Darrel's opinion on a technology

[PedroDaGr8]

Wow, I think hell has officially froze over. I wanted to see what Big D's opinion is on this technology.

Can you replace lawyers with algorithms?

A flame-baiting title, the actual concept is that can you make it easier for a person to decide if they need a lawyer or not. Basically, instead of a person meeting with a lawyer, the lawyer asking the same basic questions to the new client, etc. The computer does it, lets the person know the options then if a lawyer is needed they can choose one from a list.

[KSRBEvans]

Sounds like a fancy-pants lawyer referral service to me. They ask you questions to pre-screen your need for an attorney and in what practice area, then they refer you out. Most bar associations have that kind of service for free or a nominal charge.

If they try to do more than that (actually practice law), they're going to get in trouble for practicing law without a license. Most self-help services like LegalZoom try to stay away from that line.

I also found this interesting:

The idea is most legal problems are common and to get basic information about them shouldn’t require thousands of dollars in fees.

I really don't know anyone having to pay thousands of dollars in fees to get basic info on a legal problem. And if they're paying that, they're really paying way too much. The vast majority of private attorneys will meet with a client the first time for free. It's a way for the client to see if they want to hire the attorney, and the attorney to see if they want to take the case. If the prospective client does a good job of interviewing the attorney and has a set of discussion points beforehand, they can usually get some good, basic info for free. Even if the initial consultation isn't free, you're still pay much less than thousands of dollars.

It seems to me the profit to be made here is not necessarily prospective clients, but attorneys paying $ to get put on that referral list and have clients steered to them.

[Darrell KSR]

Basic questions? Heck,those are given away on telephone calls. Initial consultation? Often free, but even if not, an hour of most lawyers time is usually a couple hundred dollars or so, unless it's a big law firm in a metropolitan area.

May be a place for that, just like there is a place for WebMD. But it sounds more scammish and dangerous than anything to me.