Lawyers talk about the future of the profession

Attorneys are going to have to learn to be more innovative if they expect to survive in the changing legal profession.

“The world is crying out for innovation,” Bruce MacEwen, a lawyer and law firm consultant told legal professionals Wednesday during the Presidential Summit of the New York State Bar Association’s 137th annual meeting in Manhattan.

“We are terrible at innovation because we feel entitled to what we have,” he said. “We indulge in complacency, an incredibly corrosive approach to the world. We know better than anybody.”

Paraphrasing former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, MacEwen said to substitute the word lawyer for pessimist and that a lawyer can find the difficulty in every opportunity.

MacEwen is president of New York City-based Adam Smith Inc. and author of “Growth is Dead: Now What? Law firms on the brink,” which addresses the future of law firms in the wake of the Great Recession of 2008. He was the keynote speaker during a panel discussion on “Supporting Today’s Lawyers,” at the summit, hosted by NYSBA President David M. Schraver of Rochester, a partner at Nixon Peabody LLP.

The panel was moderated by former NYSBA President Stephen P. Younger of New York City (Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP) who, during his tenure, commissioned a Task Force on the Future of the Legal Profession, which issued its final report in 2011.

Schraver said the report provided an in-depth examination of the new expectations and challenges facing attorneys, including legal education, law firm structure and billing, work-life balance and technology.

“We’re still experiencing the future,” Younger said. “We’re now operating in a new normal. We continue to see flat demand for our services. This has led to continued layoffs of lawyers, what someone called a daunting job market.”

He said changes in the market resulted in fee pressures; the bankruptcy of the “renowned” New York City firm, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP; and what some are calling the unhappiest job in America, which he said prompted  Forbes Magazine to compare the life of an associate with “The Hunger Games,” a science fiction novel in which young people fight to the death until only one is left.

Driving the changes, Younger said, are globalization, rapid advances in technology and the continued impact of the financial crisis.

“So, as our profession evolves, we all need to adapt,” he said. “Our clients today want more efficient services. They want increased responsiveness. I think we can all agree, despite all of these pressures we’re under, we still have a tremendous professional calling.”

He suggested attendees think not of the “The Hunger Games,” but explore being be more like Bobby Donnell, the character who competed in the 1980s television show “The Practice.”

MacEwen said lawyers today confront excess capacity, pricing pressures and clients who have market power and know it. He said excess capacity leads to a tremendous incentive to cut prices to suicidal levels.

“I’ve got news for you,” he said. “It is not my client’s job to ensure I make a profit and it is not your client’s job to ensure you make a profit. You have to start pricing on the value the client perceives, not on your historic cost structure.”

MacEwen suggested attorneys learn all they can about alternative fees. He also said globalization is here to stay, as are ever increasing regulations, so there are reasons to believe superb legal advice will always be needed.

Benjamin F. Wilson, managing principal in the environmental law firm of Beveridge & Diamond PC, said his family has an applicable saying: “The separation’s in the preparation,” something he said his nephew, Seattle Seahawks Quarterback Russell Wilson, would apply in the Super Bowl.

Wilson said Daniel Pink, author of “To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others,” points out people want to direct their own lives, innovate and create new things and to have a purpose.

He said about 30 percent of his firm is now based on a fixed fee, as opposed to 5 before the recession.

“I think we have to get beyond the fee talk,” Wilson said. “I think we have to align our goals with the goals of our clients. We have to train out lawyers so they are really becoming an integral part of the business and achieving the business’s goals.”

Younger asked Frank R. Jimenez, general counsel and managing director of government affairs at Bunge Limited, an agribusiness and food company, what clients want.

“Obviously, they want value, but we want excellence,” Jimenez said. “We want trust. We want to partner with outside counsel and be able to rely on them.”

For corporate clients, Jimenez said, the hardest decision is whether to outsource or to have in-house counsel. He said they want certainty so if they know what the costs will be if they go outside, it makes the decision easier.

A lot of small firms have adapted by focusing on specialties, using a boutique model to readily receive referrals from other clients and refer them back, said Anne Reynolds Copps, principal attorney of the Albany firm Copps DiPaola PLLC. A lot of her practice is adoption.

Copps said small firms also have the benefit of not having to compensate senior partners and deal with future large buyouts. In addition, she said technology allows her to do more with her staff.

Younger said studies commissioned by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman show about 2 million people in need of services cannot afford to pay. He asked how small firms adapt so the middle class is not cut out.

Copps said sometimes her firm does pro bono work and offers services on a sliding scale or flat fees for others. She and her daughter, an attorney in the firm, also volunteer for a legal project in the Capitol District, partnering with Albany Law School to train students on pro se divorces.

Other discussions included work-life balance issues, big box stores including legal services, impacts of technology and using more non-lawyer personnel.

“We’ve seen a tremendous amount of change in the last 10 years,” Younger said. “We’re going to see continued stress. Everyone’s trying to do this will less, do it faster, do it 24-7, but to be clear, this is a profession that remains that we can all enjoy, where everyone has an opportunity to compete.”

Keeping with pre-Super Bowl references, Younger presented Schraver with a souvenir cap which he promptly put on as he thanked those who attended.

“These problems are not easy,” Schraver said. “There are no easy answers, but I think we all need to think through this together. It has been my objective this year to try to do educate our members and the bar in New York state to involve the New York State Bar Association in the discussion in a leadership way to bring together the various constituencies.”

He said discussions will continue, leading up to a convocation in May when the practicing bar, organized bar, legal educators, courts and bar examiners will meet in focus groups across the state.