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Law Times • February 23, 2009 NEWS PAGE 3 Susskind joins CBA as special adviser BY ROBERT TODD Law Times will hasten the massive changes to the legal profession outlined in his latest book. "The fundamental premise of B the book is that we have to fi nd ways to provide more legal ser- vices at less cost," says Susskind, who notes that such a premise was easy for lawyers to brush off during boom times. But that will probably change as fi rms aim to meet chang- ing client expectations, he says. "You're going to see far, far greater competition," he says. "And you're going to see a more demanding client base." Susskind spoke to Law Times in an interview last week at the Toronto book launch of The End of Lawyers?, his latest meditation on the future of legal services. The book is a sequel to his 1996 title The Future of Law, which predicted the impact of technol- ogy on the legal profession and infl uenced many decision-makers within the legal community. The new book predicts two signifi cant pressures facing the le- gal community — a trend toward the "commoditization of legal ser- vices," and the onset of "new and disruptive legal technologies." Susskind says there have been some misinterpretations of his use of the term "commoditiza- tion of legal services." He makes clear that he does not mean legal work from which lawyers can no longer make money. "I mean, to be honest, some- thing I think far more sophisti- cated," says the Scottish law pro- fessor and adviser to major law fi rms and governments across the globe. "Commoditization is my prediction that, in due course, online at no cost will be a great deal of valuable and useful legal information, which historically we've had to pay for." He says successful lawyers will fi nd ways to make money within this new reality, while ritish legal scholar Rich- ard Susskind says the cur- rent economic downturn clients will receive better service because of it. In terms of the impact of technology, Susskind sums up a few of his key predictions. He says automatic document assembly — a technology that has been around for a long time but is just now taking a signifi cant hold — will have a disruptive affect for lawyers who charge by the hour. Online communities may also become a disruptive tech- nology for many lawyers, says Susskind. Just as e-mail has be- come a key source of lawyer-cli- ent communication, so too will tools such as Facebook, he says. He sees the potential for in- house lawyers to come together in a giant online community to share the cost of legal services. "That's fundamentally dis- ruptive for law fi rms because normally they provide services to each of them individually," says Susskind. While the title of Susskind's book has created controversy within the profession since its U.K. release, he says the decision to pose the alarming question ef- fectively conveys what he's trying to accomplish in the book. "I want to alert the legal com- munity to major changes," he says. "I don't think this is a time of minor tweaking of the edges of the legal profession. I think we're facing a discontinuity, and it's quite hard to get lawyers to sit up and take notice. So part of the motive behind the title was at least to create a bit of a stir." The jarring title also will help the book stand out on the shelves of bookstores, he says, adding that the goal is to have as many people read it as possible. "What I've got to do is jump over those who are already quite keen and interested to hear these ideas to the larger group of people who are naturally quite skeptical," says Susskind. One group that seems taken by Susskind's ideas is the Canadian Bar Association, which used the book launch to announce that he Canadian audiences seem par- ticularly receptive to his ideas. "CBA needed somebody who could actually introduce these ideas, and I was keen to spread beyond the U.K.," he says. "I don't for a sec- ond think CBA buy into all my ideas, this is why I quite admire what they're doing." CBA president Guy Jou- bert says Susskind will act as a "thought guru" for the association. "He brings with him some 'The fundamental premise of the book is that we have to find ways to provide more legal services at less cost,' says Richard Susskind. has signed on as a special adviser to the association. He is expected to speak at special meetings of law fi rm managing partners, and plans are in the works for him to conduct web casts and publish articles for CBA members. Susskind says he's excited to work with the association, as very, very interesting ideas," says Joubert. "The Canadian Bar Association is not advo- cating or espousing any of the ideas, in the sense that our role is to present these ideas to our members and the legal profession in general so that we can all participate in discussions about improving certain aspects of the justice system in Canada." Says Joubert: "The impor- tant thing is to be thinking. And that's what he's good at. He gets us thinking." Susskind makes it clear that his book doesn't aim to chronicle a preordained future, but rather present a set of likely possibilities. "It's not that the future is pre-articulated and I see it more clearly than others, it's just that I make it my life's work to try and think [about] what possi- bilities are out there," he says. "I'm not the person who makes it happen. That's [done by] peo- ple who run the fi rms, catalyzed by people like the CBA." Susskind clearly wants to mo- tivate lawyers to ponder their approach to doing business. But he is reluctant to take a shot at the traditional, big-fi rm partner- ship model. He notes that while effi ciencies may be afforded by switching to the corporate mod- el, doing so risks a loss of moti- vation, collegiality, and focus. "Do I think law fi rms, could they be run more effi ciently? A million per cent, yes. But the key point is they haven't needed to be," he says, noting that partners in big U.K. fi rms make over one million pounds each year. But in the future, the old model may not be good enough, says Susskind. "Looking forward, unless law fi rms are far more focused in the way they drive effi ciencies through, the way they take the costs out of legal service, and the way they respond to the need for new ways of delivering legal ser- vices . . . there are going to be great diffi culties." LT FIRM UP! 10% 15% 1 Year $65.00 + gst Digital Editons FREE with each paid subscription Receive the Purchase 5 or more subscriptions for your law firm to Law Times or Canadian Lawyer and save Purchase 20 or more and save 1 year $135.00 + gst, go online at www.lawtimesnews.com 2 Year $105.00 + gst go online at www.canadianlawyermag.com or call 1-888-743-3551 Special rates for students and international subscribers. LT - 1/4 x 3.indd 1 1/8/09 6:21:42 PM Untitled-1 1www.lawtimesnews.com 2/18/09 1:00:00 PM BONUS Photo: Robert Todd