Is Now The Time To Embrace Legal Entrepreneurship?

If there ever was a time to take your dream and bring it to life as a business, it’s now. An entrepreneurial mindset is the need of the hour, no matter how arduous circumstances seem at the moment. Uncertain times like the Covid-19 pandemic offers an opportunity in disguise for lawyers considering entrepreneurship, and it’s a gambit that can truly affect lives for the better.

More often than not, entrepreneurs are associated with tech, e-commerce, and education start-ups. Rarely do law and entrepreneurship go hand in hand. Why? It’s mostly because lawyers are wired differently. They are wired to be reactive, not innovative. Their cautious, low-risk nature is a deterrent to the entrepreneurial spirit – a must-have trait for business owners looking to:

• Create products in response to gaps in the market,
• Achieve customer satisfaction, and
• Manage scale.

Today, lawyers are combining processes, capital, tech, and knowledge to provide legal products and services to customers. What does this mean for the future of the legal profession? And are you the next lawyer waiting to board the entrepreneurship bandwagon?

Lawyers, the early entrepreneurs

Until the 1970’s, competition between law firms was friendly, each law firm had their own client relationships, and movement between clients or partners was nearly negligible. Then law entered the free agency era, and lawyer-cum-entrepreneurs like Steve Kumble, Steve Brill, and Joel Hyatt transformed the legal practice into the legal industry, creating a roadmap for future lawyer/entrepreneur aspirants.

Steve Kumble was the co-founder of Finley Kumble (FK), a New York law firm that became one of America’s most powerful law firms in under a decade. Founder of The American Lawyer, Steve Brill built his empire by focussing on the economics of legal practice. Joel Hyatt, founder of Hyatt Legal Services , pioneered low-cost legal services for middle- and lower-income Americans. Joel later founded Hyatt Legal Plans (now MetLife Legal Plans), which eventually became America’s largest provider of employer-sponsored legal services. He also pioneered the concept of legal services as a working condition fringe benefit.

The next wave of legal entrepreneurs appeared around the year 2000, essentially during high-volume offshore migration when the demand for law firms to principally review documents was high. For such low-value tasks, high-priced law firms like BigLaw Associates proved extravagant. That’s about when legal entrepreneurs like David Perla and Dan Reed began investing in technology that reduced costs and compressed legal delivery time. They understood the need of the hour and the importance of technology, capital, and scale. By operating outside the constraints of traditional law firms, they built business models that rewarded output (results) instead of input (number of hours). Using this model, Dan Reed, founder of UnitedLex and David Perla, co-founder of Pangea3 tapped into investment capital to build international operations that pioneered the tectonic shift in legal delivery.

Entrepreneurial spirit & it’s importance

1. Critical to global economy

An entrepreneurial spirit or a more nuanced understanding of the entrepreneurial engines of economic activities are responsible for the differences in venture performance of law firms.

2. Critical to local economy

Reallocating entrepreneurial talent from the Government, state, or agricultural sectors towards business activities within the country leads to economic development and wealth.

3. Critical to a culture of innovation

Those in possession of personality traits such as extraversion and innovativeness are the ones who are most conducive to entrepreneurial activity. Direction from peers, access to resources, and formal education programs can help young lawyers/entrepreneurs understand their strengths, fuel their ambitions, and nurture a culture of innovation.

The United States of America ranks third with the greatest entrepreneurial activity and impact in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) 2021 rankings of 125 countries.

How to embrace legal entrepreneurship?

1. Channel your creativity

The pandemic has given lawyers an opportunity to rethink the present and to let the mind percolate with fresh thoughts. If legal entrepreneurship has been on your agenda, there’s no time like now to channel your creativity in the midst of a global crisis (Covid-19), technological advances, and globalization.

2. Embrace the unknown

Taking risks is part and parcel of being an entrepreneur. There are rewards within risks, of course, but often entrepreneurs fail to recognize rewards for what they are. The same can be said about taking risks. When you embrace legal entrepreneurship, you embrace the unknown. Law is no longer only about lawyers and the demand for law firms is fast plateauing even as the demand for legal services is fast rising. The time is right, and legal entrepreneurship is the ‘new normal’.

3. Seek support

Starting your own law firm takes a lot of determination, effort, and hard work – and there are so many resources to help you along the way. Worksocial is one of many - a coworking and shared office space driven by the fundamental spirit of entrepreneurship. Kickstart your legal entrepreneurial journey at the NY or NYC office - it’s a workspace designed to bring wellness, leadership, and happiness into your everyday.

Sources:

www.insead.edu/sites/default/files/assets/dept/fr/gtci/GTCI-2021-Report.pdf

www.law.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Legal-Entrepreneurs.pdf