Avoiding Extinction: Reimagining Legal Services for the 21st Century |
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The past few years have seen incredible innovation and growth in the way legal services can be delivered--yet most law firms around the world continue to practice law the way it's been practiced for centuries, namely, as a labor-intensive endeavor carried out by high-priced lawyers billing by the hour.
Directly inspired by Richard Susskind's ground-breaking The End of Lawyers (Oxford Univ. Press 2008), Toronto lawyer Mitchell Kowalski now provides a vivid, believable account of everything a law firm could be.
In the book, you'll see how a typical big law firm fails to deliver real value to the client, resulting in dissatisfied clients and burned-out and stressed lawyers in the process. You'll discover the ways the firm can be redefined as a service corporation that is structured and managed in ways that truly deliver value to the client, profitability to the firm and career satisfaction to the lawyers. Then, by the book's end, you will know how to apply these ideas to your own situation and enjoy the benefits.
Avoiding Extinction makes the case for how the law firm of the future will succeed, with a laser-like focus on delivering high-quality legal services better, faster, and cheaper. This entertaining and instructive book is a must-read for anyone seeking a creative vision into what a new, truly different law firm could look like.
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"This is the most innovative law practice management book I've ever seen...an engaging novel about the lives of working lawyers with an illuminating treatise on how law firms must respond to extraordinary change in the legal marketplace. Avoiding Extinction is as entertaining as it is instructive, and it couldn't be more timely."
--Jordan Furlong, Partner, Edge International
"Mitch Kowalski has translated his considerable understanding of tomorrow's legal profession into an original, provocative and entertaining narrative."
--Professor Richard Susskind, author of The End of Lawyers?
"[A] must read for managing partners, and for all lawyers under the age of 50. Written as a parable, and with Kowalski's typical eye for detail, once you pick it up it is difficult to put it down. Can the law be both a profession and a business? Is it possible to escape the tyranny of the billable hour? Is it realistic to imagine being a truly happy lawyer in private practice in the twenty-first century? You bet--and Mitch Kowalski shows us how!"
--Ian Holloway QC, Dean of Law, The University of Calgary
"[A] must read for every lawyer, both those practicing with a firm and those working in the corporate setting. It is also compulsory reading for the senior support personnel who have any involvement in the delivery or procurement of legal services, including IT, marketing, project management, financial officers, risk managers and procurement personnel. This will surely be the most talked-about book regarding the legal profession for the foreseeable future. "
--Jerome Kowalski, Principal, Kowalski and Associates
"Mitch has taken the traditional law firm and turned it upside down. With KM, technology, business process management, new HR policies and the dismantling of the traditional trappings of law, Mitch has given us his insight on how a law firm can be redefined. Open your mind and let the ideas fly!"
--David J. Bilinsky, Practice Management Advisor, lawyer and writer on law practice management and technology. Creator of the law blog, Thoughtful Legal Management.
"From offshore outsourcing to value-based billing, from new approaches to knowledge manage-ment to firms run by boards of directors, Kowalski tackles the business model of the Law Firm from a business perspective...no lawyer can afford to ignore the questions raised by this book."
--Lorne Sossin, Dean, Osgoode Hall Law School
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