schools, nor legal academics, nor the professional bodies, nor the UK Government, nor the Law Commission] is thinking systematically, rigorously and in a sustained way about the long […]
Susskind 2.0 digested (4)
Richard Susskind takes a while to get to his point in the latest extract from his forthcoming book The End of Lawyers?: The major firms may feel they are beyond the scope of commoditisation and systematisation and that, on bet-the-ranch deals and disputes the legal fees represent but pocket change in the grand scheme. But […]
Susskind 2.0 digested (3)
Extracted from the third Times Online extract from The End of Lawyers? Lawyers, like the rest of humanity, face the threat of “disintermediation” (broadly, being cut out of some supply chain) by smart systems; and, as in other sectors, if they want to survive, their focus should be on re-intermediating – that is, on finding […]
Susskind 2.0 – the digested read
In the second extract from his forthcoming book, The End of Lawyers?, published in Times Online, Richard Susskind revisits his predictions in 1996’s The Future of Law: I argued that … many of our fundamental assumptions about the nature of legal service and the nature of legal process would be challenged by the coming of […]
Lawyers not necessary shock
Times Online publishes the first of several excerpts from Richard Susskind’s forthcoming book, The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the nature of legal services, due next May from OUP, from which: the law is not there to provide a livelihood for lawyers any more than ill-health exists to offer a living for doctors. Successful legal business […]
Branching out
Steve Matthews – the Vancouver Law Librarian blogger – has set up a new business called Stem Legal to help law firms build their web profiles. On the site he’ll be blogging on Law Firm Web Strategy. Good luck to Steve.
Hire me or fire me: what does your web profile say?
Two related pieces on hiring and firing employees based on what is said about them on the web: CNet reports, under Fired federal worker sues over googling, that a government worker claimed a department official violated his “right to fundamental fairness” by using Google to research his prior work history in a dispute over the […]
My advice is …
I know nothing about UK legal ethics rules. I don’t even know if the UK has legal ethics rules. But I’m pretty sure this site would not pass muster in the US. This from Bob Ambrogi, a Massachusetts (US) lawyer, referring to the (UK) Expert Legal Advice service in association with Net Lawman. This service […]
Law firm e-marketing stats
Primary Research Group has published a Survey of [US] Law Firm E-marketing Practices ($295). The following is from Larry Bodine’s helpful summary. Data in the report is based on a survey of 46 (mostly major) law firms. I’m guessing there must be some 100,000 US law firms, so this is a tiny sample and cannot […]
Trainee love
More than two months on, Watson Farley & Williams continue to show no remorse, persisting in publishing their so-called Trainee Law Blog, whose failings I have previously summed up. We’re now on episode 23. On its launch in late September, Legal Week quickly posted a story about it, sans any investigation, describing it as “possibly […]
