The Fully Connected Law Firm

By Dennis M. Kennedy

Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis

October 14, 1999
 Gutenberg.com

u Universal Literacy
u Portability of Information
u New Forms of Communications
u Transformed Political and
Religious Structures
u Development of Capitalism
u New Forms of Community
u The Genie Was Out of the Bottle
What We’ll Cover

u Three Key Trends

u Research
u Communication
u Marketing
u Where We’re Going
u How To Get There
u What’s the Take Home?
 The Internet

u History
u Demographics
u Rate of
Acceptance
u Extent of Change
u 5, Not 500
 Three Key Trends

u Disintermediation
u Collaboration
u Innovation
u But, first . . .
 Law of Unintended
Consequences
u Unpredictability
u Automobile Mass Production
u Computing Tool Becomes
Communication/Connection Tool
u E-mail as Killer App
u High Tech, High Touch
 Disintermediation
u A Big, But Important,
Word
u Mankoff Cartoon
u Toward a Frictionless
Economy
u E-Bay, Car Dealers,
Stockbrokers
u What About Lawyers?
u Reintermediation
 Collaboration
u Creation of Communities
of Interest
u Is the Expert You Want
Down the Hall?
u The “Hollywood” Model
u All Depends on the
Quality of the
Conversation
u The Virtual Law Firm
 Innovation
u Living in Time of
Changing Rules
u Fast Prototyping
u Fighting the Last War
u Incrementalism is the
Enemy of Innovation
u Lessons from
Amazon.com
 Three Practical Aspects

u Research

u Communication

u Marketing
 Research

u Internet vs. LEXIS and

WestLaw vs. FindLaw
u Intranets and Knowledge
Management
u Changing Role of Librarians
u Legal Publishing Changes
u Collaborative Filtering
u The Highly-informed Client
 Communication
u Distance is Dead!
u Metcalfe’s Law
u E-mail, Intranets and
Extranets
u Improving the Quality of
the Conversation
u Harnessing the Intelligence
of the Network
u Client-driven Trends
 Marketing

u Your Internet Presence

u Managing Your Image
u Branding
u Access to Internet
Demographics
u Marketing Trends and
the Ethics Rules
 Internet Signals

u Non-traditional
Competition
u Productizing of Services
u Cyber$ettle
u Cherry Picking
 Key Questions
u What Will Be the
Amazon.com of Law?
u What is the Practice of
Law?
u Will Law Become a
Commodity?
u Is Law Really Different
Than Any Other
Information Business?
u What Do you DO?
 What To Do, Part 1

u Meditate on the
Word
Reintermediation
u Embrace the
Internet
u Turn Services into
Products
u Self-
cannibalization
u Fast Prototyping
 What to Do, Part 2
u Do Not Fight the Last
War
u Cost Cutting For You and
For Clients
u Turn the Kids Loose
u Bateson: “You Can’t Live
Without an Eraser”
u Gretzky: “You Miss
100% of the Shots You
Don’t Take”
 What’s the Take Home?

u Treat the Internet with

Due Respect
u Focus on the Client
u Innovate, Collaborate,
Reintermediate
u Meaningful Diversity
u Gutenberg.com