Lawmart - it came from Canada

 Heath Hamacher, The Daily Record Newswire

 

The way services are provided is changing. We can talk to our shrinks via the internet, we can “see” our physicians through a smartphone app, and we can do most of today’s jobs from a laptop in a coffee shop.

Pretty soon, we may even be able to swing by the local Walmart and grab an uncontested divorce along with our groceries — at rollback prices. They’re already doing it in Canada.

Recently, Ontario lawyers representing Axess Law have set up office space inside several Toronto-area Walmart stores, dedicated to providing the people of Walmart with basic legal needs such as simple wills, notarized documents, business registration and pre-nups. But some things are just too messy (Earl! Cleanup, aisle nine!) for the one-stop-shopping-style service. Drunken-driving charges, personal injury suits and bitter divorces will have to be handled at their more traditional offices.

One shopper — er — client told the Toronto Star, “It’s convenient, it’s fast, it’s reasonably priced…it’s just easy!”

Everything you want in a law firm: Save money, live better.

No appointments are necessary, and the firm hinges its profit hopes on, fittingly, volume services. Simple wills, for instance, go for $99. Notarized documents are $25. Always low prices. Always.

But it’s unclear whether South Carolina will ever see Lawmart walyers — er — lawyers in Walmarts.

David Tedder of Tedder Law Office in Beaufort said there are potential issues should walyers ever find their way to the Palmetto State. Among them are confidentiality and quality of service.

“As with all consumer matters, cheapest does not always lead to the best results,” Tedder said, noting that the price of a notarized document is set by state law here at 50 cents.

He added that most lawyers will tell you there is nothing simple about a will.

“Remember, also, that disputes over matters under an estate plan — wills and trusts — often do not appear for years or decades after the will or estate is prepared,” he said. “Where will the Walmart-based attorneys be at that point? And will their malpractice insurance still be around to protect the consumers who end up with less than they bargained for?

Erik Mazzone, director of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Center for Practice Management, wondered what the retail giant’s motives might be and whether there’s a long-term scheme.

“I’d guess they’re motivated by more than the rental income,” Mazzone said. “If they’re renting out space to lawyers, it’s not because they ran out of other products to sell. It’s because, in my opinion anyway, they’re getting customers used to buying legal services in a Walmart.”

Mazzone said that, whatever the motivation, a move like this could point to “a new and gigantic player getting interested in the legal services market.”

“They get in line with the legal process outsourcers and document preparation services intent on disintermediating lawyers,” he said.

Yes. To take over the world. Infiltrate a system that many find intimidating and expensive, draw in the working class, advertise the alternative business model and distribute the goods. Brilliant.

Or perhaps, with roughly 5,000 lawsuits filed against them each year, Walmart executives just figure it’d be nice to have some literally in-house counsel.

A message to Walmart’s corporate media relations department seeking comment was not immediately returned, so we don’t know whether they plan to price-match legal services.