Are lawyers agents?
Seth Godin suggests an interesting question:
"Travel agents... gone.
Stock brokers... gone.
Real estate brokers... in trouble. Photographer's agents, too.
Literary agents?
The problem with being a helpful, efficient but largely anonymous middleman is pretty obvious. Someone can come along who is cheaper, faster and more efficient. And that someone might be the customer aided by a computer."
We've seen this happen in the legal community. Many more people are representing themselves, pro se, because they can't afford lawyers or ... heaven help us ... they can serve their own interests just as well as the lawyer.
Lawyers must bring creativity, judgment and experience to the table to maintain their position in the affiars of business. Being a commodity, or being "run of the mill," just isn't enough anymore. And a major differentiating factor for most clients is the "care and feeding" offered by lawyers. Impersonal and expensive (a relative term) is no longer accepted. We've got to move past the point where the single largest complaint against lawyers is their failure to return phone calls, the failure to respond quickly to the concerns, wants and needs of the client. Until that happens, the legal profession is in jeopardy of losing its franchise.
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