Interesting Editorial page piece in Thursday's NYTimes by Adam Cohen: "With the Downturn, It's Time to Rethink the Legal Profession." You will find it here.
Adam suggests that the bloodbath currently happening in the legal profession as a result of the economic downturn provides an opening for real change to happen in how legal services are delivered by large law firms. Over the last decade, the "arms race" explosion in starting compensation for new attorneys has caused some of the problems law firms are currently experiencing. But so has the culture of partners making huge sums of money on the backs of new associates. The current financial structure of law firms - which once were able to weather economic downturns fairly well - has left them vulnerable this time around.
Adam argues that the current economic climate is the perfect time to address some of these ills in the profession. Perhaps starting salaries will be reduced in the coming years. And he suggests there may be several other forms of a "silver lining" to this particular cloud, such as more talented attorneys going into public service, and if legal fees are reduced, that will benefit everyone - from the corporation to consumers.
Near the end of his piece, he suggests that these forces may also have an effect on legal education. Certainly, if our graduates can not expect the huge sums of money that many of them commanded in the past, that may put pressure on our tuition rates, and increase the need for scholarships and loan forgiveness programs for public service. But he also cites the Carnegie report and encourages better use of the second and third years in law school as a way of providing greater value for the cost.
Although my book went to press before the full implications of the financial crisis had been revealed, I have always thought that the economics of legal education (and the profession) will be the primary drivers of whatever change we might have. If indeed we have a sustained period of downward pressure on tuition, and a greater focus on value (from the students' point of view) and preparation for practice (from the law firms' point of view), this will increase pressure to leverage technology to more efficiently and effectively deliver legal education.
