The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/96072
Law Firm of the Future The economic crash beginning in 2008 precipitated a loss of approximately 15,000 jobs in the legal sector. Corporations began questioning and pushing back on high hourly rates and started requesting alternative fee arrangements. This resulted in law firm mergers and acquisitions, and even the demise of some firms. The structure of law firms began to change. Virtual law firms sprang up not only because thousands of lawyers were unemployed, but also because technological capabilities made virtual firms possible. The availability of technologies such as high-speed Internet access, inexpensive computers, tablets, cloud data storage and software as a service means attorneys can set up virtual offices in a matter of hours, allowing them to serve clients from the comfort of their own homes. These virtual law firms are also able to serve their clients while incurring a fraction of the overhead costs associated with most traditional brick and mortar law firms. With clients looking very closely at costs and demanding lower legal fees, the ability of virtual firms to compete with their traditional counterparts at a much lower cost to the client is increasing competition in the legal profession. Technology can level the playing field when it comes to providing legal services to cost-conscious clients. There are also some pushes toward nonlawyer ownership of law firms. In the U.S., ethics rules of the American Bar Association prohibit nonlawyer ownership in law firms. In the U.K. and Australia, however, some amount of nonlawyer ownership is permitted. Another aspect which may affect the law firm of the future is the consumerization of legal services. Online legal services companies such as LegalZoom, USLegal, Rocket Lawyer and others are providing the types of consumer-focused legal services that were previously offered by law firms and sole practitioners. 44 Peer to Peer only have an office administrator who handles all the daily aspects of firm operations, usually outsourcing specific areas such as payroll, IT, etc. The more attorneys, the more staff a firm employs, creating a greater necessity for more departments and thus more department managers. Very large firms usually have strategic officer positions for operational and business development areas of the firm (e.g., chief human resources officer, chief information officer, chief marketing officer, chief financial officer, etc.). Roles Attorneys: If nothing else, attorneys practice law in a law firm. This much is obvious. However, some attorneys play many different roles. Partners are largely responsible for helping to manage the firm, overseeing business development and attracting clients. Associate attorneys are not partners or owners of the firm, but most firms have some sort of tenure track to groom associates who strive to become partners, and they compensate associates according to the number of years that they have been out of law school while on that track. Senior associates tend to adopt more supervisory roles and may or may not eventually become partners. Attorneys who serve as "of counsel" are usually neither partners nor associates, but instead might be a retired partner still associated with the firm or an attorney only working part-time. Law students between their second and third years at law school can be hired temporarily as what is referred to as a "summer associate." They are paid on a prorated basis for the several weeks they are employed by the firm, at a rate comparable to what they would earn if employed full-time after graduation. Some firms use this time to court summer associates in the hopes they will want to join the firm after they graduate. Summer associates are also able to work on cases and legal matters (while supervised) in order to get an idea of the type of work that the law firm practices. Some firms utilize contract or outsourced attorneys from time to time. This is most often seen in litigation during document or discovery review. Because of the downturn in the economy, in recent years more firms have been making use of contract attorneys on an as-needed basis rather than incurring the permanent expense of full-time associates.