Sam Glover: Lawyers Must Evolve or Face Extinction
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Sam Glover
Today, the Internet-informed public needs lawyers less, but there are more lawyers than ever, and most of them are fighting for the same positions in a quickly-shrinking legal job market.
Supply is up, demand is down. If ever there were a time for lawyers to change the profession, it is now.
Lawyers must evolve or die.
The Status Quo
There is little imagination in the practice of law. From BigLaw to SmallLaw, most practices look just like the next. Most lawyers focus on the same practice areas, market to the same people, bill the same way, and give clients the same options.
Lawyers with nothing but the same, tired law practice model will become fungible in the legal marketplace. Fungible lawyers are simply a commodity.
Smart lawyers will not let this happen, at least not to them. And there are many smart but unemployed lawyers with little to lose by trying some new things.
Lawyers as Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs start with an idea for a new or improved product or service, or find a better way to deliver an existing product. Lawyers, on the other hand, generally build and sell an existing service the same way as everyone else.
Lawyers must think more like entrepreneurs. Clients' changing needs will demand it. The economy demands it.
Improve The Product and The Delivery
Forms, flat fees, and unbundled services are a few frequently-talked-about ways to improve legal services. But many lawyers and law firms are already considering those changes.
To distinguish your practice from the next, look for an opportunity to serve new clients, or a new way to serve existing clients.
For example, step outside the competition and go after clients and cases nobody else cares about. Three years ago, almost nobody in Minnesota was representing consumers sued by debt buyers. I figured I could make a profit representing those clients at low flat fees if I put in the time to create high-quality forms to save time. It worked, and I have many happy clients and a healthy bottom line.
Or find a new way to serve existing clients. Free is huge. Spend time coming up with meaningful things you can give away for free. Everyone gives away a bit of generic information on their websites. Why not give away something valuable, like a social networking policy to your business clients, instead?
Maybe you should get out of the office more. In fact, maybe you should get rid of the office, or at least some of it. More large firms are giving associates tiny offices, and spending the bulk of their budget on flashy conference rooms. Why not get rid of the offices entirely, go paperless, and have a few rooms full of library-style carrels? Encourage employees to work from home, the coffee shop, Cancun, or anywhere else they choose.
Experiment
Never be afraid to experiment. All you stand to lose is money. But if your experiments work, you could make even more money and gain happier, more-loyal clients and employees.
Imagine the law practice you want to have, and then create it.
Sam Glover is a Minnesota-based legal entrepreneur who founded Lawyerist, an online "lawyering survival guide," and manages a full-time consumer rights practice. Glover frequently writes and talks about his entrepreneurial approach to law practice, marketing, technology, productivity, and more.
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Posted by Glenn Carbol - 9 months, 2 weeks, 18 hours, 51 minutes ago
Well said Sam, thank you for this post. Our firm was started by 3 entrepreneurs who just happen to also be lawyers. We left Bay Street (Toronto) so we could work with other entrepreneurs, and opened our office where our clients are located. Fish where the fish are I always say. Granted, the small fish don’t pay much, but they push us in new and exciting ways.
Cheers,
Glenn Carbol, Partner
Innovate LLP
MaRS Centre, 101 College Street, Suite 120-E, Toronto, ON M5G 1L7 | W: http://www.innovatellp.com
Posted by Tracy Thrower Conyers - 9 months, 2 weeks, 18 hours, 7 minutes ago
Legal entrepreneurs! I love it! From one LE to another, big hat tip on a great post, Sam.
Tracy Thrower Conyers
http://www.PluggedInLawyer.com
@pluggedinlawyer
Posted by Karen Lundquist - 9 months, 2 weeks, 6 hours, 58 minutes ago
Excellent post and excellent food for thought. I am trying to do exactly what you encourage law firms to do. It isn’t easy, but a must in today’s changing economy and market. It comes down to branding and offering customers what they want…not what the lawyers think their clients want.
Posted by Sam Glover - 9 months, 2 weeks, 2 hours, 22 minutes ago
Thanks for the feedback! I think approaching law with an entrepreneurial spirit is exciting, and I hope it spreads.
http://lawyerist.com
Posted by Clint Dunaway - 9 months, 1 week, 4 days, 4 hours, 32 minutes ago
Great article. As a 3L, articles such as these are especially poignant!
http://www.mormonlawyers.com
Posted by Roger - 9 months, 1 week, 4 days, 2 hours, 24 minutes ago
Great post Sam! I operate an online firm at illinoisvirtuallaw.com offering legal services, for a fixed price. All communication can be conducted online and I can work from home. My clients have been satisfied. The law and technology usually don’t go with eachother, but it better start!
Posted by Tracy Thrower Conyers - 9 months, 1 week, 3 days, 4 hours, 7 minutes ago
I’ll join you on the entrpreneurial soapbox any day, Sam!
Tracy Thrower Conyers
http://www.PluggedInLawyer.com
@pluggedinlawyer
Posted by Jessica - 9 months, 1 week, 3 days, 2 hours, 32 minutes ago
First of all, great post. As someone just looking to get into law school, I find there is more room for upward growth as a paralegal right now than as an attorney.
One idea I have been playing around with is starting a freelance paralegal service in leu of this problem. Thus, attorneys could benefit from the extra help, yet not incure the added costs of having to pay taxes and provide more space for another body.
Granted, some tasks can be completely entirely online, where others (such as sorting through files and documents provided by clients) would have to be done on location. Therefore, I could offer to travel, depending on their distance from my home.
As you are all looking for ideas, I am curious as to how many of you would be interested in such a service? I am asking more from a feasiblity study standpoint, rather than trying to gain potential clients (or perhaps “employers” would be a better word choice). That is why I am not leaving any contact information on this post.
I would love to know your thoughts on this matter. My scores are high enough to get into law school, and I’m teetering with entering one I am in communication with right now, but I just don’t know if getting into a $100,000 debt when the job market is decreasing would be a very wise decision at this point.
Thanks,
Jessica
Posted by Jessica - 9 months, 1 week, 2 days, 18 hours, 17 minutes ago
Don’t everyone respond at once, now…
Posted by Charlie Delta - 9 months, 4 days, 19 hours, 7 minutes ago
Jessica! Don’t do it! Go to art school! Go to culinary school! Get a job! But please, please don’t go to law school.