I had dinner recently with a group of paralegals who were studying the issue of whether the time was nigh that Connecticut would embrace the licensing of non-J.D. legal service professionals to offer direct-to-consumer legal services. Some other states are discussing the matter and one has already made the concept a reality, and I was impressed by the thoughtful and well-informed discussion in Connecticut. Folks had clearly done their homework. One guest had even spoken with one of the newly minted “limited-licensed legal technicians” in Washington state about her journey through the process. Since that evening, I have come to the conclusion that we may be at a tipping point in this discussion.

The concept of “tipping point” was the subject of a book a few years ago by Malcom Gladwell. He studied the circumstances that exist when an idea suddenly, as my friends in politics say, “gets legs” and turns into the next hot thing. In each case he studied, there were some consistent factors present. These included the presence of folks who were particularly invested in the matter (he called them mavens), folks who communicated with many constituent groups (these he called communicators), and an idea of concept that had resonance (“stickiness”). Once the proper balance and volume of these and other factors was met, something akin to fission occurred and an idea, product or service took off and became popular and successful.

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