posted by
Seth Azria on September 16, 2009 23:52
The core of my thoughts about computers in the law office is captured in a phrase I attached as a tagline to one of my websites "We are an information industry. This is our age." In my view, few industries are better situated to reap digital benefits than us.
I spend much of my time on this site discussing the "basics" and reviewing discreet tips and techniques. But Digital practice is far more than getting a little more from Acrobat or a Mac. That stuff is just the threshold, what may come next is much more interesting.
When I followed the story of tech and law in all the directions it seemed to lead I arrived at the idea of stacked benefits. This benefit stack describes a series of mutually reinforcing benefits between lawyers, clients, and firms that become possible with the flexibility and efficiency from combining outstanding lawyers and effective tech.
The site is www.oscounsel.com, the basic concept is freelance legal work, and the full benefit stack is immediate, strategic, percolating, accumulating, sustained, captured, and finally cherished benefits.
The story below is from "Sustained Benefits" and it best captures what I see when I talk about a digital practice. I had a little fun with describing the benefit stack.
Retaining attorney's firm grows steadily and its lawyers tend toward the esoteric. The firm develops a reputation for superlative written arguments, thoughtful strategy, shrewd negotiation, and deft trial work.
Word gets out that lawyers there work under exceptionally odd conditions. They come and go at all hours and stay in the office, or not, for as long as they choose. If not required by a court or client they are free to go anywhere and do anything. The firm has offices too few to accommodate all lawyers, conference rooms of perplexing variety, and a reception area of surgical precision.
The smiling receptionist sits behind a raised glass desk with fingers dancing over its surface, a bizarre and hypnotizing performance indeed. The desk is bare save a phone by Bang & Olafson and a slender monitor suspended above on an articulating arm. The offices contain only a desk, a chair, a table, and are adorned with eclectic art; they have no filing cabinets, books, computers, phones, or supplies. The library is filled with volumes aged and exotic, furnished with plush chairs and unusually large headphones resting upon strikingly small tables.
There is scarcely a piece of paper or pen to be found and those discovered are of surpassing quality. The lawyers are rarely seen with more than a laptop, phone, and folder; all of obvious quality. No witness can establish the occurrence of a partner meeting, associate meeting, or any other firm management gathering. Numerous stories circulate about the firm's tendency to appear en masse at Bar events and events at bars. It is rumored the firm’s holiday party will be in Playa del Carmen. It is indeed a foreign land.
Retaining attorney enjoys fielding questions about the firm's patent idiosyncrasies and finds comfort in the fact that lawyers could double in number and they could remain in their odd little house. Resumes accumulate.
Client, aided by the increasing stature and expertise of the firm, negotiates and closes several lucrative deals. The business teeters on the brink of explosion.
Essentially, what happens when an information industry truly embraces the enormous power of the information age and sincerely reevaluates business as usual?
To me that's the real question of law and tech, because learning computers is never about computers.