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Small Law, Big Changes: The Coming Disruption in the Legal Industry
The legal industry has a gigantic problem. A tidal wave in the supply of lawyers is outstripping demand for legal services. At the same time, as many as 50% to 80% of the need for legal services across the general population goes unmet, largely because those services are unaffordable. Access to justice is under threat, even as law schools continue to churn out more than 30,000 lawyers per year and underemployment in the industry is nearly epidemic. This state of affairs serves neither lawyers nor consumers of legal services.
The huge capacity in the attorney workforce is accompanied by very low productivity: an astonishingly meager 2.3-hour-per-day realization rate. That means we've got thousands of highly skilled and well-educated individuals whose talents aren't being utilized in a productive and efficient way. Something has to give.
Ironically, Big Law is typically the focus when we talk about changing the business model in law, even though 63% of attorneys are solo practitioners or work at small firms. Big firm jobs are difficult to land, and new graduates are unwilling to accept the expectation of firms that require 50, 60 or 70 billable hours a week. However, if young lawyers choose to go into business for themselves or join a small firm, it's difficult to build up a solid clientele while simultaneously marketing. Attorneys need help.
A Recipe for Disruption
All of this adds up to a perfect storm that cries out for a transformation of the industry. Why hasn't it happened? Two reasons: 1) the legal industry is an inherently slow changing conservative profession based on precedent; and 2) bar associations have tended to resist changes to the legal business model to accommodate rapidly evolving economic realities.
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