It’s been about four months since I retired from ALM, where I was editor-in-chief of Law Technology News for 17 years. Now, I’m splitting my time between CodeX,  The Cowen Group (as a special consultant) and Bloomberg BNA’s hot new site, Big Law Business (as a freelance journalist).  I call it my “triangle” and I’m intrigued by the intersections.

But it’s not everyday that those three organizations completely and utterly align, and boy oh boy did they align this week.

Thursday’s CodeX meeting was a delicious marathon of presentations and discussions (two demos, “Judgement Pay” and “TrademarkNow,” plus a conversation with Professor Erich Schweighofer of the University of Pavia, as we dove into conputational law issues and opportunities. And we’re still in the afterglow of the CodeX FutureLaw conference (see other blog posts below) with so many people exploring how technology is changing the practice of law right now (not 5, 10 or 50 years from now).

This week has convinced me that we are finally at a real tipping point. Fasten your seat belts, we’re launching. Just take a look:

A June 2 headline on BBBLB was “Seyfarth Chair Lays Out Why He Joined Twitter.”  What? Yes, you heard it right.  J. Stephen Poor, chairman of Seyfarth Shaw (arguably, one of the most savvy law firms in Big Law).

“I am one of those who believe that a value gap has emerged in our industry. By value gap, I mean a disconnect between the value the buyers of legal services perceive they are receiving and the value the sellers of legal services perceive they are delivering. If we are to maintain the vibrancy and health of our industry, we must close that gap,” he wrote.

Poor cited the recent Altman Weil, “Law Firms in Transition 2015,” that asked managing partners and chairs at 797 U.S. firms with 50 or more lawyers  why they weren’t doing more to change their business models. “Sixty-three percent said it was because clients were not asking for change,” he wrote.

Despite a zillion people writing about innovation, and “the fact that clients are redirecting billions of dollars of spend[ing] away from large law firms, 63% of law firm leaders are waiting for clients to ask for structural change to their business models. Despite the virtual unanimity around the demand for more efficient delivery of legal services, only 37% of responding firms have this as a strategic priority. Why, in light of all of this talk about change and innovation, do we have this apparent cognitive dissonance?” Poor challenged. Lawyers, he notes, “are notoriously bad listeners” … and “driving change in this industry is a wicked hard problem…” he continues.

So why is the chair of Seyfarth now on Twitter? “I do believe that we need to speak frankly and listen intently and the more voices the better. After all, open diaglog can only be good for our clients,” said Poor. (Read the full essay here.)

David Cowen

David Cowen is president and managing director of New York-based The Cowen Group, which does executive search and consulting for law firms, corporations and vendors. He, too, jumped all over the Altman Weil survey in his June 5 blog post, The 2020 Lawyer: Disruption & Redesign.  And he added a second survey: the “2015 Litigation Trends Annual Survey” from law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.

The two surveys, Cowen said, “reveal staggering results—including a sharp reduction in business for law firms. For starters, corporate counsel are dramatically reducing the number of law firms on their rosters—while simultaneously reporting a significant increase in the number of mass litigation and regulatory investigations.”

“Do the math: That translates to an increase in corporate legal budgets and a shift to using technology to improve legal service delivery,” he said.

“Nearly 93 percent of law firm respondents said they believe a focus on improved practice efficiency will be a permanent trend going forward; 84.3 percent said they think technology replacing human resources will be a permanent trend in the future,” Cowen observed.

What does this mean? For starters, “this is the beginning of the rise of the boutique law firm that can be disruptive, innovative and and fully address the wants and needs of corporate counsel,” said Cowen. “A reduction in the number of outside counsel used by the Fortune 1,000 is more than a shot across the bow, it’s a demand for change.” He compares it to how robotics changed the auto industry. He predicts “the elimination of 25% of associate roles and 10% of partner roles by 2020. “At the same time, the growing use of artificial intelligence, machine learning and automated analytics will create a human capital gap for legalists, legal technology professionals, tech-savvy attorneys and legal leaders with new skills, competences and experience,” wrote Cowen.

One thing is for sure: We are all in for an amazing ride!

—Monica Bay is a Fellow at CodeX,  a special consultant with The Cowen Group, and a freelance journalist for Bloomberg BNA Big Law Business. Based in New York, she is a member of the California bar. Twitter: @Monica Bay. Email: mbay@stanford.edu