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30 years of change in legal practice

This month marks 30 years since I was admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland.

What's changed in the practice of law in 30 years?

I was trained to concentrate on client service and client service remains the key to my practice. And my clients expect it. Yet it still seems to be the main source of complaints against other lawyers.

Mobile phones, personal computers and the Internet collectively have changed the practice of law (and many other businesses), They have made it possible to work anywhere. Even though there is now much more law in specific complex areas, I can now access information instantly that previously required inter-library transfers that took weeks. I can deliver advice by a number of channels to suit my clients' needs.

I can appreciate the technological changes because I remember our first Unix based computers, our first Windows PC, optical character readers (scanners) the size of photocopiers that cost tens of thousands of dollars and telex machines. When it took days for a property lease to be typed. And my first website.

I can't say that my office is totally paperless but I can say that the paper I do keep takes up less space.

I am constantly widening my range of skills in order to remain relevant to clients.

I prefer project-based fees to time charging but I'd like to think that fees (however calculated) will be less cause for complaint if they are disclosed in advance and clients perceive them as value for money.

I've practised commercial law in a large State firm, as a solo and now in a national firm. Lawyers have become a mobile profession.

Are we seeing the end of lawyers? No, but we're changing.

If you're interested in the topic, read The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services by Richard Susskind OBE

And to show that other Australian lawyers are embracing technology and discussing issues look at the list I've compiled in Australian Law Blogs.

If you have any comments on how lawyers have changed (or need to change) add them below (but nothing obscene or defamatory).

Full post as published by Australian Regulatory Compliance Review on January 22, 2009 (boomark / email).