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The Internet Generation
and the Delivery of Legal
Services
Richard S. Granat
CEO, DirectLaw, Inc.

Generations
 G.I. Generation: Born 1900-1945
 Baby Boomers: Born 1946-1964
 Gen X: Born 1965-1977
 Millennials/Gen Y: Born:1978-2000
 Reclassification:
 The Internet Generation: Born: 1970-2000.
 First Waves- Coming of Age Now: 36 years
old. e.g., Grahame and Peter.

What is the Internet Generation
The N-Generation?
 Defining characteristic of members of the
generation growing with digital media.
 Culture of digital interaction – e.g.
myspace.
 Community and relationship building on
the Net.
 Independence from institutions and seek
autonomy.

Themes of N-Generation
 Innovation – the better way.
 Immediacy- I want it now.
 Authentication and Trust
 Media defines the culture-- at the heart of
the N-Generation is interactivity.
 N=Geners want options
 High customization: services and products
that fit unique needs.

As Consumers Generally
 First Place to check for alternatives is the
Net.
 Seek Options and Comparison Shopping
 Comparison Sites.
 Try Before They Buy.
 Privacy Concerns

What Do Consumers of Legal
Services Want?
 Clients are moving down the scale towards
packaging and commodization.
 Dislike hourly rates.
 Want the benefits of technology passed on to
them.
 What certainty of cost.
 Want a legal solution- not necessarily a lawyer.
 A much lower price for legal solutions.

Why No Lawyers?
 Consumers can’t afford lawyers;
consumers can’t afford $125-$150. an
hour.
 Consumers afraid of lawyers. Trust issue.
 Lawyers inconvenient and inefficient to
use.
 Dislike hourly rates.
 Consumers perceive of lawyers as high
risk.

High Value Legal Service
Alternatives
 Pre-Paid Legal Insurance
 “Unbundled” Legal Services
 Legal Solutions Delivered by Non-Lawyer
Providers. E.g., desktoplawyer.co.uk and
mylawyer.com.

The Potential of the Net as a
Platform
 Lower cost
 Convenient
 Faster and better client experience
 Consistent with evolving consumer behaviors
 Digitally-based legal services that can scale and
have wide distribution
 Interactivity
 Try Before You Buy
 Fixed Price – Reduce the Risk of Buying Legal
Services.

Richard Susskind’s Theory
 People will sub-optimize
 People will use the solution that is “good
enough”
 People will substitute “legal information”
for “legal services” if it solves their problem
approximately.

What are on-legal services?
 Digital solutions to solve legal problems
delivered over the Net
By:
 By Law firms
 By Legal Information Companies, e.g,
MyLawyer.com, Inc., and Nolo.com
 Communications and practice tools for
clients through law firm Intranets.

Legal Digital Products
 Legal Information About Common
Subjects
 Frequently Asked Questions Data Base
 Search Engines
 Diagnostic Analysis
 Document Assembly Services
 Automatic Calculators -e.g. child support

Reality checks
 How much legal work can people
realistically do for themselves?
 Especially poor, disadvantaged, low-
literacy
 How much can technology realistically
help?
 Can we realistically build smart, highly
useable, bullet-proof software?
 Innate complexity
 Exaggerated expectations
 Great variation at “client” end
 Unlimited user ingenuity

Things To Ponder
 What will lawyering be like in a world
where lots of good quality legal assistance
is available free or cheap on the Web?
 Will lawyers share the fate of travel
agents?
 How should we deal with the challenges
and opportunities?

Break Through Innovations
 Rethink the entire business model:
technology, distribution, pricing, workflow,
and organization.
 Price dramatically less than the
competition – 90% less.
 World class in quality.
 Produced, marketed, and used in many
locales.

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The Internet Generation

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