Let's do the show right here

I am reading Paul Carr's "Bringing Nothing to the party... True Confessions of a New Media Whore" (available as an e-book here, but I got my copy from the library).

Most people with an interest in the internet have probably read it, but despite being a fan of Paul's Guardian column (in the good old days) and following him on Twitter I haven't got around to it until now.

In chapter four Paul writes about the Adam Street private members club (networking hangout of choice for web entrepreneurs) and notes:

"It also helps that the club bans lawyers, accountants and other professionals from touting their services in the club in the same way that the Groucho and Soho House ban paparazzi."

I wondered about the lawyers (and other professionals) who also happened to be web entrepreneurs... was this some kind of lawyerist apartheid or would they be welcome provided they didn't try and persuade the dot com millionaires that they should make a will?

The question may be academic; when I think of the late nineties / early noughties dot com bubble there aren't many legal startups which spring to mind.

This time around I think things may be different. The big brands are going to come into the legal services market, but I believe there will also be lawyers who see Web 2.0 as their opportunity to provide legal services in a totally different way. Those who can't accept the pace of change at their big law firms and (to use Paul's words again) think:

"Fuck it.

Let's do the show right here."

Don't get me wrong: there are lawyers who understand Web 2.0 and social media and are using them in a entrepreneurial way right now - I tweet with a lot of them and read their blogs (just take a look at the UKBlawgRoundup for some examples). 

I am thinking on a different scale though. About whether there is someone out there who is right now tinkering with the Google of the legal services market in their garage.

Is it totally impossible that the known factors ("Tesco Law", external investment in law firms, the freemium model) will be eclipsed by something that we haven't even thought of?

I don't think it is impossible. I can't be more specific, because it will be the kind of quantum shift which seems blindingly obvious only with hindsight (and if I knew what it was I would be doing it, not blogging about it!).

This is a bit of a Friday night post, but bizarrely the idea cheers me up. Amidst all the doom and gloom there is no harm in remembering that this is an exciting time to be a lawyer... we don't know what is around the corner, but perhaps a few entrepreneurial individuals and small firms are better positioned to shake up the market than BigLaw?

Is it time to apply for membership at Adam Street and kick off a Law 2.0 boom?