The Future of the Legal Profession

What is this site for?

It's an attempt by me to show as many lawyers, trainee lawyers (or indeed anyone who's interested)  that the legal landscape is changing to match the needs of consumers; whom I prefer to call "customers" rather than "clients".

And if lawyers want to hold on to their position and their profits, they will need to take action. 

This site makes some suggestions as to what that action should be.

Why the picture?
(Note: The former header picture was an Autumnal scene of a canal style river with trees oining it and an old stone bridge across the river)

Two answers to this;

Firstly, I used a free template website and this was one of the nicest pictures they had.  (You can create your own free website by clicking on the link at the very bottom of this page.)

Secondly; the picture shows an autumn scene by a river.  This is a metaphor for the "autumn years" of many people (mostly male) in the legal profession.  The river is another metaphor for the corpus callosum in the human brain that separates the right and left cortex. 
The left side of the brain is the site of the logical, analytical, linear thinking, legal part of the brain and the right side is where creativity comes from. (I'm not making this up, honest...go here for more information) You can also find information on this in the internationally respected and definitive encyclopaedia.

The bridge is the third metaphor as a way of bridging the gap between the left and right side of the brain to allow more creativity to permeate into the legal sectors of our society. (That's enough metaphors...Ed)

In September 2010, the "Bridge" picture was replaced with a simple Blue banner.


Who Are You?

Presently a practising IP lawyer in the corporate department of a medium sized city law firm.  I also run a variety of websites and give presentations to small & medium sized businesses on such topics as Intellectual Property issues, Search Engine Optimisation and running a business that doesn't rely on you.

Formerly, self-employed for 20 years in a variety of different businesses.  At the height of my entrepreneurial escapades I employed 150 people across 12 sites, but got fed up babysitting adults and paying massive taxes. 

I have also served in the Army (Training Officer and second-in-command of a transport squadron), I ran the first Scottish first company to import this beer from Germany to the UK, I've imported wine from France to the UK and Ireland, driven a taxi at weekends on the nightshift during the 1990/91 recession(great fun), ran seminars for accountants on business development and been the ceo of the Copyright Protection Agency since 1996.

I am also a Churchill Fellow and was awarded a travelling fellowship in 2003 which took me to New York, Las Vegas (for a seminar!) Los Angeles, Tokyo, Kyoto, Sweden.  You can read a report on my travels on my other site.

I have 4 children, 3 motorbikes and a watch that's set 5 minutes fast (habit of my Grandad's apparently)

Why is it called "No Business For Old Men?"

Richard Susskind wrote a book entitled "The End of Lawyers?" (note the question mark) where he was suggesting that without some serious thought on the present business model and without some innovation, using what he called "destructive technology", law firms as we know them to day, will not exist in the future.

Susskind was not suggesting that it was indeed the end of lawyers and his title was designed to stimulate debate; to make people think and to draw attention. 

The title of this website, book and Blawg aims to do the same.

Whe  I asked other lawyers if they had read the book, most said that it was too academic.  My book can be called many things, but "academic" is not one of them.

The plan is that it will be easy to read.


Got a Question for Me?

Go to the Blawg and leave a comment.