Web 2.0: Don't Miss the Big Picture

In a recent article in LJN's Legal Tech Newsletter, the authors went to great lengths to explain the pros and cons of the relatively new Web 2.0 environment that the legal profession is just beginning to embrace, albeit slowly, as they said is usual. The very timely and informative article goes on to educate the reader about blogs and wikis and social networks and podcasts and all of the wonderful things that the Web 2.0 platform can provide for the profession. The authors also point out in their conclusion that “lawyers can experience a more efficient workflow and a more dynamic avenue of communication with their clients and prospective clients.” (See, “Web 2.0 Comes to the Legal Profession” in the Aug. 2008 issue, available at www.ljnonline.com/issues/ljn_legaltech/26_5/news/150795-1.html.)

Not Just an Upgrade

What I think the authors understated is that Web 2.0 is more than merely an upgrade of Web 1.0; rather, it is an evolutionary step toward a major change to the practice of law ' and the end of the bricks-and-mortar world of law firms as we know them today.

The fact is that law firms spend the bulk of their fixed overhead in two areas: office space and personnel. One of these expenses, office space, can be dramatically reduced today; and personnel costs, especially on the support side, can be reduced today and dramatically reduced in just one more generation.

It wasn't but seven years ago that the COO of America's then fastest-growing and one of its largest law firms complained to me: “I keep spending more and more money on technology, but I don't see any corresponding savings in traditional expenses, such as office leases and personnel.” He went on to further complain that despite the high expenditure in technology, the partner/secretary ratio was almost unchanged at his firm, and the cost of its real estate commitments continued to soar.

All of this conversation took place after a huge technology boom in the legal profession following the introduction of Web 1.0. So where were the savings going based on technology at that time, and why is Web 2.0 going to succeed today and tomorrow in lowering fixed overhead, increasing productivity and collaboration and increasing profitability? The answer is relatively simple and isn't all about Web 2.0, although Web 2.0 certainly moves the ball down the field.

The two factors that are moving the pace of change faster than almost anyone can perceive are:

1. The generational changes occurring today that have more and more lawyers willing to accept the role of technology in the legal environment and embrace the changes instead of merely accepting them; and
2. The more user-friendly interfaces and uses of Web 2.0 that allow the technology to be more readily accepted into the legal environment that abhors change, rejects risk and generally looks at the world through the precedence-based rear view mirror.

Changes from Web 2.0

As a result, there are several changes that are likely to take place with the advent and spreading use of Web 2.0:

• The legal work environment is going to become more virtual. Why? Because it can, and because it makes economic sense to move to a virtual environment with the resultant savings in both real estate and personnel expenses. But, it also allows for more and better collaboration of teams of lawyers without the bounds of physical walls and geographic borders. It allows for “real” mergers to take place based on the growing needs of clients, instead of because it makes good geographic and real estate sense. Smart law firms will be much more flexible then they are today and will be able to expand and contract based strictly on client demand and workflow. The days of law firms staying together because of guaranteed signatures on leases will, eventually, cease to exist ' and profitability and productivity should dramatically rise. The virtual work environment will also improve the quality of life factor in the legal profession and will be a great gender equalizer. The technology for all of this exists in the Web 2.0 world today. The only things holding up the transition are the existing attitudes about what a law firm “should” look like, and people who can't enter this new world because they can't type and gain speedy access to the Internet. It surely isn't all going to happen tomorrow, but don't underestimate the speed at which it will happen.
• Administrative jobs in law firms won't disappear, but they will be different, and, I think, better. Yes, many of the personal perks of partnership will disappear, but lawyers will be looking to their support staff in a different light as they become part of the fee earning and marketing team and are no longer seen only as an ongoing and fixed expense as in the example I stated above. In fact, the ratios shouldn't matter anymore, as long as the support staff is part of the team that delivers value to both internal and external firm clients and increases economic leverage for the attorneys.
• In-house counsel will receive greater value from the law firms that “get it” and will be able to communicate and collaborate on a level unknown in the legal profession of the past. The real bricks-and-mortar that now separate inside from outside counsel will disappear, as will the attitudinal walls that get in the way of the real collaborative environment that in-house lawyers are now demanding. Web 2.0 will serve in the role of the lubricant that greases the skids to make it all happen.

Low Expense

As the authors of the recent Legal Tech article rightly pointed out: “Fortunately, the legal profession need make no great investment in infrastructure in order to enjoy the fruits of Web 2.0.” Indeed, the infrastructure, mostly exists today, and if it doesn't already, the good news is that it doesn't cost all that much and the prices are going down every day.

The only expenses involved in moving to the 2.0 environment include education or training and a much more targeted effort to “mine” and disseminate the tremendous amount of available content that each law firm generates on a daily basis and that generally lies fallow in the firm's file servers. Not a single firm that I have ever worked with has even begun to either practically or creatively get its collective hands around the issue of internally generated content management.

Right now, law firms are about at the same place they were shortly after the invention of the Mosaic Browser and the creation of Web 1.0 as we have known it. Here are the steps law firms have gone through with Web 1.0 and I believe will also go through with Web 2.0:

1. A few early adopters, mostly solo practioners and geeky partners at large law firms, began to experiment by building very basic Web 1.0 sites for their personal use or for the use of departments within large firms.
   In many cases, firm management was not even aware of the existence of these sites. In most large firms, the management of the Internet function was seen as something that belonged in the IT department.
2. The legal profession began to embrace the Internet, but only as part of business development or marketing efforts. The management of the Internet function moved to the marketing department. The firm's Web site was basically seen as a digital brochure and was thought of as a static media that, once created, could “sit” for a while before ever changing or updating.
3. Enlightened management began to see the real value of the Internet and to think about weaving its use into all processes of the firm. The legal profession began to look to the product sector and the rest of the professional services sector to see what the widest possible applications of the Internet could be.
4. The legal profession eventually embraced the Internet as a serious business and professional tool, and some firms sought ways to use it to gain a competitive advantage based on their knowledge and use of technology. Many firms continue to think that the Internet may be a fad and will eventually go away. I too believe that the Internet is a fad, sort of like automobiles and computers.

Jump on the Bandwagon
Or Get Rolled Over

Based on precedence, as I mentioned above, one could agree that law firms are currently at the beginning of Step 1 in the process and, although already familiar with the power of Web 1.0, are reluctant to move too quickly to get on to the Web 2.0 bandwagon ' or the steamroller as I believe that it is. Maybe some firms will move more quickly, as they have already experienced 1.0 and remember how they felt about joining the 1.0 revolution late in the game.

I would hope that more firms will be bold and quickly jump from Step 1 to Step 4 to avoid the possibility that they will be moving too slowly as they did when moving from typewriters to word-processing equipment to computers. They will see that Web 2.0 is real and relevant today, and will immediately begin to look for ways to incorporate the 2.0 platform into all job processes and functions that exist at the firm, including the legal process, client services, human resources, finance, marketing, etc.

Web 2.0 and its tools, like social networks, are not just for children anymore. Yes, Facebook and MySpace are wildly successful social networks, but similar applications in the legal profession, such as Legal On Ramp and Martindale-Hubbell Connected, will also be wildly successful in either their current or some future form. Podcasts are here, blogs are not going away and terms such as Twitter and wiki are being used by lawyers and in businesses all over the world. If Web 2.0 is a fad, I'm certainly going to be faddish.

In a recent article in LJN's Legal Tech Newsletter, the authors went to great lengths to explain the pros and cons of the relatively new Web 2.0 environment that the legal profession is just beginning to embrace, albeit slowly, as they said is usual. The very timely and informative article goes on to educate the reader about blogs and wikis and social networks and podcasts and all of the wonderful things that the Web 2.0 platform can provide for the profession. The authors also point out in their conclusion that “lawyers can experience a more efficient workflow and a more dynamic avenue of communication with their clients and prospective clients.” (See, “Web 2.0 Comes to the Legal Profession” in the Aug. 2008 issue, available at www.ljnonline.com/issues/ljn_legaltech/26_5/news/150795-1.html.)

Not Just an Upgrade

What I think the authors understated is that Web 2.0 is more than merely an upgrade of Web 1.0; rather, it is an evolutionary step toward a major change to the practice of law ' and the end of the bricks-and-mortar world of law firms as we know them today.

The fact is that law firms spend the bulk of their fixed overhead in two areas: office space and personnel. One of these expenses, office space, can be dramatically reduced today; and personnel costs, especially on the support side, can be reduced today and dramatically reduced in just one more generation.

It wasn't but seven years ago that the COO of America's then fastest-growing and one of its largest law firms complained to me: “I keep spending more and more money on technology, but I don't see any corresponding savings in traditional expenses, such as office leases and personnel.” He went on to further complain that despite the high expenditure in technology, the partner/secretary ratio was almost unchanged at his firm, and the cost of its real estate commitments continued to soar.

All of this conversation took place after a huge technology boom in the legal profession following the introduction of Web 1.0. So where were the savings going based on technology at that time, and why is Web 2.0 going to succeed today and tomorrow in lowering fixed overhead, increasing productivity and collaboration and increasing profitability? The answer is relatively simple and isn't all about Web 2.0, although Web 2.0 certainly moves the ball down the field.

The two factors that are moving the pace of change faster than almost anyone can perceive are:

1. The generational changes occurring today that have more and more lawyers willing to accept the role of technology in the legal environment and embrace the changes instead of merely accepting them; and
2. The more user-friendly interfaces and uses of Web 2.0 that allow the technology to be more readily accepted into the legal environment that abhors change, rejects risk and generally looks at the world through the precedence-based rear view mirror.

Changes from Web 2.0

As a result, there are several changes that are likely to take place with the advent and spreading use of Web 2.0:

• The legal work environment is going to become more virtual. Why? Because it can, and because it makes economic sense to move to a virtual environment with the resultant savings in both real estate and personnel expenses. But, it also allows for more and better collaboration of teams of lawyers without the bounds of physical walls and geographic borders. It allows for “real” mergers to take place based on the growing needs of clients, instead of because it makes good geographic and real estate sense. Smart law firms will be much more flexible then they are today and will be able to expand and contract based strictly on client demand and workflow. The days of law firms staying together because of guaranteed signatures on leases will, eventually, cease to exist ' and profitability and productivity should dramatically rise. The virtual work environment will also improve the quality of life factor in the legal profession and will be a great gender equalizer. The technology for all of this exists in the Web 2.0 world today. The only things holding up the transition are the existing attitudes about what a law firm “should” look like, and people who can't enter this new world because they can't type and gain speedy access to the Internet. It surely isn't all going to happen tomorrow, but don't underestimate the speed at which it will happen.
• Administrative jobs in law firms won't disappear, but they will be different, and, I think, better. Yes, many of the personal perks of partnership will disappear, but lawyers will be looking to their support staff in a different light as they become part of the fee earning and marketing team and are no longer seen only as an ongoing and fixed expense as in the example I stated above. In fact, the ratios shouldn't matter anymore, as long as the support staff is part of the team that delivers value to both internal and external firm clients and increases economic leverage for the attorneys.
• In-house counsel will receive greater value from the law firms that “get it” and will be able to communicate and collaborate on a level unknown in the legal profession of the past. The real bricks-and-mortar that now separate inside from outside counsel will disappear, as will the attitudinal walls that get in the way of the real collaborative environment that in-house lawyers are now demanding. Web 2.0 will serve in the role of the lubricant that greases the skids to make it all happen.

Low Expense

As the authors of the recent Legal Tech article rightly pointed out: “Fortunately, the legal profession need make no great investment in infrastructure in order to enjoy the fruits of Web 2.0.” Indeed, the infrastructure, mostly exists today, and if it doesn't already, the good news is that it doesn't cost all that much and the prices are going down every day.

The only expenses involved in moving to the 2.0 environment include education or training and a much more targeted effort to “mine” and disseminate the tremendous amount of available content that each law firm generates on a daily basis and that generally lies fallow in the firm's file servers. Not a single firm that I have ever worked with has even begun to either practically or creatively get its collective hands around the issue of internally generated content management.

Right now, law firms are about at the same place they were shortly after the invention of the Mosaic Browser and the creation of Web 1.0 as we have known it. Here are the steps law firms have gone through with Web 1.0 and I believe will also go through with Web 2.0:

1. A few early adopters, mostly solo practioners and geeky partners at large law firms, began to experiment by building very basic Web 1.0 sites for their personal use or for the use of departments within large firms.
   In many cases, firm management was not even aware of the existence of these sites. In most large firms, the management of the Internet function was seen as something that belonged in the IT department.
2. The legal profession began to embrace the Internet, but only as part of business development or marketing efforts. The management of the Internet function moved to the marketing department. The firm's Web site was basically seen as a digital brochure and was thought of as a static media that, once created, could “sit” for a while before ever changing or updating.
3. Enlightened management began to see the real value of the Internet and to think about weaving its use into all processes of the firm. The legal profession began to look to the product sector and the rest of the professional services sector to see what the widest possible applications of the Internet could be.
4. The legal profession eventually embraced the Internet as a serious business and professional tool, and some firms sought ways to use it to gain a competitive advantage based on their knowledge and use of technology. Many firms continue to think that the Internet may be a fad and will eventually go away. I too believe that the Internet is a fad, sort of like automobiles and computers.

Jump on the Bandwagon
Or Get Rolled Over

Based on precedence, as I mentioned above, one could agree that law firms are currently at the beginning of Step 1 in the process and, although already familiar with the power of Web 1.0, are reluctant to move too quickly to get on to the Web 2.0 bandwagon ' or the steamroller as I believe that it is. Maybe some firms will move more quickly, as they have already experienced 1.0 and remember how they felt about joining the 1.0 revolution late in the game.

I would hope that more firms will be bold and quickly jump from Step 1 to Step 4 to avoid the possibility that they will be moving too slowly as they did when moving from typewriters to word-processing equipment to computers. They will see that Web 2.0 is real and relevant today, and will immediately begin to look for ways to incorporate the 2.0 platform into all job processes and functions that exist at the firm, including the legal process, client services, human resources, finance, marketing, etc.

Web 2.0 and its tools, like social networks, are not just for children anymore. Yes, Facebook and MySpace are wildly successful social networks, but similar applications in the legal profession, such as Legal On Ramp and Martindale-Hubbell Connected, will also be wildly successful in either their current or some future form. Podcasts are here, blogs are not going away and terms such as Twitter and wiki are being used by lawyers and in businesses all over the world. If Web 2.0 is a fad, I'm certainly going to be faddish.