Legal Mosaic Essays on Legal Delivery

<strong>Legal</strong> <strong>Mosaic</strong>: <strong>Essays</strong> on <strong>Legal</strong> Delivery
<strong>Legal</strong> Practice and <strong>Legal</strong> Delivery:
An Important Distinction
Lawyers parse words and define terms. So why do they so often use
“legal practice” and “legal delivery” interchangeably when the terms
have such different meanings and implications? This distinction is especially
important in the context of the tectonic shift occurring in the
legal vertical. The practice of law is very different than the delivery of
law. This is more than a semantic distinction.
The Practice of Law Has Not Changed All That Much
The practice of law has not changed much since I became a lawyer a
few decades ago (Jimmy Carter was President and the Pittsburgh Pirates
won the World Series). Trial, corporate, and the other practice
areas are pretty much as they were then as are the Rules of Evidence,
Professional Responsibility, and other core precepts that govern lawyers
and guide their practice. Yes, international practice has become
more prevalent and practice areas like IP have taken on heightened
prominence, but choice of law, forum non conveniens, and all those
other things lawyers struggled to master for the Bar exam have changed
little over the years.
Some will say, “but what about technology?” Certainly, technology is
now a part of legal life-just as it is in virtually every other facet of our
existence. Technology is no longer a vertical; it has become a horizontal.
And this certainly applies to its impact upon law. But it is not so
much the practice of law that it affects-what lawyers do and how they
do it. Rather, technology has profoundly changed the delivery of legal
services- how and by what structure those services are best rendered
and by whom. Technology has been a key factor in creating a legal sup-
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