There’s been a lot of chatter recently about the relative prospects of traditional law firms (“BigLaw”) and competitors such as Axiom (“NewLaw”). Much of that discussion was prompted by this post by George Beaton, an Australian consultant.
It’s a discussion that I’ve had no trouble steering clear of. That’s because as I see it, there’s nothing much to choose between BigLaw and NewLaw when it comes to contract drafting. I’ve had brief discussions with a couple of members of the NewLaw contingent, and they made it clear that they have no interest in shifting from a copy-and-paste world to document assembly.
So meet the NewLaw! Same as the BigLaw!
And that’s why, just with respect to contract drafting, I’m able to take issue with the follow statement by Bruce MacEwen in this post:
I see two thoroughly opposed, but quite consistent, trends: A flight to quality and a flight to value. No single law firm can durably respond to both sets of client demand, which means many who aren’t already at one pole or the other will need to choose, and to change.
With the economies of scale achievable through document assembly, you can offer top quality and great value to many.
