A Lack of Fear Drives Change in the Legal Services Industry

Last week, Exigent graciously invited me to a small lunch gathering of Torontonians to discuss the changing legal industry. Exigent, a major LPO based in South Africa, does business predominantly in the UK and Australia and has recently landed in Canada.

First, I’m happy that a major international LPO has finally seen Canada as worthy of investment.

Second, the arrival of Exigent means that change in the Canadian legal industry will – finally – begin to accelerate. Canadian law firms and clients will view the arrival of an international LPO as further validation for using non-Canadian lawyers to do work on a cost-effective basis. This will also help Canadian LPO, CounselQuest, as LPOs will no longer be seen as too exotic for the Canadian market – a huge win for clients.

During the lunch, each participant was asked for her/his opinion on the most important development in the global legal industry. The answers were all diverse and all excellent. They could also be branded under one common theme – No Fear.

For centuries, the delivery of legal services has been shrouded in mystique, protected not only by a legislated monopoly, but also a practical monopoly over language, knowledge and learning. As laws and legal matters began using plain language (and less Latin); as legal information has became more widely available; as the general public has become far more educated; and as technology has improved to replace people to do certain mundane tasks – that practical monopoly now lies in tatters.

And now that the curtain has been pulled back and we see that the wizard is not so scary or complicated as we once thought – fear dissipates.

Tech gurus begin see many aspects of legal services as nothing more than exercises in coding.

New non-legal players begin to enter the market.

Young lawyers begin to see that they can create new models and compete with larger firms that were once thought to be unassailable.

Ordinary people begin to view some aspects of law as the same as booking a vacation online.

Corporate clients begin to question the suitability of law firms for certain legal tasks.

None of this happens in a time where education, information and knowledge is lacking.

None of this happens in a time of fear.

The irony is that this lack of fear should now strike fear in the hearts of lawyers.