I opened my email the other day to find an announcement from the ABA about The Legal Rebels. I love the trend toward changing the legal profession from within, highlighted in Cutting Edge Law and organizations such as the IAHL, supporting holistic approaches to the practice of law. It is refreshing that the ABA is jumping on board with the Legal Rebels. This recession is not only cleaning out dead wood, but is fueling creative juices. I encourage you to jump in with both feet.
Here is their description of the project. Take a look at their website. What the heck--nominate someone you know!
Who's a Legal Rebel?
In these times of great economic chaos lies great opportunity.
The legal profession is not just struggling through a recession, but also undergoing a structural break with the past. There is a growing consensus that the profession that emerges from the recession will be different in fundamental ways from the one that entered it.
Dozens of lawyers nationwide aren't waiting for change. Day by day, they're remaking their corners of the profession. These mavericks are finding new ways to practice law, represent their clients, adjudicate cases and train the next generation of lawyers. Most are leveraging the power of the Internet to help them work better, faster and different.
The Legal Rebels project will profile these innovators and describe the changes they are making. It will tell their stories in the ABA Journal, on this website and through a variety of social media channels using text, pictures, audio and video. The first of these profiles will appear here on August 25. Several will be added weekly through the end of November.
Readers can participate as well as observe. You can suggest Rebels we should profile. You can use our wiki to help draft the Legal Rebels Manifesto, and starting Aug. 25, you'll be able to sign the Manifesto to show you're part of the Rebels movement.
And this fall, you'll be able to take part in several unprecedented live and virtual events showcasing the profession's most creative minds.
Join the innovators who are remaking the legal profession. The revolution is in your head.
The underlying change in the societies, that runs in parallel to the current economic crisis is the emergence of understanding on behalf of the clients that law might just not be the best way to settle one's disputes or even to guide your business. If you use more ethics you will need less law, because as we all know, law is basically (over) codified ethical rules. One could say that law is ethics for dummies. Our profession then built it in an overly complex system that is supposed to provide the answers to all questions. Hardly a good method to move ahead of the others in an ever faster economy. That is in my view why the current woes of profession are not only signs of the crisis of the prevailing legal services business models but also show to the changing role of law. This is also why demand for mediation is rising and why this crisis did not really bring such an increase in litigation. Legal education should acknowledge this to greater extent and the profession should open up to exploring these possibilities in greater depth.
Posted by: Mladen Vukmir | August 31, 2009 at 02:09 AM
Hi Mladen,
Thanks for your comment and your bigger perspective in this area. It does seem that there is a need for reform at many levels. If you would like to write a more in-depth piece, I am glad to publish it in my blog.
Posted by: Jane Faulkner | August 31, 2009 at 10:19 AM