The next five years will see a profound deepening and broadening of knowledge about how best to manage law departments. As many law departments could do a better job in management, this leap is important. In fact, I predict that the gap between poorly managed and well-managed departments will close as law department leaders take advantage of the wealth of free management guidance out there.

This profusion of insights will result from a combination of four forces: many more fertile sources of information, the increased availability of the information on the Internet, much-improved search and organization software and the growth of law departments. Each will contribute new ideas and understanding.