Are lawyers really resistant to change?

'Lawyers are resistant to change'. It must be one of the most heard sentences when it comes to innovation and change in legal services. 'Lawyers' aren't ready for it, 'lawyers' don't want it and you know what, 'they' can't even do a thing about it. It's like they've, of we've, all been brainwashed in law school to become skeptical and risk averse people, insensitive for a changing world around us.

I'm not convinced.

I'm a lawyer myself, and I see a lot of lawyers who do (want to) change. And are not afraid to change. In a survey at our bar in Belgium, we found out that 87 (!) percent of our lawyers is convinced that change and innovation in law firms is important and necessary. And in our LinkedIn group of 'Future Lawyers Belgium', we've gathered more than 500 lawyers in no time. As lawyers, we are not doomed for failure in changing legal services.

Our biggest problem probably does not lie in the personality of the lawyers itself, but in the traditional partnership, firm and pricing model that proved to be key in obstructing change in law firms. 'In 69% of firms, partners’ resistance to change is an embedded drag on progress, and recent economic successes may obscure any clouds on the horizon – at least for the short-sighted' (Altman Weil 2019). A lot of lawyers feel prisoned in the model they're part of. With all the health problems that go along with it. The vast majority just don't know how to get out of it. Yet.

Let's collaborate to find a way out. It's hard work, but let's stop blaming our personalities, believe in ourselves and the capacities we have to be part of our changing legal world.