The Internet and the Practice of Law - Web Counsel Presentation -

THE INTERNET AND THE PRACTICE OF LAW Keynote Address to Pace Law Review Symposium March 20, 1998 White Plains, NY Part 3 of 6

Litigation in a wired world - Lawyers have always had a monopoly on litigation work, except for a few pro se individuals. In a wired world, the task of moving text around becomes much more efficient. At the same time this text can be enhanced. Lawyers have always written in hyper-text it was just that up until the invention of hyper-text all of our cites have been dead, this need no longer be the case.

New ways to advocate - The Internet gives lawyers new ways to advocate for their clients. In political cases such as the tobacco litigation websites can be a very effective means in which to present your client's case. Websites because of their ability to deliver large amounts of information about complex issues and to customize this information to the viewer's particular interest give attorneys a powerful tool for communicating the nuances and complexities of the client's case. In addition, web sites give a lawyer the ability to bypass the press and reach directly out to the people that may be most interested in the case. Litigants that are particularly susceptible to social opprobium, such as large corporation sensitive about their public image, may be particularly susceptible to pressure brought to bear in cases that they would prefer not to have publicized.
Hypertext briefs - Hypertext briefs are likely to be a major innovation in litigation. For centuries, judges had to physically look up the cases that the advocates were citing, if the judge had any doubts about the advocate's analysis. With hypertext briefs and storage devices such as CD-ROMs, the judge may simply click from link to link verifying that the cases really do support the advocate's position. The advent of hypertext briefs will encourage advocates to be accurate in their analysis since the case language will be only a click away. Hypertext briefs also will encourage the use of a paragraph numbering citation system rather than the West citation system, broken down as it is by artificial page elements that do not apply in an electronic environment.
New ways to coordinate and control - Internet technology levels the playing field between large firms and their smaller brethren, while at the same time steepening the field for the technological have-nots. Those firms that can utilize technology properly will find that they have a significant advantage over firms the rely on more traditional methods to organize the massive amounts of information that are part and parcel of today's litigation.

Extranets - TrialNet - Several firms have recently sprung up that use extranet technology, i.e., the ability to access through passworded websites on the Internet, the internal computers and databases of of a firm. Extranets can be used to cordinate multi-district litigation and to make available to firms across the U.S. research and documents prepared by other firms. Insurance companies in particular, because of their large number of litigation matters sharing fact patterns are early adopters of extranets and will continue to develop additional uses for this technology.

Puts tremendous pressure on hourly billing - Easier to monitor time and activities - Curiously, technology has not been the friend of many traditional law firms. The more accurate record keeping that accompanies the use of technology, also means that clients can more accurately monitor which attorneys are doing which duties at any given time. In some cases clients are even able to directly access daily records kept by the firm of each attorneys work. Technology also gives in-house counsel the ability to do many functions that previously they might have had outside counsel do.
The Technology Paradox- More costs/Less revenue - The use of additional technology also has another disincentive for traditional firms. The more technology that firms use, the more money they will spend on this technology. However, this technology will result or should result, in the firm being more efficient, hence, the firm will bill fewer hours. As a result the firm will make less money while spending more money.
Result value billing - The result of this technology paradox, can only be value billing. Firms are starting to bill for the value of their services not the units of time required to create that value. No one would be willing to pay a car manufacturer more money for their car simply because it took the car manufacturer more time to build it, but that is exactly what law firms frequently ask their clients to do. Law firms that successfully exploit the use of the new technologies will find that they are able to service more clients and if they adopt value billing may also find that they actually have a little more free time. Surveys regularly show that there is great dissatisfaction among associates in firms that bill very high numbers of hours. Firms that find that they can make the same revenue while working fewer hours, will also likely find that they are able to recruit the best students.

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