“It has become
expensive to practice law as cost of operating a law practice is becoming
prohibitive.” “People or consumers have to learn that lawyers are not in law
for the fun of it but are in it to make money.” “Clients can have all of the
access for which they are willing to pay.”
The above are some
examples of the comments which have been made by lawyers over the internet. Not
only on the internet but you will find similar responses whenever lawyers are
being asked about consumerism which is becoming incipient, slowly but gradually
in legal profession as well.
The demon called
consumerism has already started tormenting lawyers worldwide as it is quietly
squeezing their profits and leaving them with no other option but to look for
innovative ways in order to survive. The profession which was once termed as
golden goose is experiencing a backward inertia which is refusing to accept
this brutal reality. The rise in their expenses or an alteration in the value
of money has only made things worse for them. It was actually the economic
pressures which led to the industrial revolution in manufacturing industry and
this time it is bound to take the legal profession by storm.
But as they say
“With Challenge Comes Opportunity” and therefore the imprints of the
transformation can already been seen as some of the law firms have realized it
beforehand. They have by now started analyzing various models that can lead to
the increase in the efficiency and productivity of their firm.
Though the process of transformation is
still in progress, there are some solutions that are available for the legal
fraternity at present. Outsourcing is one of them, which is not new to law
firms as well. Whilst it is quite common for law firms to outsource their IT,
accounts, administration departments to increase their efficiency, they are
still to come to terms with legal outsourcing which is just an extension and
nothing else. It’s just the division of the work carried out by the lawyers and
paralegals in the legal department, analyzing the monotonous and repetitive
work and then allocating it to the right vendor in order to increase the
efficiency and the productivity of the firm.
And this is exactly why I think that
outsourcing could be a viable option if implemented properly. I’m saying this
not because of the hoopla which usually surrounds outsourcing, not because of
some extraordinary facts that support this industry but just because of the
principle it is based upon. Apparently,
it is based on the same principle which was adopted in the times of industrial
revolution which is “work specialization”.
Having said that, if someone needs to be on
even terms with this change it has to be small law firms or sole practitioners
but unfortunately they are the ones who are repulsing it. Such is the struggle
that the number of sole practitioner firms fell from 4,056 in March 2010 to
just 3,692 by March 2011. With ABS and other legal reform coming in, I do not
see the situation getting any better from here. In the end, I just want to say
that the time has come for law firms to embrace the change in order to survive.
I hope law practitioners realize the need to transform before getting engulfed
in the quick sand which is spreading in the industry.