Practice and Privilege: Social Change and the Structure of Large Law Firms

1981 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert L. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
Theory Of Law ◽  
The Relationship

Despite dramatic changes in size and specialization, large law firms have remained remarkably unchanged in other respects. Introducing research on major Chicago law firms, this article examines how large law firms have changed so much by changing so little. It proposes a theory of law firm growth emphasizing the relationship between changes in the market for sophisticated legal services and changes in the approach law firms have taken to organizing their practices. The author discusses the organizational structure of large law firms, giving particular attention to the various roles that lawyers play in such firms. After speculating on trends affecting large law firms, he points to implications of these trends for law and social change.

Knowledge Management in Law Firms

2011 ◽  
pp. 1818-1840
Author(s):  
Petter Gottschalk
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
Social Community ◽  
The Creation

Law enforcement is of concern to law firms. A law firm can be understood as a social community specializing in the speed and efficiency in the creation and transfer of legal knowledge (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998). Many law firms represent large corporate enterprises, organizations, or entrepreneurs with a need for continuous and specialized legal services that can only be supplied by a team of lawyers. The client is a customer of the firm, rather than a particular lawyer. According to Galanter and Palay (1991, p. 5), relationships with clients tend to be enduring:

scholarly journals AI-enabled business models in legal services: from traditional law firms to next-generation law companies?

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Armour ◽  
Mari Sako
Keyword(s):  
Business Model ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Legal Profession ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
Corporate Form ◽  
New Business ◽  
Employee Incentives ◽  
New Business Models

Abstract What will happen to law firms and the legal profession when the use of artificial intelligence (AI) becomes prevalent in legal services? We address this question by considering three related levels of analysis: tasks, business models, and organizations. First, we review AI’s technical capabilities in relation to tasks, to identify contexts where it is likely to replace or augment humans. AI is capable of doing some, but not all, legal tasks better than lawyers and is augmented by multidisciplinary human inputs. Second, we identify new business models for creating value in legal services by applying AI. These differ from law firms’ traditional legal advisory business model, because they require technological (non-human) assets and multidisciplinary human inputs. Third, we analyze the organizational structure that complements the old and new business models: the professional partnership (P2) is well-adapted to delivering the legal advisory business model, but the centralized management, access to outside capital, and employee incentives offered by the corporate form appear better to complement the new AI-enabled business models. Some law firms are experimenting with pursuing new and old business models in parallel. However, differences in complements create conflicts when business models are combined. These conflicts are partially externalized via contracting and segregated and realigned via vertical integration. Our analysis suggests that law firm experimentation with aligning different business models to distinct organizational entities, along with ethical concerns, will affect the extent to which the legal profession will become ‘hybrid professionals’.

scholarly journals Disruptive Innovation Within the Legal Services Ecosystem

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald G. Billings ◽  
Douglas G. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Systems Approach ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Disruptive Innovation ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Disruptive Technology ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Near Future

Many law firms have done little to address the opportunities and threats presented by potentially disruptive technology (DT), such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that some law firm leaders use to address the potentially detrimental influences of DT on their organizations. The systems approach to management was employed as the conceptual framework. Data were collected from 6 participants at 2 international law firms with offices in California, using semi-structured interviews and organizational artifacts. Data were analyzed using inductive and deductive coding and thematic analysis, resulting in 4 themes: (1) recognizing the legal ecosystem and legal firms are open systems, but organizational subsystems often function as semi-closed systems; (2) acknowledging that while DT represents the most significant potential challenge in the near future, the immediate challenge is improving technology, which requires organizational adjustments; (3) recognizing the need for firms to invest more heavily in innovation generation activities; and (4) realizing the need for increased utilization of augmenting technologies, such as AI or ML, to streamline non-advisory outputs. The findings of this study suggest that, while DI may pose a moderate threat, there are also significant advantages to adopting DI as a formal aspect of organizational strategy. The results of this study may contribute to social change by outlining ways in which firms can lower costs to clients while increasing access to legal services for those in underserved communities.

Knowledge Management in Law Firms

2007 ◽  
pp. 252-282
Author(s):  
Petter Gottschalk
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
Social Community ◽  
The Creation

Law enforcement is of concern to law firms. A law firm can be understood as a social community specializing in the speed and efficiency in the creation and transfer of legal knowledge (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998). Many law firms represent large corporate enterprises, organizations, or entrepreneurs with a need for continuous and specialized legal services that can only be supplied by a team of lawyers. The client is a customer of the firm, rather than a particular lawyer. According to Galanter and Palay (1991, p. 5), relationships with clients tend to be enduring:

scholarly journals Digitalization of the Legal Field and the Future of Large Law Firms

Laws ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Salvatore Caserta
Keyword(s):  
Law Firms ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Digital Capitalism ◽  
Competitive Edge ◽  
Gig Economy ◽  
The Future ◽  
Outsourcing Strategies ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Radical Approach

This paper discusses how large law firms should re-organize themselves to maintain a competitive edge in the increasingly digitalized legal field. While providing a brief historical introduction to the rise of large law firms and the challenges posed by the rise of digital capitalism and the gig economy, the paper proposes an original and radical approach to reforming large law firms in the light of the digitalization. Among other things, the paper discusses (I) the partnership as organizational tool for large law firms in an increasingly digital and agile legal field; (II) the importance of multidisciplinary practices and of the relationship between lawyers and non-lawyers within firms; and (III) the centrality of outsourcing strategies to legal tech companies and other actors in order to deliver legal services more effectively and in a more client-oriented manner.

Professional Support Lawyers and their Role in Legal Information Provision

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-135 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Information Provision ◽  
Professional Support ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
Legal Information ◽  
Similar Work ◽  
Information Professionals ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractMark Stanley and Tamara Eisenschitz examine the relationship between professional support lawyers and information professionals in law firms of varying sizes. The results broadly support the hypothesis that tensions in larger firms between the two groups are less apparent. More importantly tensions are reduced where each group is doing clearly delineated work, irrespective of the firm's size. Tensions between the two groups are no longer the issue they once were, but these could reignite, especially if information professionals with legal qualifications and PSLs without fee earning experience vye for similar work. This paper recommends that to avoid frictions it is essential for law firm managers to get to grips with the nature and capabilities of these two groups and utilise them appropriately.

Law Firm Knowledge

2011 ◽  
pp. 288-318
Author(s):  
Petter Gottschalk
Keyword(s):  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
Social Community ◽  
Firm Knowledge ◽  
The Creation

A law firm can be understood as a social community specializing in the speed and efficiency in the creation and transfer of legal knowledge (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998). Many law firms represent large corporate enterprises, organizations, or entrepreneurs with a need for continuous and specialized legal services that can only be supplied by a team of lawyers. The client is a customer of the firm, rather than a particular lawyer. According to Galanter and Palay (1991, p. 5), relationships with clients tend to be enduring: Firms represent large corporate enterprises, organizations, or entrepreneurs with a need for continuous (or recurrent) and specialized legal services that could be supplied only by a team of lawyers. The client ’belongs to’ the firm, not to a particular lawyer. Relations with clients tend to be enduring. Such repeat clients are able to reap benefits from the continuity and economies of scale and scope enjoyed by the firm.

Negotiating Status: Pro Bono Partners and Counsels in Large Law Firms

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Atinuke O. Adediran
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
The Status ◽  
Pro Bono

Law firm pro bono work provides access to justice to low-income people and other vulnerable populations. The professionals that manage pro bono programs are at the forefront of that process. The limited available research on these professionals do not often distinguish lawyers from other managers or theorize about their status vis-à-vis other law firm lawyers. Yet the status of lawyers who are also managers of pro bono programs influences both their identities and the management and provision of legal services and advocacy. Drawing on original demographic and interview data, this article shows how law firm pro bono partners and counsels navigate their ambiguous roles and negotiate their status as lawyers and managers. I find that pro bono partners and counsels navigate their ambiguous roles by striving to be perceived as “real” lawyers, reframe their roles as business generators, conform to the billing culture, and establish a common identity. They also negotiate their titles and office spaces to raise their profiles. Gender inequality influences the negotiation of office spaces and the approval of pro bono matters. These findings have implications for lawyers who manage pro bono programs and the legitimacy of pro bono work.

LAW FIRMS & THE LIFE SCIENCES SECTOR IN AUSTRALIA

2005 ◽  
Vol 09 (16) ◽  
pp. 826-827
Author(s):  
Jackie Solakovski
Keyword(s):  
Life Sciences ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This article is about the relationship of law firms and the life sciences sector in Australia. It discusses about an example of a law firm, Lander & Rogers Lawyers and the life sciences sector in Australia.

THEORY OF LAW AND PHILOSOPHY OF LAW AS THEORETICAL DISCOURSES: SPECIFICS AND RELATIONSHIP

2020 ◽  
pp. 9-17
Author(s):  
Вадим Леонидович Афанасьевский
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Scientific Theory ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
Philosophy Of Law ◽  
The West ◽  
Scientific Creativity ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Theory Of Law ◽  
The Relationship

В статье анализируется проблема взаимоотношений философии права и научной теории права. Рассматриваемая проблема стала особенно актуальной в российском образовательном пространстве в связи с введением после длительного перерыва в государственный образовательный стандарт магистратуры по юриспруденции учебной дисциплины «Философия права». Автор статьи в качестве базисного принимает тезис, согласно которому философия права, являясь сферой философской мысли, и теория права как область научного социогуманитарного знания представляют собой разные типы теоретического дискурса. Исходя из этого, в статье выстраивается теоретическая концепция, согласно которой задачей философии права как философского типа мышления является конструирование или экспликация онтологических, эпистемологических, аксиологических, феноменологических оснований для формирования и функционирования научных теоретико-правовых и историко-правовых построений. Для реализации поставленной в статье задачи подробно рассматриваются ключевые характеристики как теории философского типа, так и идеалов, норм и характеристик научного знания. Выявленное различие экстраполируется на взаимоотношение теории права как продукта научного творчества и философии права как конструкции, задающей базовые мировоззренческие смыслы. В качестве примера выработанных философией права и государства оснований научных теорий прогресса, государства, морали и права, автор приводит взгляды мыслителей западноевропейской философской классики: Т. Гоббса, Ж.-Ж. Руссо, И. Канта, Г.В.Ф. Гегеля. Именно их философские концепции предопределили образы теоретико- и историко-правовых учений XVIII, XIX, XX и даже начала XXI в. Таким образом, отношение философии права и теории права выстраивается по «вертикали»: от онтологического основания к возведению теоретико-правовых и историко-правовых научных построений. The article analyzes the problem of the relationship between the philosophy of law and the scientific theory of law. The problem under consideration has become especially urgent in the Russian educational space in connection with the introduction of the Philosophy of Law discipline master's degree in law after a long break. The author of the article takes as the basis the thesis that the philosophy of law, being the sphere of philosophical thought, and the theory of law as a field of scientific socio-humanitarian knowledge are different types of theoretical discourse. Based on this, the article builds a theoretical concept according to which the task of the philosophy of law as a philosophical type of thinking is the construction or explication of ontological, epistemological, axiological, phenomenological grounds for the formation and functioning of concrete scientific theoretical and legal and historical and legal constructions. To implement the task posed in the article, the key characteristics of both a theory of a philosophical type and ideals, norms and characteristics of scientific knowledge are examined in detail. The revealed difference is extrapolated to the relationship between the theory of law as a product of scientific creativity and the philosophy of law as a construction that sets basic philosophical meanings. As an example of the foundations of the scientific theories of progress, state, morality and law developed by the philosophy of law and the state, the author gives the views and thinkers of the West European philosophical classics T. Hobbes, J.-J. Russo, I. Kant, G.V.F. Hegel. It was their philosophical concepts that predetermined the images of theoretical and historical-legal doctrines of the XVIII, XIX, XX and even the beginning of the XXI centuries. Thus, the attitude of the philosophy of law and the theory of law is built along the «vertical»: from the ontological foundation to the construction of theoretical and historical and historical legal scientific constructions.

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