William Henderson on Are We Asking the Wrong Questions About Lawyer Regulation?
The TOTM Unlocking the Law Symposium is designed to raise a host of questions surrounding lawyer regulation, including ending lawyer licensure requirements and the ban on non-lawyer investment.
My thesis, for better or worse, is that we may be asking the wrong questions. Despite the stringent regulations placed on lawyers, ingenious entrepreneurs—most of them non-lawyers—are finding ways to get into the legal services business. Nobody needs to unlock the front door for them to enter. They are climbing through the first floor windows, scaling down our chimneys, and seeping through our basement walls. In ten years, much of the deregulation agenda will come to pass without any formal deregulation. U.S. consumers and businesses are already voting with their feet.