Alabama State Bar

Richard Susskind’s book, The End of Lawyers?: Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services, has recently come out in paperback.  The book discusses how changes in technology are eroding, and will continue to change, the work available for lawyers. Today, though, I’m more concerned with the possibility of the end of clients – those of solo practitioners and small firms.

Despite the fact that the recession has been declared officially over, I continue to receive calls from lawyers, especially solo and small firm lawyers, who are having trouble maintaining their practices.  Almost uniformly, they report that their business has just fallen off and doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of returning.  I’ve been puzzling over these mysterious, disappearing clients. Were they going to other lawyers? Were they solving their problems without resort to the established legal system?  Is it simply that so many people have lost their jobs?  Last week the happenstance of finding two diametrically opposed news items at the same time gave me a clue to what I’m afraid is happening. (more…)