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Vol. 73, No. 8, August 2000 |
President's Perspective
Status Quo is Not an Option
by Gary L. Bakke
A decade ago, Alan Toffler wrote Future Shock, in which
he predicted that the pace of change will increase at a multiplying
rate. We are living that prediction and are beginning to understand
that the status quo is not an option. A tidal wave of change
will roll over the legal profession in the next few years. As
with any tidal wave, literal or figurative, it will rearrange
our landscape. It will take innovation and leadership for us
to create the future we want and the public deserves.
To be sure, ours is not the only business
or profession undergoing unprecedented change. Doctors, stock
brokers, travel agents, booksellers - the list is long of
those adjusting to the new economic, demographic, and social
realities brought on by globalization and new technologies. No
one escapes the reality that the Internet affects everything.
Information is free and consumers are in control. We can respond
by adding value to what we do. We must reemphasize our role
as counselors and problem solvers because the reality is that
many do not perceive us as such.
Forces of change started to envelope most professions several
years ago, but many of us saw only anecdotal evidence in our
own practices and did not realize that we were seeing the effects
of global change. Change makes us uneasy, especially those of
us who are comfortable in our current practices, but it also
presents opportunities. Some of us will struggle to maintain
our professional life; others will capture enormous opportunities.
As we seek to redefine our professional responsibilities and
maintain our relevance in society, we must bear in mind that
our role is to serve our clients and the public interest. Part
of this challenge is going to be to diversify the racial and
gender makeup of our profession. Demographics are changing; we
must change too.
We are justifiably proud of our role as defenders of individual
rights and liberties. In spite of many faults, America is the
most free and just society in the history of the world and the
rule of law can take much of the credit. However, we also must
acknowledge that many are convinced that lawyers are too expensive,
too slow, and cause more problems than we solve. We need to address
these perceptions head on. To the extent that those perceptions
are based on reality, we must fix the problems. The easiest way
to change public perception is to change reality. Unless we provide
a valuable and affordable service in a timely manner, we will
become irrelevant.
We are not in need of a slick advertising campaign. We cannot
assume that the public will respect us and value our profession
if they only know and understand us better. We need to make some
fundamental changes. Over the next few years we need to reearn
public trust and confidence in our profession.
A significant percentage of our citizens cannot afford a lawyer.
Thus, they are denied effective access to the third branch of
government. We need an effective broad-based effort to assure
equal access to justice for all of our citizens. Pro bono efforts
will continue to be our key contribution, but we also must increase
our efforts to secure adequate public funding for civil legal
services and work to reduce the cost by making both the court
and our practices more efficient.
Others who can afford a lawyer increasingly opt to represent
themselves. Many are convinced that they can do it themselves,
and lawyers will only make matters worse. A recent Florida study
of pro se litigants showed that although cost is still the largest
barrier to hiring a lawyer, more than 40 percent of the respondents
indicated that "their case was simple." Add to that,
12 percent said that they do not trust attorneys, and attorneys
will only cause delay. Again, if we reemphasize our role as
counselors and problem solvers, and reserve the zealous advocacy
for those matters that really need to be resolved in court, we
can regain our position as one of the helping professions.
We have all heard that justice delayed is justice denied.
But how many of us understand that six months is an unreasonable
delay for most of our clients? We have become immune to the fact
that business operates in hours and days while we measure our
progress in months and years. CPA firms are already advertising
legal services that are prompt and efficient. Can we afford to
ignore this challenge?
Together we can design the future for our profession and for
our clients.
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