How would you reinvent the way lawyer’s serve business?

Since Henry II first assigned five judges to his King’s Court in 1178, law has been a reactive profession. When you have a problem, any one of a number of great attorneys can help you reach a resolution. What businesses need, however, are strategies and tactics they can use to head off potential problems in the first place.

The King of England created courts so that commoners could resolve disputes by means other than revolution. As the courts developed, parties were allowed to have representatives (lawyers) but those representatives could not go out and affirmatively solicit business. After all, the King did not want anyone stirring up dissent.

In modern times, prohibitions on lawyer solicitations evolved into bans on advertising. Attorneys could not advertise until the bans were struck down by the United States Supreme Court in 1977. Even still, there are restrictions on when, where and how lawyers may market their services. The history of the profession is such that lawyers wait until clients call with problems rather than anticipate and prevent potential claims.

Would you like to prevent potential legal problems rather than merely pay the price after claims arise? How could you be better served by lawyers?

Please take a moment to share your thoughts. Go to our Reinventing Business Law Discussion Board, look at what others have written and share your thoughts.

Thank you!

Alan Thayer