We’ve mentioned Prof. William Henderson’s insightful “Legal Evolution” blog before. This post (#172) from Dan Currell, former managing director of Advance Law and now a senior advisor with the Office of Finance and Operations with the U.S. Department of Education, shows why it’s such a valuable blog. “Will economically stressed clients turn at last to an alternative legal services industry hardened by 20 years of survival under harsh conditions?” Currell asks. “If they do, it could finally usher in The Great Unbundling.” The question on the table is whether certain legal activities can be unbundled and whether that would trigger a wave of disruption/innovation that always seems to be on the way but never quite arrives. Check out Currell’s chart and commentary: “Reading left to right,” he says, “these activities have essentially nothing in common except the underlying matter. What holds them together is the firm’s ability to insist on a tightly bundled offering.” His prediction: “[T]he unbundling may come but look for an extended period of erosion lasting through 2025.”
Published August 17, 2020.
