Spencer Farris, The Levison Group
By now, even the partners have returned from the holiday season to their desks at the Levison Towers. The legal interns are back in school for the most part. Kids from the most expensive schools are still milling around — it seems that the more you pay for law school, the less you have to actually attend. Had I known this, I would have applied to a fancier school instead of just skipping class.
At my age old acquaintances (or at least their names) are often forgotten and auld lang syne is more accurately auld langxiety. The new year brings new anxieties to small law firms. Our bank accounts are drawn down in December for tax purposes and a new crop of bills ripens in January. Layered on top is the fear that we will never see a new client or that the legislature will make our practice even more difficult.
One of these fears is usually overstated and the other, all too real and inevitable.
2013 came in for me like a steel toed kick in the pants. I lost my father in law, wasted time preparing for a trial that didn’t happen and my dog went to the emergency vet on New Years’ day. I can only hope 2013 goes out like a cushy slipper.
I’m going to bet against the odds and make some fearless predictions for the new year:
Lawyers will be replaced with robots. The law moves slowly and middle aged lawyers move even slower. Case in point: we are required to file pleadings with a 3 1/2 inch floppy disk copy to our opponents in local state courts. Only a certain insurance in-house law firm still complies with the rule as none of the rest of us have seen a computer with a floppy disk drive for over a decade.
I am thrilled to see technology moving into our court houses, although I can’t think of a single second that technology has saved me. Chores are like gas and they fill up the space allotted. Still, technology has made life easier in some respects. Filings in my state and in federal court are now done via the interwebs — no more last-minute drives to the courthouse. Some judges allow lawyers to appear telephonically and out of town depositions are frequently done by videoconference.
I predict that in 2013 big law firms will use droids rather than lawyers for simple tasks such as getting a document file stamped or taking a records custodian deposition. Somewhere in Connecticut there is a basement startup teaching Latin to RoombaTM vacuuming robots as we speak. Duct tape a file to their backs and voila — a first year associate is born.
Arbitrations and mediations will finally outnumber lawsuit filings and even actual cases. Every court in the land encourages litigants to settle their disputes out-of-court. While this hasn’t necessarily cleared up congestion on the docket, it has certainly gotten many retired lawyers and judges out of the house and into work as mediators.
The continued success of big insurance and Chamber of Commerce ad campaigns to quell tort filings has not gone unnoticed by mediators and arbitrators. Rather than allow fewer lawsuits to cut into their business, I predict that mediators will expand their practice to settle disputes that would never find their way into the courthouse. Bob’s Mediation Service had a booth at Comic-Con and successfully resolved the age-old debate as to which is better — Star Trek or Star Trek Next Generation — some 413 times amongst attendees. The mediator’s fee was admittedly small, but Bob was quoted to say, “I lose money on every mediation but I make it up on volume.”
Some boneheaded legislature somewhere will come up with a dumber law than last year. Okay maybe that prediction isn’t too fearless. Every year a legislator somewhere introduces a bill to outlaw the “common law,” which is law decreed by the judicial branch of government in the form of appellate opinions. This is typically introduced by someone dumb enough to think separation of powers means keeping your Marvel comics in one stack and DC comics in another. My favorite dumb law from 2012 was a local Washington DC ordinance which prohibited whistling in the bathroom. I hope it only applies in public bathrooms.
Lawyers will continue to make a difference, for better or worse. Again, not really a fearless prediction. After all, what else would we do? Last year’s victories and defeats are behind us, and we are fortunate to practice in a very dynamic profession. It admittedly does not feel dynamic when you’re on page 370 of the 700 page contract at 9:30 on a Friday night. The notion that our job helps our fellow man drives lawyers. The promise of a thank you and a handshake from a client we have helped is enough to keep most of us on this path throughout another year. Unless a TV weatherman gig opens up, that is. Then I’m out of here.
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Under Analysis is a nationally syndicated column of the Levison Group. Spencer Farris is the founding partner of The S.E. Farris Law Firm in St. Louis, Missouri. Comments or criticisms about this column may be sent to this newspaper or directly to the Levison Group via e-mail at comments@levisongroup.com.
© 2013 Under Analysis L.L.C.
