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Law in the New Millennium:
What lies ahead in the next 25 years?

It’s a new year, a new millennium. Now that we have reached this milestone, we thought we would reflect on what lies ahead. Afterall, it’s only natural to prognosticate a bit.

That’s what we have done in this issue of Bar Leader. We offer observations on what may lie ahead for the legal profession. Fourteen distinguished bar leaders representing legal education, the courts, law firms, bar associations and legal services—the justice system in general—shared their perspectives on the following question: What changes in the justice system, practice of law and/or bar associations do you envision during the next 25 years? We asked them to provide their views in 50 words or less--give or take a few.

The responses are intriguing and enlightening. No blue-sky conjecturing here. Just thoughtful perspectives about the future of the legal profession. Check back in 25 years. You may not have to.

--Faye A. Silas
Editor

Ramon P. Arias, executive director, Bay Area Legal Aid, San Francisco. Chair of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association

The history of legal services reflects an expression of our profession’s willingness to see that our nation’s promise of equal access to justice is not simply a Constitutional guarantee, but a matter of professional responsibility.

Ultimately, the future of legal services will depend on whether the organized bar and lawyers throughout the country continue to nurture that ethic and resolve.

Lillian G. Apodaca, Crider, Bingham & Hurst, P.C., Albuquerque, N.M. Immediate past-president of the Hispanic National Bar Association

It is estimated that by the year 2075, Hispanics will constitute the largest group in this country. It is imperative that the legal profession reflects this projection and recognizes that Hispanic characteristics of hard work, self-reliance, independence and biculturalism will only advance the interests of the legal profession and businesses in this country as the world becomes much smaller.

Martha W. Barnett, Holland & Knight LLP, Tallahassee, Fla. President-elect of the American Bar Association

Over the next 50 years, the practice of law will be characterized by change. Increasing globalization, more diversity, faster technological innovation and other transformations in our society will create pressures that the profession must anticipate and accommodate. The profession’s capacity to manage change will dictate our success in maintaining relevance and leadership.

Ward Bower, principal, Altman & Weil, Newtown, Pa.

It may take a while to sort out, but Big 5 (accounting firms) and other MDPs (multidisciplinary practices) appear to be inevitable, at least with regard to nonlitigation services where conflicts of interest and client privilege are probably less threatening to public and client interests. This predictably will lead to attempted corporate roll-ups of nonlitigation practices by financial services companies (e.g. American Express, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, H&R Block, etc.), which will essentially segregate the legal profession along traditional barrister/solicitor lines. However, unlike the English barrister tradition, trial lawyers will practice in firms, including some large ones.

This will create opportunities for bar associations to meet the diverse needs of the two segments of the profession, and will enhance their membership as Big 5 (firms) and corporate management are more likely to allow and encourage and reimburse or fund association membership and activity by lawyers than are independent law firms. This also will present opportunities for bar associations to "partner" with other professional groups, including the Institutes of CPAs, consultants, financial planners, CLUs and the like.

Mary B. Cranston, Pillsbury Madison & Sutro, San Francisco

The unprecedented technological revolution of the past 20 years will continue to cause vast changes to our world, including the way we practice law. Instant worldwide information has and will continue to break down geographic, national, trade and legal barriers. This will require new international legal systems and I expect them to emerge. The sense of law as a separate discipline has eroded, as clients demand and expect multidisciplinary and multinational approaches to solving their problems. Lawyers will adjust!

Paula J. Frederick, deputy general counsel, State Bar of Georgia. President of the Atlanta Bar Association

I expect that technology will play as important a role in shaping the legal profession in the next 25 years as it has during the past 25. By the year 2025, I expect that the Atlanta Br Association won’t have a newsletter, meeting notice or announcement sent by regular mail. Constant, immediate member communication using the latest technology will be absolutely mandatory for bar organizations that want to stay relevant to their members.

Deborah Hensler, Judge John W. Ford Professor of Dispute Resolution, Stanford Law School. Former director of the RAND Institute for Civil Justice and current member of its Board of Overseers

The worldwide expansion of market capitalism will create an ever-increasing demand for private and public law. E-deal making and e-settlement will gradually take over the routine work of lawyers, and financial wizards and counselors/mediators will press hard on the heels of more sophisticated transactional specialists and litigators. Americans will continue to look to the legal system to resolve complex policy problems.

Roberta Katz, president and CEO, Technology Network, Palo Alto, Calif. Author of Justice Matters: Rescuing the Legal System for the 21^st Century

Lawyers will recommit to their societal role as efficient and effective resolvers of disputes. The renewed emphasis on problem resolution will require significant changes in our law schools, our courts, and our law firms. Among those changes, of course, will be a more meaningful integration of the new networked technologies into the work of lawyers and judges.

Elliott S. Milstein, Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law, Washington, D.C. President-elect of the Association of American Law Schools

Law schools will provide faculty-supervised clinical education to all students, which will improve the competence of the legal profession and its commitment to equal justice. America will bow to international human rights norms and changed public opinion and abolish the death penalty. International judicial punishment of dictators and torturers will result in a more just and peaceful world.

Charles J. Ogletree Jr., Jesse Climenko Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

The hope for the justice system, 25 years into the future, is that the burdens of race and class will be eliminated, and that our system will allow meaningful participation of individuals without restriction. Even more importantly, the role of lawyers will be transformed and society will highly regard the profession as uniquely qualified to solve problems and improve the quality of life for all. The new Constitution will reflect the principles of equality and fairness as complimentary, rather than being in conflict.

Dwight L. Smith, Levinson, Smith & Abrahamson, Tulsa, Okla. Chair of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Solo and Small Firm Practitioners

The computer revolution, the resulting information explosion and the exponentially explosive impact of technology will continue to transform our world in ways we simply cannot accurately envision. Our daily routine practices will change drastically (witness the unparalleled changes of the past decade). However, those practitioners who emphasize providing personal, professional services that maintain a laser focus on adherence to the profession’s core values will flourish as never before.

Chief Justice E. Norman Veasey, Supreme Court of Delaware. President of the Conference of Chief Justices

State courts now handle over 95 percent of all litigation in the United States. I expect that will continue into the next century, notwithstanding increasing pressures toward federalization. State court systems, therefore, must intensify efforts to modernize case management systems and facilities. Most important, state supreme courts will improve the ethics and professionalism of lawyers and will see that courts adopt best practices to reduce costs and delay, provide equal access and strengthen public information initiatives, which, therefore, will build public trust and confidence.

Roger K. Warren, president of the National Center for State Courts, Williamsburg, Va.

Courts will use increasingly specialized and non-adversarial processes, including emergency room-type cases involving mental health, drugs, guns, and family and juvenile violence. Litigants will more frequently be self-represented and participate in court proceedings, and will access court records and information from their homes, offices or public facilities via the Internet.

Susan Waters, CAE, executive director of the Massachusetts Bar Association

In 2025, lawyers will practice in ways that preserve their personal and family autonomy much more than prior generations. They will work shorter hours, fewer weeks per year, and will use technology to allow them to be productive without necessarily being present at the law firm all of the time. Specialization will be more important because the law’s complexity will continue to increase. Law firms will be larger, with more lawyers needed because of reduced schedules; or smaller and filling "niche" markets. Bar associations will provide important opportunities for lawyers to socialize and network in person, thereby avoiding the professional isolation that comes with greater personal autonomy.