Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

Small Law, Big Changes: The Coming Disruption in the Legal Industry

By Rinky S. Parwani and Greg Garman
June 01, 2020

The legal industry has a gigantic problem. A tidal wave in the supply of lawyers is outstripping demand for legal services. At the same time, as many as 50% to 80% of the need for legal services across the general population goes unmet, largely because those services are unaffordable. Access to justice is under threat, even as law schools continue to churn out more than 30,000 lawyers per year and underemployment in the industry is nearly epidemic. This state of affairs serves neither lawyers nor consumers of legal services.

The huge capacity in the attorney workforce is accompanied by very low productivity: an astonishingly meager 2.3-hour-per-day realization rate. That means we've got thousands of highly skilled and well-educated individuals whose talents aren't being utilized in a productive and efficient way. Something has to give.

This premium content is locked for Accounting and Financial Planning for Law Firms subscribers only

  • Stay current on the latest information, rulings, regulations, and trends
  • Includes practical, must-have information on copyrights, royalties, AI, and more
  • Tap into expert guidance from top entertainment lawyers and experts

For enterprise-wide or corporate acess, please contact Customer Service at [email protected] or 877-256-2473

Read These Next
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later Image

The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.

The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs Image

The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.

Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations Image

This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.

Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough Image

There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.

A Lawyer's System for Active Reading Image

Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.