Canadian legal profession - 2012 predictions by Mitch Kowalski | Legal Post | Financial Post

Canadian legal profession - 2012 predictions by Mitch Kowalski | Legal Post | Financial Post

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As lawyers we must constantly earn our right to retain a monopoly over the practice of law. It should never be assumed that we will always have the exclusive right to give legal advice, prepare legal documents, close transactions or even appear in court. One just has to look to the U.K.’s Legal Services Act which is dramatically transforming that jurisdiction’s legal profession. Or, take a look to Australia with Slater & Gordon being the only publicly-traded law firm in the world – a firm that was once based on a strong litigation practice but is now aggressively moving into commercial practice areas.

Canada cannot remain an island of lawyer-exclusivity for long – particularly if the legal profession shows itself to be incapable of coming up with creative and efficient ways to make legal services better, faster and cheaper. The commercial pressures of the global economy are too great to ignore and lawyers who stick their heads in the sand will become the dodo birds of the 21st century.

I hope that 2012 will be a watershed year in which meaningful change will finally commence to surface throughout Canada’s legal profession. The following are eight predictions of what can (and should) occur over the next 12 months.

Prediction #1

We are beginning to see smaller firms and sole practitioners moving their practices into the cloud to gain efficiencies and flexibility. In 2012, I believe that at least one mid-sized Canadian firm having more than one office will move its practice into the cloud.

One law society or bar association will begin working with one or more cloud services providers to certify compliance with the rules of professional conduct and to give guidance on encryption to lawyers.

Prediction #2

A growing lack of articling positions coupled with the exceptionally high cost of legal education will force law schools and law societies to break out of their silos and work together. Currently law schools and law societies operate along parallel tracks which (of course!) never meet. This is dangerous for the profession.

I believe that by the end of 2012 at least one law school will begin to review the feasibility of a co-op program that includes articling within its curriculum such that upon graduation a student is immediately eligible to write local bar exams. Such a co-op program may consist of a half-day of school and a half-day of articling at a firm within the same city as the school. I predict that the first law school that does this will experience the highest-ever number of applications for any law school in the country.

Prediction #3

One forward-thinking Canadian law society will seriously examine alternative business models and the implementation of outside investment into Canadian law firms and determine that, among other things, they will enhance access to justice. Access to justice is a growing problem that both government and the legal profession have proven themselves unable to remedy – mostly because of the high cost of legal services. With a new business model and outside investment, I predict that access to justice will dramatically improve. New business models and outside investment will also address the so-called “greying of the bar” in which small communities lose lawyers when this increasingly elderly crew retire.

Prediction #4

I believe that 2012 will be the year that senior management and boards of directors will finally realize that legal fees are low-hanging fruit when it comes to reducing company expenses. They will force the implementation of alternative working arrangements that discard the billable hour and demand more value-for-money from law firms. As a result, in-house counsel will finally come out of their shells and realize that they can demand better from their legal services providers. The result will be greater use of RFPs for legal services, packaged at a fixed monthly fee regardless of the amount of work done.

Prediction # 5

This is perhaps the most obvious prediction for 2012 – another Canadian/UK law firm merger will occur. The 2010 Norton Rose/Ogilvy Renault merger has been exceptionally well-received by lawyers in those firms – so much so that adding MacLeod Dixon to the mix was an easy decision. Canadian law firms are slowly coming to the conclusion that they can’t do it all in the global market-place and that being part of the right global platform adds value to their clients, excitement and enhanced purpose to their teams, not to mention money to their bank accounts. Any Canadian firm that blows off overtures from a U.K. mega-firm (assuming there is a cultural fit) will be making a mistake for which that firm will pay dearly in years to come.

Prediction # 6

One mid-sized law firm will formally announce the use of legal process outsourcers (LPOs) located in India or in the Philippines as a way to be more efficient and cost-effective in delivering legal services. In fact, a more aggressive firm will purchase an ownership interest in an LPO to enhance quality control.

Prediction #7

Thomson Reuters purchased LPO giant Pangea3 in late 2010. This acquisition has made little impact on the Canadian legal market. However, I predict that in 2012 Pangea3 will begin to aggressively court business from Canadian in-house counsel and law firms.

Prediction #8

In the pie-in-the-sky department, one province will institute a student loan-forgiveness program for law students who agree to practice in small communities or in not-for-profit clinics/organizations. For each year of service in an approved role, the student will have 15% of her student loan forgiven."