by Traverse Legal, reviewed by Enrico Schaefer - October 16, 2006 - Uncategorized
What is a Third Wave Law Firm?
I found a link back to my GAL site from the Chuck Newton Blog. His bio line is awesome and reads: "Preaching’s and teachings from my prospective inside a third wave law firm." I was delighted to see his content in arriving at his Blog. There is certainly a push towards attorney blogging (which I agree is very important). Here is Chuck’s description, which I also would suppose describes his "third wave" approach:
My law firm and I are different from most law firms you encounter.
My law firm does not maintain a traditional office or offices that most consumers typically associate with law firms. We have no waiting rooms for clients to cool their heals, no reception area in which to be ignored, no meeting rooms for client visits, no file room in which to lose files, no law library, no messy private office for the firm’s attorneys to hide. We have no walls to hang our licenses and diplomas, no rec room to chat with staff over coffee and donuts, and my firm’s shingle hangs from no building. Look in any phone book and you will see no yellow page ad for my firm. If you were not in need of my services you would not even know my firm and I exist. My firm and I go about our business from where we are..whereever we are…everywhere we are. The attorneys in my firm simply refuse to be confined by time, space and the restrictions that a typical law office employs. There are no palace guards keeping you from the attorneys in my firm. I answer my own phones, read and respond to my own email, faxes and mail. I maintain my own schedule.
How does my law firm and I accomplish such a thing?
We try to be the king of the Internet. We use email, Internet telephony, Internet faxing, electronic case filing, and Internet research, both to and from computers and other devices. There is virtually no one that cannot be reached, and no document that cannot be received or delivered, by phone, fax, email or (if no other alternative) mail any place in the State of Texas or the world. My law firm and I believe that staying connected allows us to tear down the barriers that keep us from our clients and their objective.
"I love it! No waiting rooms or reception areas in which to be ignored"…"no messy private offices for the firm’s attorneys that hide." Chuck raises an interesting point, one that I have touched on recently, although not as deeply as Chuck. The infrastructure which industrial age companies required is in many ways going the way of the dinosaur. In the industrial age, attorneys had to work in big glass offices with tons of infrastructure. By pooling resources as a partnership, lawyers were able to afford all of the different equipment necessary for law practice and put people in offices close to each other so they can work together in their various roles. Obviously, these things are no longer necessary in a technology age.
Fifty-percent or more of my clients don’t even live in the same state as I do. My law offices are completely irrelevant to them. They test me by work product and intellect. Chuck Newton is riding the "third wave" while most other law firms haven’t even made it down to the beach.
As a founding partner of Traverse Legal, PLC, he has more than thirty years of experience as an attorney for both established companies and emerging start-ups. His extensive experience includes navigating technology law matters and complex litigation throughout the United States.
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by attorney Enrico Schaefer, who has more than 20 years of legal experience as a practicing Business, IP, and Technology Law litigation attorney.
