Tomorrow’s Law Firm

In The Future of the Professions Richard and Daniel Susskind state that we are starting to see technologies displace traditional ways of working. We are still in a transitionary phase between the era of the print-based society and the Internet based society. During this transitionary phase, traditional professionals working in conventional institutions will still be needed as the main interface between the lay person and the specialized knowledge. However, as we fully progress into an Internet/technology based society, traditional professionals will no longer be THE DOMINANT interface between lay people and knowledge/expertise.

It is in this context of reading the Future of The Professions and other like minded articles that I predict the future of law firms.

1. Tomorrow’s law firm will look different.

2. Most firms won’t be built upon the billable hour. Or the billable hour masquerading as something else. It will charge clients based on the end product. The focus will be on the end product. And technology will transform how the end product is created.

3. Anything that can be outsourced or automated will be outsourced or automated.

4. Law firms will be managed by non-lawyers, with specialized training.

5. The raison d’être for firms will shift towards client experience.

6. Law firms will use gamification to get employees to work harder, preferring the carrot over the stick.

Currently Uber is using gamification to incentivize its drivers. Using psychology to make drivers take on more riders. Or using psychology to make its drivers go to certain areas at certain times.

In the New York Times article, “How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers’ Buttons”,  they say:

The secretive ride-hailing giant Uber rarely discusses internal matters in public. But in March, facing crises on multiple fronts, top officials convened a call for reporters to insist that Uber was changing its culture and would no longer tolerate “brilliant jerks.”

…

Uber’s innovations reflect the changing ways companies are managing workers amid the rise of the freelance-based “gig economy.” Its drivers are officially independent business owners rather than traditional employees with set schedules. This allows Uber to minimize labor costs, but means it cannot compel drivers to show up at a specific place and time. And this lack of control can wreak havoc on a service whose goal is to seamlessly transport passengers whenever and wherever they want.

Uber helps solve this fundamental problem by using psychological inducements and other techniques unearthed by social science to influence when, where and how long drivers work. It’s a quest for a perfectly efficient system: a balance between rider demand and driver supply at the lowest cost to passengers and the company.

Employing hundreds of social scientists and data scientists, Uber has experimented with video game techniques, graphics and noncash rewards of little value that can prod drivers into working longer and harder — and sometimes at hours and locations that are less lucrative for them.

In sum, Tomorrow’s Law Firm will look different than the firms of today. They will be meaner, leaner, and smarter.

(Views are my own and do not reflect the views of any organization.)