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Leaders in Legal Business
The Legal Business Market Jordan Furlong1
Edge International
Principal
Introduction: The Past, Present, and Future of the Legal Support Ecosystem
The practice of law is hundreds if not thousands of years old. Today’s complex ecosystem of professionals
that support, manage, and improve the practice of law is considerably younger.
Think back 30 years from the date of this book’s publication. If you were a lawyer in 1985, your law
practice support system likely included a secretary, an accountant, a courier, and maybe someone to explain how
the telex worked. Outside the office, resources to help you run your practice effectively and profitably were few
and far between. The idea of professionalized law practice management support was foreign to most lawyers.
Sure, an attorney might read a magazine article and learn a few tips for running his practice (David
Maister’s seminal “Managing The Professional Services Firm” was still eight years away), but that lawyer would
never countenance the idea of a non-lawyer firm CEO, a full-time director of marketing, a professional
development department, or a Rolodex full of outside business consultants. That kind of thing was as unseemly
as it was unnecessary.
The real story of modern law practice management is how quickly this kind of support system moved
from unimaginable to unremarkable. Starting with solo and small-firm lawyers, then gradually making its way
into the ranks of larger firms, professional assistance for running a law practice has become part of the mainstream
— and has gone a long way toward transforming the legal profession in a very short period of time.
The Legal Ecosystem
Why did this happen so fast? Primarily, because
law practice is hard; it takes an enormous amount of
attention and effort just to serve clients well. Lawyers
needed and eventually welcomed all the help they could
get in doing everything else, like running their businesses.
The value these services provided to lawyers was
immediate and self-evident, which accelerated their
adoption. Furthermore, these services naturally cross-
pollinated: Technology helped with networking, which
aided marketing and abetted consulting, which intersected
with process improvement, and so forth.
This is why we refer to this as an ecosystem: a
diversified, interconnected array of professional business support systems for legal services providers. To use the
classic definition by James F. Moore, a business ecosystem is “an economic community, supported by a
foundation of interacting organizations and individuals … [that] produces goods and services of value to
1 Jordan Furlong is a lawyer, consultant, and legal industry analyst who forecasts the impact of the changing legal market on lawyers, clients, and legal
organizations. He has addressed dozens of audiences (including law firms, state bars, law societies, bar executives, law schools, judges, and many others)
throughout the United States and Canada regarding the rapid evolution of the legal services market and how lawyers must respond. He is especially interested
in law practice innovations, legal market regulation, and broader access to affordable legal services.
A partner with global consulting firm Edge International and a senior consultant with Stem Legal Web Enterprises, Jordan is a Fellow of the College of
Law Practice Management and Legal Strategist in Residence at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. His blog, Law21, is named annually as one of the
top 100 legal blogs in North America by the ABA Journal. He is the author of “Evolutionary Road: A Strategic Guide to Your Law Firm’s Future” and co-
author of “Content Marketing and Publishing Strategies for Law Firms.” He lives in Ottawa, Canada.
2
The Legal Business Market Jordan Furlong1
Edge International
Principal
Introduction: The Past, Present, and Future of the Legal Support Ecosystem
The practice of law is hundreds if not thousands of years old. Today’s complex ecosystem of professionals
that support, manage, and improve the practice of law is considerably younger.
Think back 30 years from the date of this book’s publication. If you were a lawyer in 1985, your law
practice support system likely included a secretary, an accountant, a courier, and maybe someone to explain how
the telex worked. Outside the office, resources to help you run your practice effectively and profitably were few
and far between. The idea of professionalized law practice management support was foreign to most lawyers.
Sure, an attorney might read a magazine article and learn a few tips for running his practice (David
Maister’s seminal “Managing The Professional Services Firm” was still eight years away), but that lawyer would
never countenance the idea of a non-lawyer firm CEO, a full-time director of marketing, a professional
development department, or a Rolodex full of outside business consultants. That kind of thing was as unseemly
as it was unnecessary.
The real story of modern law practice management is how quickly this kind of support system moved
from unimaginable to unremarkable. Starting with solo and small-firm lawyers, then gradually making its way
into the ranks of larger firms, professional assistance for running a law practice has become part of the mainstream
— and has gone a long way toward transforming the legal profession in a very short period of time.
The Legal Ecosystem
Why did this happen so fast? Primarily, because
law practice is hard; it takes an enormous amount of
attention and effort just to serve clients well. Lawyers
needed and eventually welcomed all the help they could
get in doing everything else, like running their businesses.
The value these services provided to lawyers was
immediate and self-evident, which accelerated their
adoption. Furthermore, these services naturally cross-
pollinated: Technology helped with networking, which
aided marketing and abetted consulting, which intersected
with process improvement, and so forth.
This is why we refer to this as an ecosystem: a
diversified, interconnected array of professional business support systems for legal services providers. To use the
classic definition by James F. Moore, a business ecosystem is “an economic community, supported by a
foundation of interacting organizations and individuals … [that] produces goods and services of value to
1 Jordan Furlong is a lawyer, consultant, and legal industry analyst who forecasts the impact of the changing legal market on lawyers, clients, and legal
organizations. He has addressed dozens of audiences (including law firms, state bars, law societies, bar executives, law schools, judges, and many others)
throughout the United States and Canada regarding the rapid evolution of the legal services market and how lawyers must respond. He is especially interested
in law practice innovations, legal market regulation, and broader access to affordable legal services.
A partner with global consulting firm Edge International and a senior consultant with Stem Legal Web Enterprises, Jordan is a Fellow of the College of
Law Practice Management and Legal Strategist in Residence at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. His blog, Law21, is named annually as one of the
top 100 legal blogs in North America by the ABA Journal. He is the author of “Evolutionary Road: A Strategic Guide to Your Law Firm’s Future” and co-
author of “Content Marketing and Publishing Strategies for Law Firms.” He lives in Ottawa, Canada.
2
