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the more-for-less challenge.3
Delivering “more-for-less” simply requires
one to choose the most cost-effective approach to any given legal task performed in solving a legal problem. Susskind breaks down such tasks into five distinct categories: (1) bespoke; (2) standardized; (3) system- atized; (4) packaged; and (5) commoditized, and he emphasizes the importance of each in efficient legal service delivery. however, law schools focus almost entirely on the first—bespoke, individualized problem solv- ing—with the occasional brief reference to the second in the form of standardized con- tract terms. In contrast, cost-effective legal service delivery will often require a primary focus on the latter three categories, each of which rely on concepts, skills, and values with which too many current law graduates are wholly unfamiliar.
Why has the legal profession not moved more quickly to embrace technology-lever- aged legal service delivery? The answers are likely manifold, but at least two undoubtedly play a major role—the billable hour and the basic partnership compensation model. Deliv- ering more service for less money is anathema to the billable hour model, because it reduces revenue (at least in the short term, though long-term impacts are considerably more debatable), and additional expenditures on technology only further reduce net revenue available for distribution to firm partners. Today, however, due in large part to market
demands, law firms are beginning to change, and the pace of this change is accelerating. moreover, the use of technology to deliver more cost-effective legal services is by no means limited to law firms.
Technology-leveraged legal service delivery presents at least two other areas of extraordinary opportunity to tomorrow’s lawyer. First, the technology-leveraged solo or small firm is often far better equipped to com- pete with larger firms on substantial matters. While the large firm has a distinct advantage in the number of people it can assign to a legal
Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman and the Task Force to expand access to Civil Legal Services in New York have expressly recognized this opportunity by convening the inaugural State- wide Civil Legal aid Technology Conference to be held in July 2015.
Why Is Technology Such a Big Deal Today? To be clear, the impact of technol- ogy on law is nothing new. The 15th century printing press brought dramatic changes to law over the next two centuries, and, more recently, word processing and technology assisted legal research have dramatically
growth is that it is constantly accelerating. Change does not simply continue, but hap- pens faster and faster over time.
how can we prepare our graduates to sur- vive and even prosper in the rapidly changing world they will likely face? First, we recog- nize that teaching students to deliver legal services yesterday is of limited value going forward. Second, we recognize that while our ability to predict the future is limited, we still have the ability to prepare our students to anticipate, mold, adapt to, and prosper within a yet-to-be-defined technology-driven future. Finally, we can provide our students with the tools and perspective to embrace, rather than fear, a technology-driven future that will, in many ways, redefine the delivery of legal services.
Our Fixation on the Rear-View Mirror.
Far too often, today’s legal educator remains wedded to yesterday’s pedagogy. We not only fail to teach our students how to make appro- priate uses of technology in law practice, but often directly thwart students’ own attempts to do so. many argue in favor of banning com- puters from the classroom (as well as tablets and smartphones) based on negative effects on traditional pedagogy. however, this argu- ably amounts to throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. There are plenty of other ways to reduce student distraction, and we can often harness the technology to help us keep students focused on the task at hand. Tomorrow’s lawyer will » Page S11
Tomorrow’s lawyer will likely be even more reliant on technology in performing his or her job than today’s. We should therefore con- sider fully integrating it into the law school classroom.
matter, effective use of technology can reduce the effect of this advantage by automating sig- nificant legal work. The solo or small firm can do this just as effectively as the large firm— especially when such technology can often be “rented” on the cloud (thus avoiding the need for capital intensive investment, which might favor the larger firm). Second, the deliv- ery of “more-for-less” through effective use of technology gives us the best opportunity we have ever had in this country to bridge our enormous access-to-justice gap (and, in the process, gainfully employ far more of today’s law graduates in financially rewarding work).
changed the ways lawyers work. What is dif- ferent today is the pace of change brought on technology-driven innovation. This pace of change is something the profession has never seen before and is largely driven by a simple premise called “moore’s law.” at bottom, moore’s law tells us that computer processor speed will double roughly every 18 months, and we have also discovered analo- gous corollaries relating to the cost of data storage and bandwidth for transferring data. all of this is driving improvements in technol- ogy at exponential rates of change. The key to understanding the effect of exponential
ST. JOHN’S LAW IS ON THE RISE
We’re making strides in ways that matter most to students, alumni, and employers.
90%
4th
$6.5M
1 of 2
#1
64
#1
23rd
overall employment rate for the class of 2014, a 4% increase over 2013
for bar exam passage in New York,
just behind NYU, Columbia, and Cornell, on the July 2014 exam
in record fundraising focused on student scholarships
law schools in New York where the
median LSAT and GPA went up
for the entering class of 2014
greatest rise out of schools nationwide in the 2016 U.S. News Best Law Schools rankings
new endowed scholarships
established as part of the Brennan Family Scholarship Matching Program
out of all private New York law schools for graduates with the lowest average law school student debt
in the nation, and fourth in New York, for alumni making partner at NLJ 250 law firms
To learn more about St. John’s Law, visit us at law.stjohns.edu
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