Since adopting the notion that the practice of law is a profession, as opposed to a business, American lawyers have been struggling with the tension between theory and reality which came with the choice. The truth is that it is, and has always been, both. Recent events illustrate the problem some of us have dealing with that.
As I wrote a few weeks ago, the American Bar Association solons studying the issue of the future of the provision of legal services recently proposed a resolution to the ABA House of Delegates urging the adoption of a set of core regulatory objectives and principles applicable to all entities that provide legal services to the public, not just lawyers. From what I have heard from folks who attended the session, this lit off a firestorm of opposition from some bars who hew to the “profession not a business” school of thought and view any acknowledgement of the commercial nature of our business, let alone the fact that much of what used to be lawyer’s work is now done by others, as the start down a long and slippery slope to professional irrelevance. To the extent that this could be true, it could also be probably too late to do anything about it. When was the last time you called a travel agent to plan a trip?
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