"N.Y. State Bar Launches Task Force to Examine Changes in Legal Profession"

Excerpt:

A task force of the New York State Bar Association kicked off a monthslong examination of the legal profession on Wednesday, with the goal of producing a report that will influence fundamental changes in the law firm billing structure, improvements in legal education and training, providing better work-life balance, and harnessing new technologies.
...

"Our focus is not only to look at the future of the profession but to change it," [T. Andrew] Brown said.

[Stephen P.] Younger said 2009 was probably "the worst year in history to be a lawyer in New York." ...

With the economy showing signs of recovery, Younger said lawyers had a choice: They could wait for the rebound and deal with the stresses when

they reappear, or they could come up with "ideas about how we could fix this problem so the next time we have a downturn this doesn't happen."
...

The group has organized four subcommittees. Gary Munneke, a professor at Pace Law School, heads a subcommittee on alternative billing methods and law firm structures. ...

Mary Lynch, a professor at Albany Law School, will head a subcommittee on training and promoting young lawyers.

Younger, a partner at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, said his attention was drawn to the topic "by my own clients, who say they don't want first- and second-year lawyers on their matters."

Younger said he thought those responses had less to do with cost than the fact the law schools train students to think like lawyers but not how to draft a contract.

Joey Silberfein, a career guidance manager at Ropes & Gray, chairs a subcommittee on the way firms can promote work-life balance and allow lawyers time to raise families and carry on their personal lives. ...

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