February 2000 

Where is the legal profession headed in the next millennium?

Find out what our readers had to say.

Prognostication can be dangerous -- think of that neighbor who bought a generator in response to the Y2K hype. With that caveat in mind, we asked Minnesota's law school deans to share informal perspectives on the turn of the century. --Ed.

--Ed Butterfoss

Technology has changed the face of the legal profession over the past century and will bring even greater changes in the next millennium. Lawyers will use technology to streamline administrative functions, to perform research more quickly and thoroughly, and to try cases more efficiently. Motion hearings and appellate arguments, perhaps even trials, may be conducted without the need for the attorneys, witnesses, judges and jurors to assemble in a common courtroom.

Despite these changes, the most successful lawyers of the next millennium will not be those with a degree in computer science. The most successful lawyers will be those who remember that law is a service profession. Whatever the tools, the central role of lawyers will remain advocating for and on behalf of people and working to solve problems faced by real people. To be successful in the next millennium, a lawyer will need to be technologically savvy, but must also remember the human side of the profession.

Computers will not replace compassion. Caring about and communicating with the individuals a lawyer serves will be the mark of the truly successful lawyer. Communicating means in-person discussions where the lawyer listens to the client’s concerns and needs, not a cell phone call from a car as the attorney rushes between appointments with other clients or an email sent from a laptop on a plane. Even if the client is a mega corporation, that corporation is nothing but the sum of the people who run it. Only people, not a corporation, can make the decision to retain a lawyer, pay a lawyer, or fire a lawyer.

--Dean Ed Butterfoss

Ed Butterfoss is dean and professor of law at Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul.

View companion articles by:

• E. Thomas Sullivan
• Harry J. Haynsworth

Where is the legal profession headed in the next millennium?

Find out what our readers had to say.

--Harry J. Haynsworth

I think the two most significant factors that will shape the law and law practice in the early years of the 21st century are the increasing globalization of commerce and the continuing impact of digital technologies.

Among the changes that I think will occur—and they are occurring now—are the increased internationalization and interdisciplinary nature of law and law practice, the integration of technology into the web and fabric of law practice, and the need for lawyers to be able to embrace change much more readily than ever before.

These changes are requiring law schools to expand their international law and interdisciplinary courses and programs and to teach additional skill sets, including technology and management skills that will be essential if graduates are to be successful in the digital age.

These and other paradigm shifts in our world may at times be unsettling, but this is an exciting, exhilarating era. As I said to our first-year students at orientation last August, I wish I were starting law school now rather than nearing the end of my career.

Two insightful books that have influenced my thinking about the future are The Lexus and the Olive Tree (Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1999) by Thomas L. Friedman, foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times, and The Future of Law: Facing the Challenges of Information Technology (Oxford University Press, 1998; originally published as The Future of Law Information Technology: Facing the Challenges, 1996) by Richard E. Susskind, an English solicitor who has a Ph.D. in law and computers from Oxford University. The Lexus and the Olive Tree boldly sketches out the major changes that are likely to take place in the practice of law and the delivery of legal services.

Three excerpts from The Future of Law are particularly pertinent. The first concerns the incredible scope of the changes taking place in what is increasingly being called the information age or the information society:

For what it is worth, I believe the next shift in paradigm for the law (after the current one) will not occur until several centuries hence, at the end of the information society when, through enablers such as nanotechnology, men and machines become one and supplementary information and knowledge will be genetically encoded in human beings. [1998 edition, page 267]

The next two quotes reflect some of Susskind's insights about law and legal education:

Lawyers must be trained to work digitally in a digital world or they may as well shut up shop tomorrow. [page 256]

... the teaching of law in absence of IT (information technology) is gradually becoming a misrepresentation of legal practice and legal process. [page 258]

For additional information about my thoughts about the future of legal education and William Mitchell College of Law, which is celebrating its centennial, visit our web site at www.wmitchell.edu

--Dean Harry J. Haynsworth

Harry J. Haynsworth is president and dean of William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul.

View companion articles by:

• E. Thomas Sullivan
• Ed Butterfoss

Where is the legal profession headed in the next millennium?

Find out what our readers had to say.

--E. Thomas Sullivan

The legal profession has had a strong past and a promising future. The last two decades of the twentieth century produced many changes: increased competition for clients, strategic planning, constant analysis of partner compensation systems, revamping of internal governance structures, and expanded emphasis on "marketing." Many trends will carry over into the new century, including growth in the population of lawyers, significant market growth in fee income, the continued rise of the mega law, the demise of many well-established law firms, increased mobility, and more women and lawyers of color. Certainly, the new century will continue to see the expansion of the profession through globalization, specialization, new emphasis on alternative dispute resolution, and the increased competition from investment banking firms, large accounting and consulting firms. Plainly, spending will increase on marketing, promotion, and technological advances within the legal structures, shakeouts will continue to be frequent among law firms, declining loyalties will probably escalate, both among lawyers and between clients and law firms. But, new geographical markets and boundaries will emerge as the legal profession expands its services towards a greater ability to give advice through increased specialization and technological advances.

Given the significant changes that took place in the 1980's and 1990's, we can anticipate more dramatic changes in the new century as the new global market for legal services continues to mature. Paradoxically, as the private practice becomes more specialized, it will be imperative that law schools continue to focus on educating and training well-rounded generalists. Strong analytical and communication skills will continue to be essential as will the ability to adapt to technological changes that will permit the lawyer to be more efficient. We can anticipate that law firms that wish to compete on a national and international level will have to become much larger and much more specialized as they strive to be "full service" advisors to global-oriented clients. Economies of scale and the dynamics of the changing competitive market will require larger, more specialized full-service firms. On the other hand, smaller "boutique" firms that have a specialized niche and a well- marketed reputation also will thrive. The medium sized law firm that tries to be a full service professional advisor will struggle with the new economies.

Unquestionably, the successful lawyer will continue to be the individual who has a reputation for sound judgement, practical common sense, and high ethical standards. Regardless of how the dynamics of the market might change the day to day practice, including the economics of the practice, there are no substitutes for these essential attributes.

Finally, the legal profession will need to expand in the public sectors in order for there to be more lawyers serving the needs of people in the public interest and government interest sectors of the society. Although most of the attention in terms of the changes has focused on private practice, the demand for quality public interest and government lawyers is crucial and will increase if we continue to believe, as I think we should, that law is first about people.

--Dean E. Thomas Sullivan

E. Thomas Sullivan is dean and William S. Pattee Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis.

View companion articles by:

• Harry J. Haynsworth
• Ed Butterfoss