Lawyers Can Repair Their Tarnished Image

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Lawyers Can Repair Their Tarnished Image
John Grisham captured a common perception of lawyers in The Client: “You advised him not to get a
lawyer, giving as one of your reasons the opinion that lawyers are a pain in the ass.” Lawyers have an  image problem. A 1973 Harris survey found that only 24% of respondents had high confidence in lawyers. Two decades later, that figure plummeted to 7%. A 2014 Pew survey found lawyers last among ten professional categories in “contributions to society.” Ouch!
Here are some common beefs with lawyers and how they can be settled. “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” is off the table.

High Cost/Lack of Accessibility
The vast majority of individuals and small businesses in the US cannot afford a lawyer—even when the stakes are high. This is commonly referred to as “the access to justice crisis.” It’s a scourge on the profession and damaging to society. How many times have you heard someone say, “I’m afraid to call my lawyer; it’s too damn expensive.” That’s when they have a lawyer. Lawyers are very expensive and seemingly bill for everything.

LegalZoom is one among a growing number of tech and process savvy legal services providers that offer different levels of legal assistance on an easy-to-access, cost-effective basis. The company is “productizing” many tasks once delivered as legal services including: legal forms, research, regulatory summaries, etc. When the self-help option is not enough, LegalZoom also offers monthly subscription services providing online or phone access to licensed lawyers who respond to questions. The company vets “panel counsel”– licensed attorneys that render this service. And when that’s not enough, the customer can retain panel counsel on a more formal, individualized basis. LegalZoom does not receive a fee for this; however, it negotiates a price reduction for customers who retain panel counsel.

LegalZoom’s cafeteria approach to legal delivery is one way to improve efficiency, reduce price, and provide access to legal assistance. That’s why the company has already assisted more than 3.5 million customers and helped launch over a million small businesses. Technology and process are leveraged to provide access to underutilized counsel at an affordable price. And if it sounds like Uber to you, it does to me, too. This has brought millions of new customers into the market and will bring many more. It’s an approach that will be beneficial to society and remove some of the taint from lawyers’ tarnished image. Oh, and this model can be replicated in the corporate segment, too.