THE END OF LAWYERS?

Richard Susskind26 August 2009

the futurethe market

commoditisationtechnology

lawyers?

the future

automation vs innovation

the market

most major clients face a dilemma in three parts

pressure to reduce internal headcount

pressure to reduce external spend

and yet …

they have more legal and compliance work then ever before (and it is riskier too)

something has to give

clients want more for less

two strategies

the efficiency strategycut the costs

moving along the path towards commoditisationmulti-sourcing

the collaboration strategyshare the costs

harnessing the collaborative power of ITonline community

commoditisation

Bespoke CommoditisedStandardised Systematised Packaged?

Bespoke CommoditisedStandardised Systematised Packaged

The path to commoditisation

Bespoke CommoditisedStandardised Systematised Packaged

Billing models

Hourly billing Fixed feesCommodity

pricing, tendingtowards zero

Marginal costs of delivery reduce

Bespoke CommoditisedStandardised Systematised Packaged

First impressions of many law firms

‘our firm does mainly bespoke work and that is it how it should be’

Bespoke CommoditisedStandardised Systematised Packaged

Challenging first impressions

• rethinking client work• market pull to the right

70% 0%20% 10% 0%

Today

40% 5%20% 20% 15%

In three years …

20% 20%20% 20% 20%

In seven years …

15% 25%15% 20% 25%

In ten years …

decomposing

document reviewlegal research

project managementlitigation support

electronic disclosurestrategytactics

negotiationadvocacy

Multi-sourcing

1. in-sourcing2. de-lawyering3. relocating4. off-shoring5. outsourcing6. sub-contracting

7. co-sourcing8. leasing9. home-sourcing10. open-sourcing11. computerising12. no-sourcing

technology

a tendency amongst lawyers

Exponential curve

Time

‘the knee ofthe curve’

online communitysome recent developments

Communicating and collaborating

• instant messaging• blogging• Twitter• mass collaboration• social networking• pets

what does all of this mean for law firms?

disruption

SermoeBayIndiaCisco

shape

expert trusted adviser

routine work by junior lawyers

new ways ofsourcing

lawyers?

what parts of lawyers’ work could be undertaken differently – more

quickly, cheaply, efficiently, or to a higher quality - using alternative

methods of working?

Jack Welch

‘faster horses’

two finalthoughts

‘The future has already arrived …

…It's just not evenly distributed yet’

‘The best way to predict the future…

… is to invent it’