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: Infamy or Praise

I am not a Frankenstein. I'm a Fronkensteen.

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: What a filthy job.
Igor: Could be worse.
Frankenstein: How?
Igor: Could be raining.

Young Frankenstein (1974)

These days, practicing law, at least in some larger firms, is a filthy job... with rain. Jordan Furlong has long been amongst the more astute observers of the skewed economics and broken business models of many BigLaw firms and this week he hosts Blawg Review #252 at the Law Firm Web Strategy Blog. Furlong likens the themes of the classic monster novel Frankenstein to many practitioners' reservations about new technologies:

Frankenstein explores our love-hate relationship with the things we create and with our ability to do so, a theme that has surfaced repeatedly in popular fiction ever since. As technological advances accelerated over the last 60 years, so have the fictional expressions of that theme. A similar arc can be detected in the legal profession ? the more sophisticated and powerful technology becomes in the law, the more upset many lawyers become about the rise of the machines and the threats they pose, taking away lawyers? work, robbing the law of its humanity, and even replacing lawyers altogether.

Highlights of this week's edition of the carnival of legal blogging include the fiscal challenges prospective jurors face, the dangers of sharing too much via e-mail and outsourcing, and invasions of privacy by social media sites.

The South Florida Lawyers blog will host Blawg Review #253 next Monday.

Full post as published by Infamy or Praise on February 23, 2010 (boomark / email).