"The legal profession is undergoing a massive structural shift"
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Re: "The legal profession is undergoing a massive structural shift"
#2I hope so - lawyers are way, way too expensive.
Re: "The legal profession is undergoing a massive structural shift"
#3I hope so - lawyers are way, way too expensive.
Tell me about it, I just had an associate at a big SF law firm quote me $510/hr.
Re: "The legal profession is undergoing a massive structural shift"
#4The problem is that law school is an absurdly expensive exercise that, incredibly, doesn't actually teach graduates how to practice law. How else can you explain the fact that there are tons of unemployed JDs out there, and yet the average citizen can't afford basic legal services?
Re: "The legal profession is undergoing a massive structural shift"
#5Khan Academy Law School?
Re: "The legal profession is undergoing a massive structural shift"
#6The problem is that law school is an absurdly expensive exercise that, incredibly, doesn't actually teach graduates how to practice law. How else can you explain the fact that there are tons of unemployed JDs out there, and yet the average citizen can't afford basic legal services?
Would allowing non-JD degree holders to take the bar help?
Re: "The legal profession is undergoing a massive structural shift"
#7Shrinking market for legal services is good news to me. People becoming less litigious? It is actually possible to do anything without a highly paid expert to tell you whether you're not breaking some complicated law? Does not sound like something to worry about.
Re: "The legal profession is undergoing a massive structural shift"
#8The problem is that law school is an absurdly expensive exercise that, incredibly, doesn't actually teach graduates how to practice law. How else can you explain the fact that there are tons of unemployed JDs out there, and yet the average citizen can't afford basic legal services?
Would allowing non-JD degree holders to take the bar help?
Yes, but the legal profession has incredible sway and power, so that won't happen.
It would absolutely be possible for someone to specialize in just a single specific kind of law, become very knowledgeable about it, and make normal skilled professional money in the $25 to $75 per hour range. This is prohibited by regulation and licensing which amounts to a huge windfall for the legal profession.
But it's unlikely to change, because the last thing any legislator wants is to be on unfavorable terms with the legal profession.
Re: "The legal profession is undergoing a massive structural shift"
#9“The biggest problem,” says Ury, “is that ordinary citizens cannot afford to hire a lawyer. The bread and butter of small firm practices are criminal defense work, wills and trusts, leases, closings and divorces. Yet in Connecticut, 80 to 85 percent of divorces have a self-represented party because most families can’t afford to hire one lawyer, let alone two. Nearly 90 percent of criminal cases are self-represented or by a public defender because families can’t scrape together a retainer.”
I'd call that a 100%, red-line, sirens-blaring, system failure. "Less people are hiring us for $500/hour! What shall we do?" might not be the right question. "Why did anyone ever do so in the first place?" might be closer.
Re: "The legal profession is undergoing a massive structural shift"
#10What would be really nice is if law was machine-readable (and interpretable). But that would probably require computers being able to understand language.