Education for 21st Century Law Practice

The Law Firm as a Factory for Producing Legal Services

Florida Coastal School of Law

What do these organizations have

in common?

World Class Hotel Chain

World Class Hospital

World Class Law Firm

Commonalities• Consistent Quality Every Time

• Processes in Place that Eliminate Waste and Cost

• Processes That Are Designed to Continually Improve Output

• Feedback Loops

• A Culture of Innovation – Say Yes – Not No!

Trends in the Legal Industry

• Commoditization and Standardization• Change in Business Model• “Solution Shop” to “Value-Chain Business Model”• “Lean” Lawyering• The Internet is becoming the new platform for the

delivery of legal services.• Consumers and small business want legal

services that re faster, more convenient, and less expensive.

• Consumers and small business want fixed fee, limited legal services.

Business Model Innovation

• Two Kinds of Business Models: “law practice today”o “Solution-Shop” - Law Firms

• Problem solving• Every “problem” is unique”• Based on “information asymmetry”• Command of a specialized technology• Fee for services.• Cost is no object.• Based on “ Expertise”• Experts/people are the primary resource.

o “Value-Chain” – like a factory.

Value- Chain Business Model- A Law Factory• Value Proposition + resources+ processes + profit

formula.

• Transformation of “inputs” into “products”

• Value proposition = cheaper, better, fastero Resources, processes and profit formula support the value proposition.

Different Markets Require Different

Models• Corporations and individuals have different needs

when it comes to legal services. • Law firm’s as “solution shop providers’ have real

difficulty moving down market to serve consumers.

• When law firm’s employ limited legal services methods, combined with technology and the effective use of paralegals. Combined with process engineering technologies such as legal project management that can create a new value proposition that delivers legal services better, faster, and cheaper.

Law School Education• Law schools teach students exclusively to work in

a “solution shop environment”. This works if you are going to be employed in a large law firm serving corporate clients.

• If you are going into solo to small law firm practice, consumers and small business the training and education requirements are different.

• If law students are not taught how to serve this marketplace with “value chain solutions” they will loose out to providers like LegalZoom who know how to serve this marketplace.

Solo and Small Law Firm Practice

• Evolving towards the Value-Chain Business Model• So are some large law firms• Requires different skills sets• Disconnect in legal education: Training for the

wrong marketplace– except top tier law schools

What do we mean by a Value Chain Model

Law?• Lower your overhead - whether you’re in-house or

in private practice • improve turnaround times • increase client satisfaction (internal or external) • price more accurately • free up limited resources for other valuable work

Lean Law: -- Value Criteria

• does your work move the matter forward? • is it what the client wants and is willing to pay

for? • is your work done right the first time?• Is the quality of your work consistent over time?• Anything that doesn’t add value is waste?

Attorneys as Project Managers

• I didn’t go to law school to be a project manager.• Except you a project manager anyway. Every

legal matter is a project.

• Commonsense approach to managing work flow used by every other business.

Why Process Management

Technologies? • Help you better control or understand the cost.• Control of predict the time spent, both cumulative

time (hours) and running time (start to finish).• Be better prepared for events, especially

unplanned events.• Engage the most appropriate resources to do the

work bested suited to them.o Out-source?o Paralegal?o Junior Associate

• Improve communication with the client.

Doing Legal Work• If you can’t break down a legal matter into tasks,

deadlines, costs, people, etc., you really don’t know what you are doing.

Analogy• Think of what it takes to build a house.• Think of the estimates that the subcontractors

make.• Think what happens if a subcontractor misses a

deadline or under estimates the budget.• If a general contractor can build a $5,000,000 a

house and bring it on budget and on time, why can’t a lawyer estimate how much a legal project will take to complete – even assuming that certain risks are unknown.

• Risks are always built into the project for building a house.

Framework• Not about the practice of law, but the mechanics

of practice.• The law per se is not a business, but the practice

of law is.• Law firms exist to make a profit• Even the practice of Public interest law requires

that cases be managed with budget and time constraints and be “completed.”

Project Management• Analyze Tasks• Steps to Take• Determine Time Requirements• Create Deadlines• Determine who is assigned to which task.• Staffing the Steps• Determine cost parameters.• Create a budget.• Link budget to tasks and deadlines.• Communications• What’s likely to go wrong – build in risks.

Process Maps

Metrics• Client Satisfaction• Adherence to Deadlines• Workload (hours)• Adding Business Value• Client Retention• Renewal Business• Consistent Quality No Matter What The Deal.

Fixed Fee Practice• You need to know your costs;• You need to determine in advance who will do the

work;• You need to know how long it will take to do each

tasks.

• You need to

Skills Necessary• Project Management• Knowledge of Smart Technologies• Outsourcing and Management of Paralegals• Design of Limited Legal Services• Web Development Skills and Virtual Law Firm

Technologies• Mobile Technologies• Fixed fee and pricing strategies• Law Practice Technologies

Tomorrow’s Lawyers: An Introduction

to Your Future by Richard Susskind

Susskind’s Disruptive Technologies• Automated Document Assembly

• Relentless connectivity- Mobile• The electronic legal marketplace• Online Legal Guide• Legal Open Sourcing• Workflow and Legal Project Management• Embedded Legal Knowledge: Expert

Systems• Ediscovery Management• Online Dispute Settlement

Certificate in Law Practice Technology and Management at Florida Coastal School of Law

• COURSE IN LAW PRACTICE TECHNOLOGY AND LAW PRACTICE MANAGEMENT (3 CREDITS).

• At least 10 one credit electives.

• Modular approach

• Career-oriented.

• On-line

• Interactive

• National faculty -- major thought leaders.

• Advisory Board

Law School Program – Based on Tomorrow’s

Lawyers• 1. Training Lawyers as  Entrepreneurs (1 credit)

• 2. Ethics of Online Legal Services (1 credit)

• 3. Social Media in Law Practice (1 credit)

• 4. Document Automation Applications (2 credits)•

5.  Legal Project Management (1 credit)•

7. Legal Process Outsourcing (1 credit)

Elective courses ( 1 credit each)

• 7.. Legal Expert Systems (2 credits)

• 8. eDiscovery Management (1 credit)

• 9. Legal Process Re-Design Technology (Lean Engineering) (1 credit)10. Access to Justice and Legal Technology (1 credit)

• 11. Law Practice Technology and Management (3 credits)

Research and Development: How our technologies support the delivery of online legal services

• Web Legal Advisors

Smart Legal Documents

Legal Expert Systems

Workflow Design.

Legal Process Engineering

Web delivery workflow

GUI – Usage Interface

Visualization

Big Data

Mobile technologies

Training in Legal Technology

Specialties equals New Careers

Legal Processing Engineering

Virtual Lawyering

Law Practice Management

eDiscovery and Document Management

Predictive Coding

Document Automation

Expert Legal System Development

Legal IT Management

Legal Outsourcing Management

Dedicated Educational Site from

Florida Coastal School of Law

www.digital-lawyer.com