CBA Record Nov-Dec 2019

LEGAL ETHICS BY JOHN LEVIN Changes in the Nature of the Practice of Law O ne of the challenges of writing a column is finding something new and interesting to write about on

John Levin’s Ethics columns, which are published in each CBA Record, are now in- dexed and available online.

For more, go to http://johnlevin.info/ legalethics/.

but who are licensed to perform certain limited services. We should also be aware by now of the online services that assist the layperson in handling certain of their own legal issues or give online legal advice. Lurking under the surface is the question of third party financing of law practices. There is serious consideration to allow non-lawyers to participate in the ownership of law providers. Not yet resolved is the issue of big money, such as from hedge funds, in financing litigation. A general reading of the recent ethi- cal opinions reflects, in my opinion, the morphing of the practice of law from a personal services model to an impersonal business model. Time will tell where it will end. 1345 Wiley Road, Suite 121 Schaumburg, Illinois 60173 Phone: 847-519-3600/800-844-6778 Fax: 800-946-6990 www.landexresearch.com Landex Research, Inc. PROBATE RESEARCH MISSING/UNKNOWN HEIRS LOCATED NO EXPENSE TO ESTATE Domestic & International Services for: Courts, Lawyers, Trust Officers, Administrators, Executors Looking for a Legal Job? Remember to proofread your resume and upload it toThe Chicago Bar Association so that employers can find and contact you about your next job at www.chicagobar. org (under the Career tab). You can also search through local and national job openings on the site.

can use computers driven by Increasingly sophisticated algorithms to perform discov- ery, case analysis, and document prepara- tion normally done by lawyers. Technology is driving many questions for several reasons. First, because of the very nature of technology, lawyers serve less as the face-to-face personal representative of a client and more as a distant service pro- vider performing one unbundled task after another. In addition, technology has magnified the cost and complexity of running a law practice. The major issue is the requirement that a lawyer be competent in technological matters concerning the representation of a client as well as traditional legal matters. No longer can you set up an office with a filing cabinet, typewriter, and telephone. Not only do you need up-to-date equip- ment and software, but you also need to know to operate the system and manage the information generated. This requires both capital equipment and support staff ‒ and the financing to obtain them. On the other hand, technology enables a lawyer with the proper equipment and internet access to establish a virtual law office with an online law library from almost any location. This circumstance in itself has generated a number of ethical questions. Another major subject involves alterna- tive methods of supplying legal services to the public, and the issue of access to justice in general. Access to justice issues involve not only the unrepresented poor, but also involve legal problems of the average person who finds it difficult to pay the hourly charges prevalent today. The items dis- cussed include creating new classes of legal service professionals who are not lawyers,

a regular deadline. In my first draft of this issue’s column, I had planned to continue to write about artificial intelligence – which is a new “hot topic” in the world of legal ethics. However, it would have been the third column on that subject. So I reviewed the usual sources to see what were some other current hot topics (aside from the standard subject of lawyers acting badly). What I discovered is that the questions being asked are as interesting as the answers provided, and reflect a change in the very nature of the practice of law. So it seems appropriate to take a look at the nature of the questions. (Most of these issues have been referenced in prior columns.) The hottest topics are questions arising out of the technological revolution impact- ing all of us – the primary problems being how to deal with the internet and social media. By now most lawyers should be familiar with problems such as internet advertising, unintended creation of the attorney-client relationship, unauthorized practice, and practice across jurisdictional lines. Close behind are problems arising out of the use of digital media for the creation and storage of documents and other client information. The major questions here deal with data security and client confidentiality. A new subject – as well as new technol- ogy – is artificial intelligence. More and more is being written on how lawyers John Levin is the retired Assis- tant General Counsel of GATX Corporation and a member of the CBARecord Editorial Board.

42 November/December 2019