Thinking About Offering LSR?

There is a lot of discussion in several states about the concept of “Limited Scope Representation” (also known as “Limited Assistance Representation,” “Assisted Pro Se Services,” and “Unbundled Legal Services”).  If you are thinking about or have decided you want to offer LSR to your legal clients, this site is for you!

First, get the book,Start and Grow Your Limited Scope Representation Practice: How to Make Money Serving the “Do It Yourself” Client,which should be available this week from Amazon (check the box at the right for details).

Once you have at least skimmed the book, start sketching out your strategy.

Then come back here and start or join a discussion.

Lawyers all around the U.S. and even in other common law countries are already “doing it.”  Get started today!

Cole Porter Redeux

Let’s change the lyrics to Cole Porter’s “Let’s Do It” so the refrain becomes the LSR Practitioner’s Mantra:

Vets do it, Docs do it,

   Even tax prep CPAs do it

   Let’s do it, it’s LSR!

In my soon-to-be-released book, Start and Grow Your Limited Scope Practice, I expand on this.  You can learn a lot from other business models as you design your LSR practice. 

Watch for the official release announcement.  The first edition will be available for the Kindle very soon!

Providing Less for Less

More and more people can afford less and less legal fees.  With some saying we have an over-supply of lawyers and others saying  have a shortage of paying clients, those who think they cannot afford a lawyer increasingly go it alone.  Yet, there is middle ground here.

For some lawyers, that means providing less for less:  less than full representation for an appropriate fee that is less than what the client would pay for full-scope representation.

Law Prof’s Upcoming Book Chronicles Oversupply of New Lawyers, Proposes Flexible Legal Ed System

From the ABA’s Debra Cassens Weiss:

“A law professor is calling for cheaper, practice-oriented law schools in an upcoming book that chronicles the oversupply of newly minted lawyers.

The book, by Brian Tamanaha, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, has some statistics to illustrate, the New York Times reports at its Opinionator blog. Law schools produce 45,000 new graduates each year, Tamanaha writes, but only 25,000 job openings are projected each year through 2018.”

Read her full post here:

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/law_profs_upcoming_book_chronicles_oversupply_of_new_lawyers_proposes_flexi/?utm_source=maestro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly_email

Changes at the law school level are not going to solve the whole problem, however.  Lawyers need to change themselves, too.

More to come!

The Self-Represented Litigant Tsunami is Here

The World Wide Web has democratized many things that once were very structured or hierarchical.  People now shop online for everything from groceries to wine to automobiles.  While they may be reluctant to hire attorneys from websites,[1] they are bombarded daily with radio and print ads that lure them to handle their own legal matters:  “It’s so easy!  It’s so simple!  Even you can do it!”

But, as you know, “simple” legal matters are very often not so simple.  Unlike an experienced attorney who knows the questions to ask and the twists to expect in his or her area of expertise, the novice lay person often kids themselves into thinking that their legal matter is easy or at least they can ignore the parts that are not and get it done for little money.

Much like the weekend DIY appliance repairman who has not seen the inside of an appliance in decades, many of them fall into the trap laid by the publishers of those “do it yourself divorce kits” and other books and forms and end up with more confusion or even a more complicated matter than when they started.

Where some see a threat; others see opportunity.  Which one is this?

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[1] See “Perspectives on Finding Personal Legal Services: The Results of a Public Opinion Poll,” published by the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, February 2011, at pages 7-10.

Three Causes of the Chasm

There is a chasm between the legal profession and those who represent themselves every day in our legal system.  Some estimate that 100% of our lawyers are only representing 50% of litigants and even less of non-litigants who need legal assistance.  InStart and Grow Your Limited Scope Practice,I explore three causes of this disconnect and a 7-Step Plan to help you succeed while serving the growing ranks of self-represented litigants.

The book will be available in electronic format for immediate download and reading.  Watch this blawg for more updates as the release date nears.

Too Many Lawyers!

Why is it, with so many lawyers out of work and or under employed, there are still so many people who have to handle their own legal matters?