Our guest writer, Murray Gottheil, a retired lawyer, shares insights on the future of the legal profession, highlighting the importance of adapting to legal technology.
Way back in the 1970’s, and just before the introduction of the digital wristwatch, my cousin Sandy started her training to become a watchmaker. Fortunately, she soon realized that the future of making and repairing mechanical timepieces was not bright and she retrained to become a commercial artist and then a web-designer. I offer this story as a way to highlight the importance of staying informed about evolving technology.
About ten years ago I attended a partner’s retreat at which we had an expert speak about the future of the legal profession. (I knew that he was an expert, because he was from the United States and he had PowerPoint.) Since I do not remember his name, I will call him the Sage.
The Sage explained to us that in the future (which would be just about now) there would be two types of lawyers.
I will call the first type the “Traditionalists”. They would process large volumes of mundane work, competing with paralegals and web-based businesses for ever-reducing fees.
The second type, who I will call the “Experts,” would be lawyers who develop a reputation for being smart, strategic advisors who are valued for their expertise, and paid handsomely.
The Sage made it very clear to us that if we wanted to be successful, we would have to move on from producing documents and become Experts.
I think the Sage nailed it, although in addition to the two types of lawyers he identified, I suggest we also have two additional categories.
First, there are the “Nitwits”, who are already emerging. They adopt legal technology such as AI without the slightest bit of thought. They present fictional cases in court, have Chat GPT draft legal memos and documents which they uncritically pass on to their clients, and take AI’s word for what the law is. These people somehow got through law school and the Bar Admission process and promptly forgot everything that they learned. Unfortunately, there are more than a few of them.
The second type are the “Innovators”, who are essentially the Experts on steroids. Not only are they great client advisors and emotionally intelligent, but they harness the power of legal technology to produce legal widgets as well. They provide you with expert advice to guide you through a matter and also produce high-quality documents to complete the job in an efficient, cost-effective manner. People will pay more for their documents produced with legal technology because their reputation is excellent, and they take responsibility for the products that emerge from the process.
With insincere apologies to those people who say that I am a bit too ‘judgy,’ I would suggest that the Nitwits are losers who should be booted from the legal profession but never will be because of the pressures on the Law Society not to appear to be ‘protectionist.’ But I will save that rant for another day.
I feel kind of sorry for the Traditionalists. They are going to work much too hard and earn way too little. Some of them will deserve their fate because they are too cheap and/or lazy and/or fearful to get on the technology bus. Others will have been at it too long and be unable to keep up with the pace of change. Either way, everyone will be competing with them, and their clients will not be motivated to discern between good legal work and poor legal work. These clients will choose their providers based on price. The Traditionalists will end up competing with “GetYourLegalDocsHere. Com.” And losing.
Which brings us to the Experts and the Innovators. They will both do well, because they will be selling their expertise, not their ability to produce documents. The Innovators will do even better than the Experts because they will provide a full service, likely working with paralegals.
Let me give you an example of how this might work.
In the old days, I used to implement corporate tax reorganizations. Not being smart enough to be a tax lawyer, I would receive a sophisticated tax memorandum from a tax accountant. I would apply a little bit of brain power to ensure that the accountant had not screwed anything up on the corporate side. Then I would have my corporate clerk produce almost all of the documents required to give effect to the tax plan. That would include things like rollover agreements, amalgamation agreements, resolutions, share certificates and share transfer forms. I would do the quality control and arrange for the documents to be approved by the tax accountant, explained to the clients, and signed. Sometimes there would be a more sophisticated legal document that my corporate clerk could not handle, such as a shareholder’s agreement, and I would draft that. It took many hours and we billed quite a bit for all of them.
Today, the Experts can still prepare the tax memorandum and be paid handsomely for doing so. People remain willing to pay for expertise and strategic advice (at least for the foreseeable future.)
A tax lawyer who is an Innovator, working with Appara Pro, can prepare both the tax memorandum and all of the documents, in a quarter of the time that it used to take my clerk and me. A really smart Innovator will charge the same price that I used to charge. An emotionally intelligent Innovator lawyer may also choose to work less while maintaining their income.
Of course, over time, as good legal technology becomes ubiquitous, legal fees will continue to drop as lawyers compete with paralegals and internet providers. When that happens, the Traditionalists who are still producing the documents the way that I used to do them will have to work much harder or will see their incomes tumble.
So, what can today’s lawyers do to get ahead? Here are some suggestions:
And now a word for the paralegals. I suggest that you will have to do two things to be successful in the new world. First, like lawyers, you must see yourself as offering more than just document production. You have to be the experts in understanding what has to be done and in knowing how to get things done, and position yourself as the people who lawyers rely upon to show them the way. Next, you need to choose your markets carefully. Your best markets are going to be as follows, and all of them require you to be an early adopter of legal technology:
Regardless of which market you choose, you need to be at the forefront of the technology revolution and leading increases in productivity.
And finally, I ask what will happen to lawyers when the AI becomes so smart that it can provide emotionally intelligent strategic advice. I will leave it to another Sage to figure that out because the only thing that I can come up with is that we will all be screwed, and you better try to make your money before that happens.
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Murray Gottheil practiced law for 39 years, primarily in a medium sized law firm in Mississauga, Ontario. He was the practice head for the corporate department for much of that time and the managing partner of the firm for 5 years. Now he lives in the country, drives a pick-up truck, complains about the legal profession, and wonders whether he would have less to complain about if legal tech had been more of a thing when he was working.
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