Practice Management

I am not a futurist and I do not have a crystal ball, but here are some of the changes I see in the next decade, of which attorneys need to be tuned into if they wish to thrive.

1.  Death to the desktop.  In fact, probably death to the computer as we know it.  Mobility is everything.  No tether will be acceptable.

2.  Death to the office.  Well, maybe not a communal space or spaces, but untethered we will not need anything but occasional workplaces.  We will be able to work from where we are, everywhere we are, whenever we are.

3.  Unbundled legal services.  As consumers become prosumers, they will custom fit their own legal representation.  Lawyers need to start thinking how their services break down into their component parts.

4.  Death to downloads.  Content will be streamed to computers, phones, slates and many other kinds of technologies.  Content will be there when you need it online, but likely not consumed by and on our hard drive.  It all speaks to the trend that these crappy legal template driven websites, that do not have a lot of thought in them, are not going to make it.  Websites and data from attorneys will have to become more available and easier to access and use.  Information will have to be made available to clients on demand, and not just marketing materials.

5.  The cloud rather than the hard drive.  Bookkeeping, research, document templates and drafted pleadings will not be local.  Pictures, videos, evidence, and anything that can be digitized will be available to everybody (at least in your group) all of the time, full time, and not on your hard drive.

6.  High bandwidth.  Look at an increase by a hundred fold by 2020.  Or, at least that is what I have read.  And, it makes sense.  You are not going to leave the hard drive behind and do the things that need to be done with the bandwidth we have now.  It will increase to the point where lossless digital files makes sense.

7.  Extras will become standard.  Concerns about storage will gradually disappear and apps will become standard.  Attorneys will be expected to give away those things that are not time intensive.  Things like simple wills, and legal forms will become free.  These are commodities and it is wrong to think of them as intellectual property.  Attorneys will not be able to hoard boilerplate and pretend it is valuable.

8.  Production rather than consumption.  This falls in line with consumers turning into prosumers, unbundled services and extras.  As modeling software and rapid import software become added to high bandwidth, people and companies will spend much more time creating legal documents for themselves, to be reviewed by attorneys, that reading those drafted by attorneys.  More things will follow the free tax prep software model.

9.  Suggestions rather than searches.  As bandwidth, the cloud, and streaming become more important, searches will become king.  But just like my new DROID, visual and audio searches will become important.  Think then about a lawyer who does not have a long term logo, display pictures of themselves, have video or audio featuring themselves on their websites.  Potential clients will likely not find them in lieu of their colleagues.  And, then with apps, think of the Pandora, Slacker and MOG phenomena, where searches will more often than not be replaced by personalized recommendation services.  You will tell an algorithm what you want, and it will seek to find you the right match.

10.  Personal connection.  Lawyers will need to personally connect with their potential client base.  Social media will be key.  No longer will a static web page do. No kind of occasional blogging will work.  Attorneys will have to blog, Tweet, and maintain active sites on things like Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin and whatever else appears. Self-promotion will eventually dissipate and will be replaced by old-fashion word or mouth, only that will be amplified online.

Are you ready?