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"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its
original dimension."1
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes
The practice of law, once stretched by new technology, will
never be the same. Like it or not, advances in Information
Technology (IT) have changed the way lawyers and other knowledge
workers collect, process, and produce information. Lawyers
unable or unwilling to use new technology tools to collect and
manage the vast amounts of information available and needed to
practice law in the 21st Century will be at a competitive
disadvantage that may put them out of business.
The Rise of the Knowledge Worker
The term "knowledge worker" was coined by Peter Drucker to
describe someone who adds value by processing existing
information to create new information that could be used to
define and solve problems. Knowledge workers include lawyers,
doctors, diplomats, lawmakers, software developers, managers,
and bankers.2 Lawyers have specialized knowledge through their
training in the law that they apply to their practice; and few,
if any, create a physical product other than paper or documents.
As humankind developed from bands, to tribes, to chiefdoms, to
states, specialization of labor created economic benefits that
allowed workers who were not needed for survival to gather
specialized knowledge for the betterment of society and their
own advancement. These early knowledge workers were leaders,
rulemakers, and healers.
From early man until the middle of 20th Century, there were
relatively few knowledge workers in most economies, because most
of the workforce was needed for survival. Before 1900, about 90
percent of the U.S. population worked in agriculture. Around the
beginning of the 20th Century in the United States and other
developing nations, the Industrial Revolution began to pull
people off the farm and into factories. In many of these
developing countries, including the United States, the economic
benefits of the Industrial Revolution created what Marx termed
industrial surplus. This industrial surplus, instead of being
used to keep the working class down as Marx had predicted, was
invested in research and development, education, and
organization leading to an explosion in information and
technology which in turn created a demand for a large number of
specialized knowledge workers.
These knowledge workers have created advances in technology
allowing greater productivity and efficiency, but with a side
effect of fewer and fewer workers being needed to perform the
essentials that make society run. These advances have caused
major shifts in the work force that have in turn caused a
profound impact in the way we practice.
With the explosion of knowledge workers has come an explosion of
specialized information. The large variety and vast amounts of
specialized knowledge in our society has forced lawyers to
become more specialized. Further, advances in mass production,
communication, transportation, and distribution have expanded
trade and communications between businesses all over the world.
This new global economy has created multinational corporations
and increased international trade, creating a demand for large
law firms and litigation groups that can handle larger and more
complex litigation disputes and business relations. In fact, the
general solo practitioner who handles all types of law is being
supplanted by teams of lawyers who handle specialized areas of
law.
Lawyers and Resistance to Change
Though many lawyers use new technology in their practices, many
more are resistant to change until absolutely necessary. One
reason for this is that the practice of law in the United States
and England is based on tradition and stare decisis. Another
reason is the large initial investment it takes to practice law.
This barrier to entry limits the supply of attorneys, allowing
over the short run less efficient methods of practicing law.
This problem may be exacerbated by the increasingly specialized
knowledge needed to practice in many areas of law and the
investment of time in learning a new area of specialized
knowledge. This further limits competition and decreases the
pressure on attorneys to change in order to adapt to their
environment.
Working against this resistance is the second law of
thermodynamics that tells us that over time all things tend to
break down, becoming less ordered, and tending toward disorder
and chaos or entropy. This law has been applied to all systems
including biological, chemical, and social systems. As systems
evolve, order is created not in spite of the chaos and entropy,
but because of it. Evolution and growth are a result of a system
slipping into chaos, and then reorganizing itself at a higher
level of complexity and functioning. This reorganization allows
the system to survive and continue functioning and in our
society is one of the main functions of lawyers.
As the amount of information needed to practice law increases,
the practice inevitably becomes more disordered and chaotic.
Because lawyers are limited in the amount of information they
can process, computers and technology are necessary to survive
and continue functioning. Hence, technology has allowed the
knowledge worker to evolve and process a greater amount of
information than ever before, helping us avoid information
overload, disorder, and chaos.
Knowledge Management: Conquering Information Overload
As information becomes readily available and abundant it will be
imperative to an attorney’s survival to adapt to the techniques
used to grasp and transform specialized knowledge as it relates
to the law. The process of managing information through
technology is commonly known as “knowledge management.” (For an
excellent weblog of knowledge management concepts and resources,
see http://excitedutterances.blogspot.com). Attorneys who
effectively use knowledge management tools will have a
significant edge over others who do not. This will become
increasingly important as technology continues to improve,
knocking down traditional geographic barriers and creating
competition.
From a global perspective, China, India, and other developing
nations are pushing to become more information-based, creating a
large demand and supply of international knowledge workers. This
will create a market for attorneys who can process vast amounts
of information, especially in protecting copyrights, patents,
and other information from theft. However, with it will come
competition. From a regional perspective, attorneys can now
handle distant matters through the use of technology, including
online collaboration, e-filing, and videoconferencing. This
technology encourages firms to become larger in order to process
vast amounts of information and handle multiple claims across
large regions, which in turn creates increases local competition
from information hubs such as Austin, Houston, and Dallas. With
thousands of new attorneys being produced each year, it is
important to stay competitive.
This new legal world replaces the traditional briefcase of
papers with electronic devices and moves at the speed of light
through fiber optics. Applying Albert Einstein’s theories on
space and time to the future of information technology,
knowledge workers might someday send information through space
at speeds fast enough to slow time, allowing them to steal back
time while collecting, managing, and processing information.
Though we may not be able to physically travel at light speed,
the information we need to practice law will, freeing us from
the potential chaos and dense black holes of information
overload.
Jason Coomer is an Austin
Texas lawyer who handles
complex litigation including residential fire claims, business
litigation (real estate and business to business), toxic tort
claims, and technology litigation.
Bob Binder is an Austin lawyer who handles
automobile collision and catastrophic injury claims.
Willie Buehler is an information technology & media
specialist.
A special thanks to Michele McKeever, Dan
Stokes, and Bill Belsom for their
editing assistance.
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1 Oliver Wendell Holmes, A Father's Book of Wisdom, compiled
by H. Jackson Brown, Jr., P.65 (1988)
2. http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/knowledge_management/km3/knowledge_worker.asp |
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