The legal profession needs reinventing

Lawyers and/or geeks, correct me if I'm wrong.

Laws are made (theoretically) by the people for the protection of the people's rights.

Yet a whole industry (okay, profession) has arisen that makes its money by charging people $2000+ for a template agreement.

They're able to do this because of inertia. Simply because that's the way they've always done it.

Isn't it time the legal profession came in for a bit of reinvention?

Here's the geeky part: laws are made for the people, (kind of) by the people. Just like an open source code base.

Others then interpret the code base in order to apply it to particular needs - as we've seen with the hundreds (thousands, even) Twitter apps that use Twitter's open API.

What if we took the same approach to law?

How much of law is just code, and not dependent on interpretations?

My Dream Scenario

I'm a business owner. I want to hire a contractor, or partner with someone on a project.

I want an agreement that is legally binding, but as an entrepreneur who does a lot of partnering, I don't want to need a lawyer on staff to get stuff done. I just want to do stuff.

Wouldn't it be great to go to a website where I and my potential partner in crime can go and fill in dynamic forms that automate the process of lawyering.

Where my partner and I work out the kind of business relationship we want to have, enter the necessary parameters, and then the software would show us areas we need to think about.

Instead of the anxiety of

1. a trip to a lawyer's office
2. a conversation where it's highly possible to get the details wrong (after all, you may not have all your paperwork with you)
3. not knowing what you'll be paying until afterwards

you get

1. an agreement, that reflects your wishes, that is legally binding.

And if there are any anomalies, you can contact a lawyer through chat on the site. Or send an email.

It's the kind of disruption that's hitting every single industry. Milk the system (music industry, lawyers) and people will live for the day when you will be automated.

Act like a valuable partner, live to serve, and move with the times, and you'll be closer to the original definition of profession.

(Awesome photo from Steve Punter!)

Coathangers, open source and the individual

Last week, these coathangers spoke to me.

They said, "We don't trust you."

Not at all like the friendly coathangers at Booklovers Bed & Breakfast, where you'll find the kind of coathangers you could easily stow in your luggage.

But you wouldn't steal coathangers from Booklovers (at least most wouldn't) because you'd be stealing direct from Jane Tolerton. And even those who steal from faceless corporations will think twice before taking from another individual.

It got me thinking about how brands relate to people, and how ultimately we're all brands and all individuals, and how the zeitgeist of the early 21st century is swinging right back towards to the individual, as found in community.

My thoughts were further consolidated in an engrossing conversation with Sigund Magnusson, cofounder of Silverstripe, a company that open sourced their CMS software earlier this year.

In brief (it was a long conversation), open source is not so much about free software as it is about recognising individual contributions. (There was more - just keep your eyes peeled on the Idealog.co.nz site - but that was a key message I got from the conversation).

And because we're less likely to steal from someone we know, open source is theoretically free for the taking, but our desire to relate to one another in community means we want to give credit where credit is due - whether that credit is cash or just acknowledgement.

It's a line of thought I'm probably going to pursue in future blog posts. Stay tuned.