practicehacker

There isn’t much about this infographic we didn’t know. After all, law school is becoming more expensive and riskier all the time. But as long as the number of applicants to law school continues to increase, young people continue to be gullible, school is easier to handle than real-life, and there is money to be made, law schools will continue to mass-produce graduates.

Ironically, lawyers are blame for this crater in the market. But which lawyers really brought on problem? I published my answer here in connection with the ABA’s Legal Rebels project. Enough said. You can make up your own minds, but I think I made my case.

Posted via email from practice (redux)

 

As Kevin Spacey noted, speaking as Kaiser Soze in The Usual Suspects, “the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” Couldn’t agree more. 2 years ago the ABA Journal rolled out its Legal Rebels Project in an effort to convince lawyers that the American Bar Association was more than an aging, superfluous institution or a lapdog to the AmLaw 100. The first Legal Rebels chosen in 2009 included

• a lawyer-turned-consultant (I guess those who can’t do, teach)
• a lawyer-mommy, who blogged about food and recipes too!, and
• a coffee-shop owner dispensing Espresso with advice on the side.

In fairness, that initial list of 50 honorees also included people who really had contributed to the national dialogue about the profession by blogging, starting an innovative company, or finding a better way to do things. But they were too few and far between to give the project credibility in my eyes. As far as I could see, the ABA was still trying to curry favor with BigLaw partners and associates by featuring bite-sized, cutesy profiles of lawyers doing their own breezy thing. Wee!

So how has the project fared in 2011? Let’s just say that the Journal has returned to what it does best – sucking up to BigLaw – by focusing on the unsung heroes trying to change the system from within: BigLaw rebels. Which makes total sense, because real change only comes from people who bill 3000 hours a year and are driven by an insatiable urge to make partner. Way to go ABA Journal. It takes guts to swallow what BigLaw is dishing out, then ask for seconds… but you pulled it off.

Look, just watch the Staff of the ABA Journal descirbe the Legal Rebels Project in their own words and feel the rebellion welling up in your throat.  I certainly did.

As highlighted recently on Shatterbox and in my discussions with Richard Granat of DirectLaw back at the 2011 ABA Tech Show, LegalZoom is coming into its own big time. Then again, what else would LegealZoom do with the money raised in its IPO but siphon business from competitors; lawyers?

And that’s exactly what it’s been doing and what it continues to do. Even the bell-weather Missouri class action that some thought might slow the LZ juggernaught has fizzled and instead, as Shatterbox points out, LZ is probably even savvier for the experience.

All of which begs the question: Is LegalZoom unstoppable? Is it inevitable? Is it the future of law practice? Is it the end of sole practitioners? Not that I know. I’m just putting it out there.

Before you answer think about this it looks as if we lawyers are in the pot while the water is getting hotter, but we refuse to acknowledge that our collective goose is being cooked… and probably won’t until it’s too late. That sounds just  like a lawyer’s reaction to and impending calamity: waiting until it’s over to react, conduct a post-mortem, and find someone else to blame. Posted via email from practice (redux)

Posted via email from practice (redux)

Today Richard McManus of the influential blog RreadWriteWeb (RWW) asked if we are in the midst of a technology bubble like the one that arose in the early 2000′s as copious sums of money chased the illusive dot-com IPO, driving prices ever higher in a cyclone of speculation. When that bubble burst it left thousands of businesses in ruins, threw tens of thousands of people out of work, and caused hundreds of millions of dollars to evaporate. Equally influential blogger Om Malike weighs in here on his blog GigaOm; and I’ve read several pieces around the Web in which authors are cock-sure that we are not in a bubble.

So, are you thinking what I’m thinking? That the the financial crapfest of the last few years makes the fallout from the dot-com hysteria look like a week in Cabo? Ole! As for me, I say we’re in the midst of an unustainable bubble that will hurt the economy even more.

Unless I can make some money speculating on up-and-coming companies. If that happens I’m sure we’re experiencing a true economic force for good.

Posted via email from practice (redux)