The recently held Knowledge and Strategy Forum, hosted by VQAB and featuring Richard Susskind (author of The Future of Law and The End of Lawyers?) as keynote speaker, gained much interest, not least because it was Susskind’s first public event in Sweden. The conference began with Susskind’s talk on the changing legal profession. Susskind spoke in depth about the “more for less challenge” – the challenge for law firms to provide legal services to clients at less cost. Susskind’s view is that law firms have to change their structure in order to reduce the costs passed on to clients, and presented four models for future law firms (nicely named the target, doughnut, glazed doughnut and cog models).
The way in which law firms, both large and small, keep up to date with technological developments has long been discussed. How a firm changes and adapts not only to technology but also to client demands is of vital importance to its future success. There is of course no one answer as to how firms manage this transition – much depends on size, structure, area(s) of expertise etc. However, one of the most important aspects is speed: how long does it take for a firm to change direction? In this aspect, as Susskind argues, small firms have an advantage and can flourish whilst large firms may struggle to accomplish change at an acceptable rate. Another aspect is transparency: can pricing be adjusted in order to increase transparency for clients? E.g. would a mixture of task-based pricing and hourly-based fees increase transparency and make the work law firms do clearer to the paying clients?
Theory and practice are of course two different things – putting these ideas into practice and making them work will be the key to success. Innovation may be one answer to the challenge: give clients what they want before they know they want it (as described by Mikael Arborelius, Acando, innovation = idea + implementation). Any changes must also be accompanied by client trust.
Chris Bull, Edge International, also presented at the conference, talking about the role of knowledge management in new business models. Bull (using the UK and the Tesco-law as a case study) described retailers as potential threats to law firms in the future, having been early in developing complex online engines and having both brand and high street presence.
Social media is another way for firms to adapt to today’s society and reach (potential) clients. This topic was discussed by Rob Ameerun, IRIS Netherlands. Reviews on websites and social media can improve a law firm’s ratings and may even lead to an increase in the number of referrals. Arborelius also mentioned visualisation as a worthwhile tool for law firms: to see what works, what needs updating, and where to concentrate the firm’s focus. This tied in to Björn Immerstrand’s (Millnet BI) suggested use of business data to drive change: the use of business data to see where actual or potential risks lie (e.g. productivity, placement of resources etc.).
The 2011 Knowledge and Strategy Forum confirmed the fact that the traditional structure of law firms and legal services are without doubt currently experiencing a period of transition. The legal profession and legal services should arguably be going through constant change in order to keep up with the demands of a more technologically advanced society. What were once manual tasks should in some cases now be carried out through the use of technology and automated processes. To shy away from this fact is to both ignore the advancement of technology and deny the possibility of improved legal services and client/law firm interaction. How practitioners, advocates, academics etc. gather, process and apply legal information has changed dramatically over the last decade. This change must go one step further and be forwarded onto consumers and clients, those who in the end pay for legal professionals and their services. If this change does not happen, the end of lawyers (to quote Susskind) may not be too far away.
The type of changes needed to achieve the required development of the legal profession and legal services described above is also the responsibility of law schools. Just as change needs to occur in the world of the practitioner, traditional legal education also needs to go through such a transition; a change of thinking in how law students are taught and prepared for future careers must take place. Without being exposed to these changes at an early stage, it seems unlikely that the more for less challenge will be fulfilled.
Presentation slides from the conference are available here.
Tweets from the conference are available on twitter, by using the hashtag #VQforum.
