This article reminded me of our discussion of “creative destruction” last week. I think it is interesting to think about the legal industry falling victim to it (in a sense) with new innovations like Legal Zoom. Also, I think this article shows the importance of lawyers valuing innovation. There are probably not many industries out there that are insulated from this creative destruction idea. I do not think the legal industry is an example of one, either. Lawyers should probably be more cognizant to both corner potential parts of the market themselves and stop others from eroding their business.
i was reading into something similar just a couple of months ago, on how lawyers will face job losses in the wake of technology and artificial intelligence taking over. it’s predicted by 2022, we’ll be able to satistically measure the impact of technology on the field of law. In such a scenario it’s important for lawyers/law firms to become adaptive to technologies and find ways that enable human skills from becoming redundant. I have another article which is similar to what you’ve posted. Happy read 🙂
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carisommer/2013/07/24/how-entrepreneurship-is-reshaping-the-legal-industry/#63372cd2efea
Jennifer, I actually wrote one of my blog posts about LegalZoom a few weeks back, so I was excited to see it being mentioned again. What I found interesting about the LegalZoom story is that the website/concept overall is not being well received by the legal community. Established lawyers are of course worried about the prospect of LegalZoom making the law more accessible at supposedly lower prices. Thus, there have been several lawsuits filed against LegalZoom arguing that it is engaged in the “unauthorized practice of law.” We will have to stay tuned to find out if this example of “creative destruction” is allowed to have a spot in today’s legal community.