Marty SmithCo-founder, MetaJure

Technology, shrinking markets and tough times

⎻ Busting the lawyer myths

Myth # 1

“Lawyers are Luddites and late adopters of technology.”

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Fact No. 1:

Lawyers don’t adopt legal specific technology because most of it is really, really bad…

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Fact No. 2:

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Professional associations and regulators have slowed the profession’s adoption of technology…

Technology Year Introduced

ABA Opinion on Lawyer Usage

Email 1983 1999

Websites 1994 2010

Cloud storage 2007 2012

The Truth:

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Lawyers eagerly adopt great technology where it makes sense and barriers aren’t put in their way…

In 2015, the average lawyer created/received:17,449 Emails 5,349 PDFs 2,942 Word documents 223 Excel spreadsheets

39 PowerPoint presentations26,001 Electronic documents

Myth # 2

“The demand for legal services is flat or declining.”

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Fact No. 1:

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Over 50% of people with a legal problem

don’t know they have a

legal problem with a possible

solution…

Fact No. 2:

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Close to 80% of Americans with a known legal problem don’t hire a lawyer due to cost or other issues…

Fact No. 3:

The majority of lawyers aren’t selling what the majority of consumers can afford to buy…

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Vs.

BENTLEY

HONDA

There is enormous demand for new forms of legal services that are priced and delivered differently…

The Truth:

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Myth # 3

“It’s a terrible time to be a lawyer.”

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Do you think I should I go to law school?

Fact No. 1:

1994 - 1996 2014 - 2016

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Things aren’t always what they appear to be on the surface…

There are a lot of positive, change-enabling things going on in and around the profession…

Fact No. 2:

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ABA Center on Innovation Innovation fellowships Regulatory changes Technology enabled and driven consumers Slow moving, flat-footed competitors

If you are open minded, innovative and willing to run some risk, the legal services world is your oyster.

The Truth:

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Maybe it’s time we seized the day…

Questions?