By Dan Mills, Assistant Director, Practice Management Advisory Service
“we believe
lawyers
can change the world
but to change the world
we must first change ourselves
it is time to ReInvent
the market for legal services
is undergoing serious transition,
presenting both possibility and peril
we believe
four pillars of innovation
will save our industry
{ Law + Tech + Design + Delivery }™
cultivating these pillars is our goal at the
ReInvent Law Laboratory™”
~ ReInvent Law’s Credo
Amid the negativity that permeates the profession today, the ReInvent Law conference earlier this month in New York City is an island of hope in a rough sea.
What is ReInvent Law? It is a movement of lawyers and others concerned about the profession who are making it simpler and often less expensive for clients to interact with lawyers and law firms. The movement includes big firm lawyers, law professors, in-house counsel, small firm lawyers, entrepreneurs and others who really want to remake what it means to provide legal services. The lawyers involved don’t just work “in” a law firm, they work “on” the law firm for the benefit of the client.
The movement is a big step away from the old ways of providing legal services. ReInvent Law strives to rebrand and repackage what it means to solve the problems of other people.
One doesn’t need to look any further than the D.C. Bar to see positive examples of the ReInvent Law movement. Mark Cohen, managing director of Clearspire (www.clearspire.com), gave an engaging presentation at ReInvent Law NYC entitled The Legal Delivery Model: A Post-Cubist Paradigm. Clearspire is an example of how legal services typically provided by BigLaw are now being provided in a new model sans brick-and-mortar.
Another example of creatively providing legal services can be seen through Nicole Bradick, director of business development at D.C.'s Potomac Law Group (www.PotomacLawGrp.com) and founder of Custom Counsel (www.customcounsel.com). She described how Potomac Law Group, launched three years ago, cut rates, expanded rapidly and now operates with over 40 lawyers in an alternative business model with low overhead.
Some say ReInvent Law flows from the predictions of Richard Susskind about the legal profession. Years ago Susskind—author and independent adviser to major international firms—was criticized by his own bar association for predicting that a time would come when a lawyer’s primary means of communication with the client would be by email. Susskind is now watching the ReInvent Law movement manifest many of his ideas about how the client would become the focus of the legal delivery process rather than the lawyer, the law firm and the billable hour. His books, The End of Lawyers? and Tomorrow’s Lawyers, are the foundation of this movement.
If you are frustrated with the old way of doing things, feel the need to start over, or believe your current business model is no longer functional; ReInvent Law wants you to help make the delivery of legal services simple, effective, affordable, and practical for your clients. This approach represents hope and positive change in a profession that has been shaken by the economies of the last decade.
To learn more visit www.ReInventLawChannel.com where presentations from ReInventLaw NYC will be posted. You can also learn more about the movement at www.reinventlaw.com.
ReInvent Law is proof that it is not the end of lawyers, it is the beginning.
