Solicitors Online Blog

If one door closes ...

In his book ‘The End of Lawyers?: Rethinking the nature of legal services’ Richard Susskind predicts that the current structure and method of working in legal firms cannot last, and that traditional legal practice is due for big changes over the next 20 years. 

A report in the Times today seems to indicate that this day is nearer than many people might have thought. The article claims that some 10,000 lawyers will lose their jobs in the next two years. For those remaining, things will never be the same again, with reports of equity parters losing their equity and being forced to take pay cuts, lawyers being offered ‘commission only deals’, and others only being hired if they can show a ‘dependable client following’. Difficult times indeed. 

My advice to those losing their jobs is to forget about going back into traditional practice, but to have a long think about how you can use your specialist knowledge in a more innovative way. For example there are many ways that one can start a new business reasonably easily using the internet, and with a large proportion of people on broadband nowadays, the internet is a good place to be. 

To use a couple of cliches, think of it as an opportunity rather than a threat. You may end up deciding that losing your job was the best thing that ever happened to you.

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Susskind - the end of lawyers?

I recently listened to an interesting webcast of an interview of Richard Susskind here. Susskind is promoting his new book, The End of Lawyers?: Rethinking the nature of legal services, having written several groundbreaking books on the use of IT and technology in the internet in the past. 

Susskind covers quite a wide range of legal IT related topics in the interview, but it is some of the comments at the end which are most worrying (for lawyers). Both he and his interviewer make the point that lawyers are not (on the whole) natural innovators and tend to be resistant to new developments, particularly if they are making a good income as they are. 

However he believes (and I have to say that I agree with him) that technology and the internet will have huge implications for the profession, and it is worrying that the Law Society and the government are planning new rules and regulations for the future of the profession, without really taking these properly into account. 

For example one thing he mentioned was shared knowledge on forums and how this may develop in the future. In fact however this is happening right now, as there are a number of consumer forums where people exchange information about legal matters, for example this forum here on tenancy deposits. Shared knowledge of this kind could well reduce the need to use qualified lawyers in the future. 

The conclusion, more or less, was that there will always be a place for some lawyers and the subject is an interesting discipline in itself, but that the profession has probably passed its high point and things will never be the same again. He also made the point that new lawyers are entering an uncertain profession and many law students should be prepared to use their law degree for something other than practising as a lawyer.

A new service, a new blog

Unlike many solicitors, I have run my legal business online for the past eight or so years.  In November 2001 my LandlordLaw site was launched and I have been running it successfully every since. 

During that time there have been many ups and downs, and I have tried various new initiatives with varying degrees of success.  However the basic model of an online subscription information service worked from day one, and I now earn the largest proportion of my income from members subscriptions.  

Recently I have been encouraged to offer a consultancy service, so I can help other solicitors provide services online.  As a solicitor of 20 years I believe that solicitors are the best people to provide legal services.  After all we have all had to pass extensive examinations in law before being allowed to practice at all, we have to do continuing education every year and provide professional indemnity service as a condition of being allowed to continue in practice, and we operate under a strict code of conduct which includes strong ethical standards.  

However in this new 21st century things are changing.  The internet is with us and all businesses must take account of it to survive.  And now web-sites alone are not enough.  We are in the era of web 2 with blogs, social networking sites and who knows what else?  Openness is all the range.  

However solicitors do not fit easily in this new scheme of things as our instinct and training is towards confidentiality and discretion.  Also as we charge for our time, not widgets, the prospect of giving away legal advice and information for free is rather a scary one.  The prospect of others giving away legal information for free is even more scary as it threatens our very existence. 

However although this new internet world has threats, it also has massive opportunities for those willing to embrace it.  I believe there is huge scope for solicitors to provide online services to the public.  I also think it is important that we do this, as otherwise the opportunity will be taken up by others.  And this would be wrong.  Solicitors should be out there, innovating and providing services to the public direct rather than just taking the leavings or paying for clients to be referred by other non solicitor organisations such as claims farmers.

I have therefore started this blog to monitor and comment on solicitors on the internet.  If you have any suggestions for posts please feel free to email me.  I will also be using this blog to build up a database of good examples of online services both for and by solicitors on the internet.