Welcome to another edition of my Making Fun of Lawyers series. In this edition, Dear Reader, we will discuss attorneys’ and law firms’ penchant for chasing the au courant issue of the moment (which might bring in some money to the lawyers’ pockets) and generally failing to see the big picture (which can bring in lots of money, and do so consistently).
This is another example of how way too many attorneys and law firms have an inability to look beyond the tip of their nose and see the world, let alone from their clients’ business perspective. And that, Dear Reader, is a huge reason why so many clients are dissatisfied with their outside counsel and are frequently willing to fire them, switch to alternative legal services providers, adopt technology that can do some of the same things as lawyers, and/or bring tasks in-house. All — in many cases — understandable and reasonable reactions.
This is — um, how do you say . . . — bad for the firms’ business. The trend has been increasing apace for years. It shows no signs of stopping. This all said, I think there’s something that may counter this trend at least temporarily. I’ll get to that at the end of this post.
Aye corona!
What do I mean by chasing the hot issue of the moment? Well, let’s take COVID-19 for example (a few other relatively recent examples from of hot issues of the moment include the election of Donald Trump, the Great Recession, and Y2K). The pandemic has turned the world upside down. Added to the legal issues businesses already faced are new, novel, and challenging ones. Law firms are racing to portray themselves as experts on COVID-19 and the business effects its had.
Here’s a little secret: none of them are experts. In fact, I think most of them have only the vaguest notion of the multidimensional effects of the pandemic and societal, government and business reactions to it on their clients’ businesses. And when I say “vaguest,” I’m probably being charitable. Probably not a single one of them is experienced in helping clients navigate the effects of a disaster. Much less one as far-reaching as a pandemic.
And you know what else? Because so many lawyers and firms are chasing after the same thing, they end up in the same place. As indistinguishable in their services in this regard as they are in most of the other services they offer. In other words, they might as well all be the law firm of Whosit, Whatsit and Samesies LLP
Now, of course, no one could have seen COVID-19 coming. So Dear Reader, you may say that I’m being unfair. You’d be right in so far as that goes on its face.
But what is this situation exactly? It’s a major disaster. A global crisis. A profound disruption unprecedented in our lifetimes. And while those things are rare, they most certainly are — apologies for going Rumsfeldian here — known unknowns, not unknown unknowns. That is, we can pretty much bank on a disaster/crisis/disruption happening every so often. We just don’t know when it’ll happen, the shape it’ll take, or its magnitude.
All together now, alltogethernow
And so, law firms now are plastering their websites with COVID-19-focused content and churning out a counterproductive volume of alerts to their clients. They should instead have long ago formed a multidisciplinary group focused on helping clients deal with a disaster/crisis/disruption — any disaster/crisis/disruption — and marketed it.
Not shouting about it. Few clients likely would have cared about the group in good times. But subtly and consistently promoting it, so that when the right moment occurred (like one-offs along the way, or a major crisis like now), it’d have been known to people and businesses that need its services most.
Would that group have been doing lots of this type of work in the good days? No, not much likely. But it’d need not have. Because the group would have comprised attorneys from differing practices: corporate, real estate, intellectual property, litigation, etc. and they all the while could have been doing their normal day-to-day work. The value would be to form the group in the first place, have a core group educated and trained on the services most likely to be needed in a disaster/crisis/disruption, and have an established game plan for how to bring the group together and spring it into action at a moment’s notice.
This would be a win-win for firm and client. The firm would have a plan for how to offer and deploy valuable and (and this is super important) coordinated legal services when a disaster/crisis/disruption occurs. And clients could engage the services of a firm that not only could offer these services, but also had the foresight to think things through in calmer times.
Instead, what we’re seeing is attorneys and law firms that have only the slightest clue of how they can help their clients throwing a lot of slightly-wet toilet paper at the wall (maybe this is what’s causing the toilet paper shortage) and hoping some of it sticks. To be sure, some of it will stick, if for no other reason than because individuals and businesses are FREAKING OUT!, have little idea of what to do or where to turn, and may in their frantic state leap into the arms of the first firm they see that’s waving them wildly.
But I’m all but certain that clients will in most instances be getting disaggregated and less effective — if not ineffective — legal services. For any law firm with a multidisciplinary group focused on helping clients deal with a disaster/crisis/disruption, these ought to be well-deserved salad days. And if you’re a client that needs these services, I hope you find these firms if their marketing efforts hadn’t already reached you.
Silver linings, not-by-the-playbook
I mentioned that I think that there’s something that may temporarily arrest the troubles buffeting law firms in recent decades. What is it? Well, to help deal with the pandemic, the federal government (and I have to imagine state and local governments, too) has relaxed or changed rules covering everything from lending rules to prescriptions for controlled substances. On the one hand, that seems sensible to me and probably most people. When the house is on fire, you probably don’t care what the quality of the water you’re using to put it out is. So long as its wet.
But those rules were on the books for a reason. And while there may be a temporary reason to suspend them in part or in whole, the underlying wisdom behind them in normal times didn’t go away.
And lets not forget broken promises or disregarded obligations taking place now: renters not paying rent, insurers not covering arguably covered business losses, businesses not paying for items ordered, etc.
You also can bet that a lot of businesses on the ropes or worse are going to jump into the arms of a business willing to merge with or acquire them. So a lot of business tie-ups likely are on the horizon.
And bankruptcy and creditors’ rights work? Let me just say that I think there’ll be plenty of work for lawyers working in this area for some time to come.
So I think that once the dust starts to settle, people and businesses adversely affected by relaxed rules, broken promises, or financial distress will be in a tizzy. And there the attorneys and law firms will be to help them with probably fairly discrete and generally familiar issues. This anticipated spike in demand for legal services likely will be temporary (lasting a few years or more in some areas), But it’ll likely be highly lucrative.
Lawyer, beware
A note of caution to law firms now taking major measures to cut costs, if not actually stay in business: be very, very careful. If you seek just to cut fat but instead cut muscle and bone, too, you may rue the day (and, frankly, I think some firms may self-inflict fatal wounds). Any valuable attorney or staff person with lots of talent and/or institutional knowledge who you get rid of or anger today is a valued attorney or staff person less likely to trust or want to work for you when times are better. You may consider them dispensable today, but desperately need them in just a few months. And they may then have two words for you, which will be as far on the opposite side of the spectrum of “thank you” as is possible.
And so, Dear Reader — or, should I say, Dear Lawyer — enjoy the short-term high you’re likely to experience. But focus on the big picture going forward and less on chasing the shiny object.
