Just remember that the turmoil in the legal services industry offers both possibility and peril. At our ReInventLaw Lab we are all about the possibility …
One of my last conversations with the late Larry Ribstein was about the very idea in this article … not applied to medicine but rather to law … What if the sort of processing engineering that gave rise to the CheeseCake Factory was a play in the delivery of legal services? Very solid food ( yes I know it is not 5 star dining ) but it is quite affordable for most folks on a Friday night 🙂
Suffice to say this (and legal information engineering) is where a significant of the growth (jobs) in the legal services industry will be located (as we showcased at our recent London event … and will do so at our upcoming Dubai and Silicon Valley events)
If you are a law student reading this post – please understand that you can be a leader in this space as it is still in its infancy. There are lots of law startups working in this and allied domains but it is highly unlikely that your law school can help you acquire the skills you need to play ball in this arena … If you want to do what is described above you need a mixture of skills (not just law) …
Here are the four pillars — { law + tech + design + delivery } and that is precisely what we are teaching in the ReInventLaw Lab and the Michigan State 21st Century Law Practice Summer Program in London. If you want to be part of the action … it is not too late … shoot me an email … daniel.martin.katz@gmail.com and will tell you how to get serious … because the time for action is now …
Dan:
I agree with your thought process on this. I believe in the concept of nationally branded vertical networks of law firms that have strict quality control, managed pricing, and built-in performance standards without becoming an actual franchise. We are experimenting in building one at smarterwill.com in the estate planning area.
I have also suggested that our directlaw.com virtual platform is to law firms as http://www.opentable.com is to restaurants. Like opentable.com we provide the mechanics to enable law firms to offer online legal services but also help them manage their case flow and providing metrics to enable the firm to operate more efficiently. Law firms also get displayed in our law firm directory so they have another window on the web, just like Open Table provides a window for restaurants on the web. More complicated subject that can be dealt with in a blog comment. Happy to discuss off line at any time.
Dan
Just finished reading the New Yorker article and it occurs to me that you cant get systemic change in the delivery of legal services with capital. You can’t get capital into the low end of the legal services system because of the antiquated guild roles which prevent non lawyer ownership of law firms. Without capital you can’t create large scale systems. The fifth pillar should be “capital “. So I see legal services for the broad middle class served by small law firms – small custom shops – no quality control, under-managed, inadequate technology to the task, few best practice standards, and lawyers who learned nothing about practice management in law school – because law schools generally don’t know how to teach this stuff. (except what you are doing ).