The Return of Legal Rebels

The ABA Journal started their Legal Rebel's project last fall, with a manifesto announcing their commitment to innovation in the legal profession, questioning the status quo, and using technology to serve clients and society.

After an eight month hiatus, the Legal Rebels site looks to be back in the saddle, with profiles featuring a slew of innovative and off-the-beaten-path approaches to the business of law.

Included in the updates are:

• A young lawyer who purchased a 100-year-old firm on craigslist and is now thriving in a small town.

• Continued coverage of SoloCorps.

• The story of an ex-prison guard's path to law school.

• The need for bookkeeping skills in a solo practice.

• How the lessons of military intelligence apply to a solo practitioner.

Add these to the 50 existing profiles, which weigh in heavily on technology, and the Legal Rebels project remains an important look at the stew of ideas shaping the next generation of lawyers.

SoloCorps

With a wink and a nod to the classic movie "Blues Brothers", Carolyn Elefant and Lisa Solomon kick off their road trip with: "It's 529 miles to Omaha, we've got two fully-charged laptop batteries, a Kodak Zi8, it's hot and we're wearing sunglasses."

This is SoloCorps, a multi-armed social media project organized by two East Coast entrepreneurial solo practitioners who set out to explore the "the rich range of experiences of solos and small firm lawyers across the country."

Lisa and Carolyn's posts at myshingle.com provide an overview of the project, which inlcudes attending solo-themed conferences and capturing the stories and experiences of like-minded attorneys. As Lisa writes:

"As lawyers, we’re all constantly telling stories, whether we’re making an impassioned closing argument before a jury or just swapping war stories over drinks after work. And, as longtime members of Solosez, Carolyn and I have witnessed, time and again, experienced lawyers helping newer ones by sharing stories of what they’ve been through over the years."

"As you’ve probably read a million times, the legal profession is in a state of upheaval, with conventional law jobs being lost each day and biglaw on the demise. Yet out of this turmoil, the solo experience endures and inspires."

Part mentoring program and part documentation of the different approaches to being a solo or small firm, you can view travelogue videos and interviews with lawyers (topics range from Alternative Legal Careers to Going Solo After Big Law to IP to general interviews) on their blog.

Follow the project on Twitter (hashtag #soloheart)

Or meet up with the SoloCorp project September 29 - October 1 at the 7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Institute in Grand Rapids, MI.

The Culture of the Billable Hour

There is no shortage of talk about redesigning the billable hour model. And many firms are making inroads with fixed-price offerings for specific services.

However, there is a huge chasm between a billable hour firm that also happens to have an a la carte fixed price menu and a firm that has entirely stepped away from the billable hour.

The stark difference between the two is the corporate culture. As the vast majority of Big Law associates will attest, work-life balance can become distorted in a billable hour culture, because the hour is the final product, not the service itself.

So it's worth shining a light on a firm that bills itself as the first corporate law firm in the nation to exclusively adopt fixed price billing. Exemplar Law Partners.

As a growing chorus of industry analysts and consultants have noted, the legal landscape is poised to reward firms willing to deviate from a business model that made sense prior to the internet -- before the commoditization of legal service, before exponentially increased access to information, before virtual offices erased the historical limitations of distance.

Consistent with that sort of forward thinking, Exemplar is entrepreneurial at every level, treating their firm as a startup company rather than a partnership or solo law practice.

According to a profile at Legal Rebels:

"There simply is not a billable hour, and the culture of the company from the top down seems to be to discourage that mode of thinking entirely.

“We don’t count time. We are a timeless culture,” Marston says of the firm’s commitment to abandon hourly rates as well as time-tracking for its employees. “The only way to be profitable in business is to be profitable, not in six-minute increments or only at 30 percent [profit].

“We know how much work our professionals turn around each month; we know what value they provide, and we know what we are charging. We track it at a macro level rather than at a micro level. And they get paid for being effective and efficient.”

Which brings us to the magnitude of contrast between the billable hour firms and a firm that is completely divested from the billable hour.

Putting mechanisms in place to create a fixed price model is a matter of execution. But changing the mindset of an organization is the real hurdle, and the real reward.

Eliminating the culture of the billable hour is a tall order, but one that Exemplar's growth (doubling revenue each of the last three years) seems to support.

Sam Glover

Continuing with our discussion on lawyers embracing an entrepreneurial approach to their work, Legal Rebels recently featured attorney Sam Glover.

Mr. Glover, a Minnesota-based legal entrepreneur who manages a consumer rights practice, is also the author of the always useful lawyerist.com, which manages to weave together insightful commentary on legal practice, technology, productivity, and marketing.

Some of the highlights from Mr. Glover's profile regarding the state of the industry:

• Today, the internet-informed public needs lawyers less, but there are more lawyers than ever.

• There is little imagination in the practice of law.

• There are many smart but unemployed lawyers with little to lose by trying some new things.

• Lawyers must think more like entrepreneurs. Clients' changing needs will demand it. The economy demands it.

• To distinguish your practice from the next, look for an opportunity to serve new clients, or a new way to serve existing clients.

• Never be afraid to experiment. All you stand to lose is money. But if your experiments work, you could make even more money and gain happier, more-loyal clients and employees.

Legal Rebels

The ABA Journal has started a new feature they're calling Legal Rebels. Their intent is to shine a light on the current transformation taking place in the business of the legal profession.

Obviously, they're preaching to the choir, as far as we're concerned.

The opening paragraphs from their new website frame it nicely:

In these times of great economic chaos lies great opportunity.

The legal profession is not just struggling through a recession, but also undergoing a structural break with the past. There is a growing consensus that the profession that emerges from the recession will be different in fundamental ways from the one that entered it.

Dozens of lawyers nationwide aren't waiting for change. Day by day, they're remaking their corners of the profession. These mavericks are finding new ways to practice law, represent their clients, adjudicate cases and train the next generation of lawyers. Most are leveraging the power of the Internet to help them work better, faster and different.

The Legal Rebels project will profile these innovators and describe the changes they are making. It will tell their stories in the ABA Journal, on this website and through a variety of social media channels using text, pictures, audio and video. The first of these profiles will appear here on August 25. Several will be added weekly through the end of November.

We're looking forward to keeping an eye on the Legal Rebels project.