“Your old road is rapidly agin’.” Bob Dylan, 1963

Outsourcing to India; unbundled services; cost pressure; internet-based practice:  the profession has entered a roiling period of accelerating change.  The decade will see market- and technological forces affect every nook and cranny of the present structure of legal practice. 

What does this have to do with a survey about attorney concerns over whether to hire a virtual paralegal? Much, I allege, because this period of change is landing attorneys and paralegals in the same boat.  Last year’s discussion about the obvious cost-reduction advantages of hiring virtual paralegal assistance seems to be giving way to a more urgent need to respond to the pressures for change dictated by the legal market.  Last year’s convenient choices about whether to “hire virtual” are transforming into next year’s ineluctable necessity.  The threat of “legal commodification” is cropping up around the legal blogspace.  So we had better be ready to adapt.

In this context, Paralegal Associates’ “survey” results are probably in line with what should be expected.  A significant proportion of attorneys are not sure how to use a virtual paralegal because they are not sure how to respond to the changes in practice that implies.  The other response categories are a short catalog of fears that grow out of unfamiliarity with a non-traditional work relationship where you and I aren’t in the usual bricks-and-mortar surroundings.   My point is that a decision that ought to be pretty easy- let’s do some legal work over the internet to hold down costs- gets stymied by  fear of loss of control.  From there, I expect that a perceived threat to the business follows readily.  Our psychology of fear is a barrier to the rational.  Nothing new here; the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle acutely analyzed this human weakness about 2400 years ago.  Inertia seems a species of fear.  If I refuse to recognize a threat, maybe it won’t “recognize” me, and I can go on as usual.  This response is not helpful to survival. 

I agree there are serious practical concerns involved in this transition.  They are management  concerns:  ethical issues, data security needs, client confidentiality maintenance, software/hardware support, liability.  These are the stuff of rational management.  Valuable work is being done on these concerns right now by legal- and technology professionals.  I expect that over the next couple of years, we will see the tools for responding to this emerging network-based legal environment become available in a unified structure that attorneys can readily adopt and use.

What we need to do now, attorneys and paralegals, is come together in a conversation that results in a well-developed approach to supporting the changes in law offices that are needed to adapt successfully to virtual practice, with a minimum of fear and loathing.

It’s true that most practices are “bricks and mortar” at present.  What has yet to emerge is a consensus about when that structure will undergo significant change; “when”, not “if”.  My sense is that there will be wide agreement that we are in the crucial decade.

We are entering the time when last year’s early adopters and leaders give way to broader acceptance of the value of the new business model.  We “virtuals” will soon be pioneers no more.

In this post, I’m offering the view that attorneys need to see transitioning to virtual paralegal support as a necessary response to emerging competitive threats.  Paralegals need to see their traditional in-office situation as under pressure for the same reasons. 

In upcoming posts, I’ll offer some suggestions that address the specific concerns expressed in the survey response categories.

Please stay tuned, and give us your comments.