NCPA presentation on the evolution of "the law firm." This presentation explores the climate of the law industry and the direction it's heading. This presentation is a great resource for new and seasoned law professionals. Are you prepared for the future?

1. THE LAW OFFICE OF THE FUTURE
NCPA Annual Meeting
April 5, 2013
Camille Stell, Director of Client Services

2. OPEN STATEMENT
 It’s not about change, but at what velocity
 Tom Clay, Altman Weil

3. AGENDA
 Discuss law firm of 1980
 Statistics
 What keeps lawyers up at night
 What keeps paralegals up at night
 Furlongs 4 stages
 Law Firm of future
 Employee of future

4. LAW FIRM OF 1980
 No computers – they filled rooms
 Selectric typewriters, carbon paper, mag
card machines
 Fax machines – 1 page in 6 minutes
 Large firm was fewer than 20 lawyers
 Libraries had books, we filed advance
sheets and pocket parts
 Stood in line at banks to deposit cash and
checks

5. STATISTICS
 2012 - 44,500 law grads, 21,800 new jobs (from
ABA and US Bureau of Labor Statistics)
 20 – 25% fewer lawyers in law firms in 10 years
(from Altman Weil)

6. WHAT KEEPS LAWYERS UP AT NIGHT
 Should I open my own office, keep my office
space?
 Hire staff, associates – keep
staff, associates?
 My clients want less service, less fees, only
advice, no forms
 How do I invest in technology?

7. WHAT KEEPS PARALEGALS UP AT NIGHT
 Firm economics
 Firm relationships are deteriorating
 Change in relationship with supervising
attorney or team
 Firm’s reaction to changes
 Am I next?

8. THE EVOLUTION OF THE LEGAL SERVICES
MARKET (JORDAN FURLONG, LAW21 BLOG)
Stage 1 – Closed Market – most of 20th century up
until no later than 2008
 Law has one authorized provider – lawyers
 Jobs increase out of proportion to demand for
services
 No outside competition
 No pressure to innovate
 Little incentive to use technology
 Services are expensive

9. THE EVOLUTION OF THE LEGAL SERVICES
MARKET (JORDAN FURLONG, LAW21 BLOG)
Stage 2 – Breached Market – 2008 – 2016
 Economic upheavals disrupt market
 Technology disrupts lawyers from traditional
roles
 Limited regulatory options against emerging
competition (such as Legal Zoom)
 Firms cut positions to preserve profits
 Declining demand for lawyers leads to
overcapacity in firms
 Law schools experience pressure

10. THE EVOLUTION OF THE LEGAL SERVICES
MARKET (JORDAN FURLONG, LAW21 BLOG)
Stage 3 – Fully Open Market – 2016 – 2024
 Small, high-value portion of legal work is reserved
exclusively for lawyers
 Many consumer legal services shift from lawyers to
non-lawyer providers, much corporate work shifts
from law firms to non-firm providers
 Most mid-size and large law firms downsize
dramatically and some close
 Non-lawyers evolve to fill in gaps in market
 Client access to legal services has never been
greater

11. THE EVOLUTION OF THE LEGAL SERVICES
MARKET (JORDAN FURLONG, LAW21 BLOG)
Stage 4 – Expanding Market – 2019 - ?
 Combination of multiple providers and affordable prices
open huge, previously latent market
 Innovation in services increases range and depth of
accessible legal work
 Market expansion accelerates rapidly – legal job growth
returns, systems and IT advances achieve
unprecedented levels of accuracy and efficiency in basic
documents and processes
 Routine legal work is subject to fierce competition
 Elite firms – both solo and global - thrive by handling
high-quality, highly paid, mission critical work – lawyers
are strategists, counselors and trusted advisors

12. 5 TRENDS
 Consider outsourcing options
 Consider real estate options
 Better to have variable costs than fixed costs
 Clean up books and experiment with fee
structures that work for your clients
 Be open to change

13. EMPLOYERS OF THE FUTURE
 Transitioning from lifetime employment model to
one in which jobs and companies are likely to
disappear (or reinvent themselves) in 5 or 10 years
 Once you are more efficient, you don’t go back to
prior inefficiencies
 High value to clients is advocacy and counseling
(skills, experience, expertise, judgment, knowledge
of the client and the industry)
 Low value to clients is process and content (due
diligence, document draft, research, assembly and
review)

14. NEW COMPETITORS – NEW ENVIRONMENT
 New model of traditional law firm – Morningstar
 New model of non-traditional law firm – Axiom
 LPO’s or Legal Process Outsourcing – obtaining legal
suport from an external law firm or legal support
services firm for work such as data analysis and
management, doc drafting, doc prod, due diligence, e-
Discovery, IP services, legal research, legal transcription
 Traditional firms with in-house affiliates – WCSR – Case
Management Facility
 Online providers of legal services – Legal Zoom
 Virtual Law Offices
 IBM’s Watson – replace 500 associates

15. EMPLOYEES OF THE FUTURE
 Have a mindset open to change
 Adapt to changing conditions
 Research, study, assess market changes then use
the information for strategic decision making
and continual evolution of your strategy
 Ability to be creative as well as analytic
 Being adaptable and unique

16. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE PROFESSIONAL?
 Face to face contact
 Return calls promptly
 Dress professional – judge’s comment about the
club – look up photos of professional dress
 Shake hands
 Good communication skills
 Good email communications – avoid careless
mistakes
 Show respect
 Show loyalty
 Put away gadgets, phones, no bluetooth in your ear
 Show good manners

17. ENDING
 Change is rarely pleasant, but change is here to
stay

18. RESOURCES
 Law 21 – blog by lawyer strategic consultant Jordan Furlong –
The Evolution of the Legal Services Market – 4 part series
December 2012
 Growth is Dead e-book available on the Adam Smith Esq.
website – written by lawyer and consultant Bruce MacEwen
 The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services
by Richard Susskind
 ABA Law Practice Magazine Jan / Feb 2013 – “Reinventing Law
Firms” – with a feature story on Raleigh NC firm Morningstar
 NC Bar Association Law Practice Management section
 ABA Law Practice Management section

19. CONTACT INFORMATION
Camille Stell, Director of Client Services
Lawyers Mutual Liability Insurance Company Of North Carolina
P.O. Box 1929, Cary, NC 27512-1929
Tele: 919.677.8900 | 800.662.8843
www.lawyersmutualnc.com
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@LawyersMutualNC, @CamilleStell, @MarkScruggsEsq,
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