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The Law Firm, Circa 2018

What will the legal landscape look like in 2018?  Rather than wait ten years for an answer, international law firm Eversheds decided to peek into the future for itself, commissioning a major study entitled "The Law Firm of the 21st Century," discussing likely trends in the legal profession over the next decade.  The study's findings, based on a survey of 50 partners at 25 top firms and 50 corporate clients, are summarized in this press release, posted yesterday at Law Fuel.  (H/T to What About Clients.)

The study included several predictions, many of which, in my view, are best characterized as "the more things change, the more they stay the same."  For example, the study indicated a possible erosion of the dominance of the quintet of global, London-based firms known as the Magic Circle as one-third of the study's respondents said that they planned to obtain legal services from other firms to get better value for money and better client service. 

Likewise, despite the persistent cries of death to the billable hour, few predict its demise.  Despite taking a licking, over 80 percent of lawyers and partners expect the billable hour will still be ticking in 2018.  And only half of the study's participants believe that credible work-life balance is compatible with large firm practice, with just 40 percent of study participants stating that flexible work hours should be a key business objective for law firms. 

The survey suggests that the biggest challenge law firms need to address over the next ten years is the potential for commoditization of legal services.  The report recommends that partners need to constantly re-evaluate their practice and ensure that the work they are doing remains "premium."   

Quite honestly, I don't see how the legal landscape of 2018 differs all that much from the way it looks today.  In 2018, clients will demand good value for service, and will leave if they don't get it -- just as they are beginning to do now.  And while in 2018, more aspects of law practice will become mechanized, clients will always need experts for premium legal service -- just as they do now.  Is it really going to take another decade for law firms to realize and deliver what clients want right now?

Posted by Carolyn Elefant on February 20, 2008 at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Comments

Although I haven't read the full report, I tend to disagree with the conclusions as stated in the news release. It strikes me the survey underestimates the impact of outside capital flowing into law firms as is happening now in Australia, is on the horizon in the UK and will by necessity follow in the US.

As the report observed, the legal sector globally is approximately £217bn, and strongly profitable. This is a very attractive market that will, once it is allowed, attract huge amounts of outside capital. That outside capital will require attractive returns which will drive innovation, efficiency and consolidation. What the profession considers commoditization, outside capital will view as scalability. As users of legal services, many money managers will have opinions as to the practice changes they intend to make to accompany their investments. Just as it has in technology, many of these changes will be driven by those under thirty. Venture capital will, for example, provide young associates a new career option beyond their current choice of practicing law, and that is founding companies to improve the process of law.

I recall a WSJ editorial in the early 1990s lamenting the decline of writing skills with the rise of voice mail and 800 numbers. People weren't writing letters or memos anymore; they were communicating verbally on the phone. And then the Internet happened and millions of people are sending email, instant messages and posting blogs. Writing skills have become more important than ever -- well, maybe not for IM. Similarly, who predicted Google, Apple's iPod or the rapid rise of the digital camera? Disruptive change is nearly impossible to predict.

My guess is that the legal profession is on the cusp of major change over the next ten years.

Posted by: Ron Gruner | Feb 21, 2008 3:12:51 AM

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