Glass Half Full<\/em><\/a>. In fact, it\u2019s dying four times over.\u00a0There\u2019s death from above, death from below, death from the state, death from the side.<\/p>\nFrom above, large law firms have been huge and hugely profitable since the 1980s. It was built, Barton says, on \u201creputational bonding.\u201d If you\u2019re heading to court to bet the company in a suit, you want the best. And the big firms have established a reputation for being the best. They have also leveraged their reputation into a pursuit of increased profits for an increasing number of lawyers. High prices, though, send corporate clients looking for cheaper options, \u201cpressing for fixed price billing and using insourcing, outsourcing, and computerization for more straightforward legal work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Computerization is the killer from below. You still need a lawyer for in-court work, but computerized services are available for many legal procedures, at at a fraction of the cost of hiring a lawyer, especially a lawyer from a big firm. As Barton vividly puts it, \u201cAn American with a smartphone now has easier access to legal sources than most lawyers did in the 1980s, let alone the 1880s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barton explains death from the state as \u201cthe ways that courts and legislatures have reined in litigation since the 1980s. Tort reform and limitations on class actions, damages, and lawyer\u2019s fees have proliferated. These changes have chased non-specialists from the market and consolidated the remaining work into a smaller group of lawyers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The most alarming death is \u201cdeath from the side. By this, Barton means \u201cthe thirty-year decline in small firm and solo practitioner earnings.\u201d While profits and salaries at the big firms have soared, real earnings by solo lawyers or lawyers in small firms have declined (in constant dollars) by 34% since the mid-1980s: \u201cAccording to I.R.S. data drawn from actual tax returns, the average solo practitioner earned $46,560 in 2010.\u201dAs a result, the legal profession is not one profession, but two: The haves and the have-nots. That is if the little guys survive at all: \u201clawyers at the low end of the market earn so little that it makes more sense to leave the profession and take another job suitable for a college educated adult than to charge even less for individualized legal services.\u201d<\/p>\n
T<\/span>he death of Big Law is accompanied by a crisis in legal training: \u201cBetween 1987 and 2010, the number of ABA accredited law schools increased from 175 to 200 and total JD enrollment rose from 117,997 to 147,525. Over the same period law school tuition rose over 440% for in-state residents at public institutions and 220% at private institutions. Student debt loads have increased substantially as well.\u201d This couldn\u2019t go on forever, especially when many of the graduates end up making too little to pay back their loans. It hasn\u2019t continues: \u201cIn 2013 only 39,675 first year students enrolled in ABA accredited law schools, the lowest number since 1977.\u201d Law schools can lower admission requirements to get more students, but then they risk loss of accreditation. They can hire adjuncts rather than fulltime faculty. But the cost-cutting won\u2019t change the reality that the graduates are entering a field that is already glutted, one that is already dying the several deaths that Barton lays out.<\/p>\nBarton\u2019s title and book, though, are upbeat. The death of Big Law is bad for Big Law and lawyers at the top of the heap. It\u2019s not so bad, and could be positively good, for smaller firms, solo lawyers, and, especially, consumers. The deaths of Big Law will force lawyers to become entrepreneurial. \u201cWhatever else is coming in the future, it seems likely that legal services will be more widely available to more people and businesses at lower prices,\u201d Barton claims. \u201cThis trend starts at the top with corporate law firms and bubbles up from the bottom with LegalZoom and other forms providers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The law profession itself will get better, as \u201cfewer law students enter law school,\u201d as law students enter the profession with a \u201cmore realistic of what lawyers do and what lawyers earn,\u201d and as the fewer more realistic students become \u201cmuch likelier to enjoy law school and practicing law.\u201d Barton thinks it will be more fun to be a lawyer: \u201cThe best of times for Big Law profits has been the worst of times for the lawyers themselves. Big Law has led a boom in both remuneration and misery.\u201d Law schools might change, and new models introduced: \u201ca two year law school program, tiered licensing, more allowances for non-lawyer practice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
No doubt there are plenty of arguments to be made from the glass-half-or-less-full side. But Barton shows that the legal profession is changing dramatically, and makes a strong case that the deaths of Big Law will be a resurrection for the legal profession.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Big law is dying says Benjamin Barton in his forthcoming\u00a0Glass Half Full. In fact, it\u2019s dying four times over.\u00a0There\u2019s death from above, death from below, death from the state, death from the side. From above, large law firms have been huge and hugely profitable since the 1980s. It was built, Barton says, on \u201creputational bonding.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[693],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-law"],"yoast_head":"\n
Glass Half Full<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Big law is dying says Benjamin Barton in his forthcoming Glass Half Full. In fact, it’s dying four times over. There’s death from\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/02\/glass-half-full\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Glass Half Full\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Big law is dying says Benjamin Barton in his forthcoming Glass Half Full. In fact, it’s dying four times over. There’s death from\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/02\/glass-half-full\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leithart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-11T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PLeithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/02\/glass-half-full\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/02\/glass-half-full\/\",\"name\":\"Glass Half Full\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-11T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-02-11T00:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\"},\"description\":\"Big law is dying says Benjamin Barton in his forthcoming Glass Half Full. In fact, it’s dying four times over. There’s death from\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/02\/glass-half-full\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/02\/glass-half-full\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/02\/glass-half-full\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Glass Half Full\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\",\"name\":\"Leithart\",\"description\":\"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\",\"name\":\"Peter Leithart\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Peter Leithart\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Glass Half Full","description":"Big law is dying says Benjamin Barton in his forthcoming Glass Half Full. In fact, it’s dying four times over. There’s death from","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/02\/glass-half-full\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Glass Half Full","og_description":"Big law is dying says Benjamin Barton in his forthcoming Glass Half Full. In fact, it’s dying four times over. There’s death from","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/02\/glass-half-full\/","og_site_name":"Leithart","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","article_published_time":"2015-02-11T00:00:00+00:00","author":"Peter Leithart","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PLeithart","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter Leithart","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/02\/glass-half-full\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/02\/glass-half-full\/","name":"Glass Half Full","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-02-11T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-02-11T00:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d"},"description":"Big law is dying says Benjamin Barton in his forthcoming Glass Half Full. In fact, it’s dying four times over. There’s death from","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/02\/glass-half-full\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/02\/glass-half-full\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/02\/glass-half-full\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Glass Half Full"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/","name":"Leithart","description":"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d","name":"Peter Leithart","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Peter Leithart"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}