State of the Law Profession Address
On the heels of the State of the Union address, it seems relevant to look at the state of the law profession.
Some people focus on the negatives: significant reduction in overhead, causing larger law firms to run with little additional "fat," or overhead, to trim; fewer overall lawyers due to layoffs and stagnant hiring; declining personal earnings; and declining interest in entering the profession, undoubtedly due to the preceding factors.
Nonetheless, there are many reasons to be optimistic about the future. Despite some less-than-ideal economic conditions, I believe that the possibility to thrive is right in front of us.
I'm old enough to remember more than one cycle in our economy. Remember the 1950s and 1960s, when we were on the verge of economic fascism in this country with a centralization of economic wealth in four companies: AT&T, IT&T, GM, and GE? None of these companies is with us today in the same form. AT&T was broken up by the government as a monopoly; IT&T is no longer to be seen; General Motors went into bankruptcy and restructured itself; and General Electric is not the same company it was. These companies faltered. They became too large to operate. They had to break up; the survivors had to develop new customer bases in order to start growing again.
Similarly, there will be changes in the legal profession, which means that there will be opportunities for savvy lawyers to lead those changes. Lawyers who pay close attention to the needs and wants of their clients and who embrace technology to reduce the costs of operating and pass those savings on to clients will thrive.
"The only thing that is constant is change" is an old-but apt-saying. And, certainly, it is exciting and energizing to live in times of change.
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