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CCCA_V6No3_Q&A_Lippe-FIN_CCCA 9/18/12 1:37 PM Page 36 Feature “ live outside of a [P]rofessions don’t commercial context so they can’t assert professional entitlement to trump ” general reality. it collaboration. CCCA What are the emerging trends in tech- These kinds of things are basically just the next [stage] after nology, client demands and alternative business structures that e-mail. But the difference is when e-mail came in, it changed will affect the business of law? the frequency and immediacy of how people used information or transmitted information, but it didn’t change the productivi- PL I think the fundamental trend is what we would call the nor- ty model or the methodology by which they created work malization of law — law will be looked at like other goods and product.These new tools could help lawyers be more produc- services that individuals and corporations buy.They’re expected tive [while] client demands are to be more productive. to improve and be easier to use and be measured.That’s counter On the alternative business structures,I don’t think that’s a big to much of the traditional culture of the profession. But profes- deal. I think there are enough ways for people to compete. In sions don’t live outside of a commercial context so they can’t the U.S., you’re seeing more and more start-up law firms. assert professional entitlement to trump general reality. They’re highly innovative. None of them require external capi- The technologies are not rocket science, but the fundamental tal or non-lawyer ownership to do that. technologies revolve around information: being in the cloud, being able to consolidate information, mobile access, search; CCCA What social, demographic, and legal trends will influ- what would be broadly referred to as collaboration. Some peo- ence the future of legal services? ple might call it knowledge management;it could sometimes be called social networking. One of the problems is there’s no uni- PL The profound change, which is only beginning to be seen versally accepted nomenclature which tends to slow down peo- and understood, is the essential embeddedness of law in the ple’s embrace of a new idea, but I would say we generally call large organization. Using the V chip [to program your TV so 36 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association FALL 2012