A striking feature of a lawyer’s regalia is a triangular piece of pocket attached to the back left shoulder of a gown. The gown tells a story of a time in history when barristers saw as inappropriate a direct demand for money from clients upon rendering legal services.
Indeed, the 17th century lawyer did not see the legal profession as a business; far from that. To him, the legal profession was a noble call to service and a call to duty in aid of mankind. Consequently demand for fees was secondary.
Is that the story of the 21st Century lawyer?
For the 21st century lawyer a major component of a successful legal practice is the ability to bill a client for legal services. Thus, the various modes of compensating for legal services ie hourly rates, contingency fees retainer fees, referral fees etc.
Additionally, the 21st Century lawyer must not only grapple with legislations affecting his cases and the quality of his processes, but he must also implement some effective law practice management techniques.
Undoubtedly, the 21st century lawyer contends with situations and circumstances that transforms a lawyer’s work, something the 17th century Barrister never had to contend with.
Take, for instance, the authorization of legal marketing. Presently, a lawyer can hardly rely on only his professional expertise to build a clientele base. The lawyer must, as a necessity, keep up with the trend of legal marketing and advertisement or have his practice gradually die out. In addition, the 21st century lawyer must design innovative ways of managing his practice in order to contend with competition from “heavyweight” law firms. This entails instituting strategies to cut down cost of delivery of legal service, recruitment of the best talents among other entrepreneurial decisions.
Clearly, the 21st century lawyer is more than a professional as his connectedness with business in inescapable!
Recently in Ghana, a local law firm merged with ENS Africa, the largest law firm in Africa. Among the various factors which may have led to this merger: the need to access direct foreign investments in Ghana.
Interestingly, such a decision would have been out of the contemplation of the 18th century lawyer, as he would have deemed such decisions as falling outside the usual functions of a lawyer. However, the 21st century lawyer must embrace such opportunities due to the accelerated competition for business in the profession.
Still, the practice of law is a trade sanctioned by ethical rules and regulations. This is to ensure a high level of professional standards in the delivery of legal services.
Accordingly, in Italy for instance, the Code of Conduct for Italian lawyers are even applied to the private lives of lawyers. A similar ethical rule protect the image of the legal profession per the Code of Conduct of the Slovakian Bar Association.
In effect these rules of legal ethics regulating the 21st century law practice shows and demonstrate that the 21st century lawyer must have ethical considerations in the plying of his business. This calls for a balance in the business goals of the 21st lawyer with the professional standards required of him.
Consequently, it is submitted that the 21st century lawyer is a businessman providing a professional service.
Isaac Aburam-lartey a contributing writer is a Senior Associate at Sam Okudzeto & Associates where he focuses on litigation and Dispute resolution. He has experience in property, and employment and commercial disputes particularly in the manufacturing, real estate and construction sectors.
