In his book The End of Lawyers?: Rethinking the nature of legal services
A report in the Times today seems to indicate that this day is nearer than many people might have thought. The article claims that some 10,000 lawyers will lose their jobs in the next two years. For those remaining, things will never be the same again, with reports of equity parters losing their equity and being forced to take pay cuts, lawyers being offered ‘commission only deals’, and others only being hired if they can show a ‘dependable client following’. Difficult times indeed.
My advice to those losing their jobs is to forget about going back into traditional practice, but to have a long think about how you can use your specialist knowledge in a more innovative way. For example there are many ways that one can start a new business reasonably easily using the internet, and with a large proportion of people on broadband nowadays, the internet is a good place to be.
To use a couple of cliches, think of it as an opportunity rather than a threat. You may end up deciding that losing your job was the best thing that ever happened to you.
I am in complete agreement with Tessa that the threats to the legal profession are a double-edged sword — with as many opportunities as threats. I would suggest however, that the real problem however is not just the internet or Clementi, but the fact that most law firms are still not run like businesses. The age when having a practicing certificate and a brass name plaque were enough to guarantee a cozy retirement are long gone. To survive, any law firm, however strong a position they may appear be in now, need to behave like businesses and develop the ability to respond quickly and flexibly to new threats and opportunities, wherever and whenever they may emerge.