Dry Cleaners, Rental Cars, And The Practice Of Law

Ten years ago I began using a dry cleaning company that comes to my house, picks up the week's wears, and drops them off at next week's pick up. It's not a little, but a lot more expensive then standing in line at the one next to my local breakfast joint on a Saturday where moms in jogging suits and dads in t-shirts evidencing the last good trip sigh as they hold the pile of whites and blues of the week.

As I walk past them Saturdays on my way in to have Tanya pour me some coffee and bring me a perfectly scooped bagel, I shake my head at how people can wait in line to have their clothes dry cleaned.

But they do. They do there, and at the dozens that I pass every day as I travel through town. While pick up and delivery is more convenient, I don't see dry cleaners closing up store fronts and buying vans in their place.

Why?

Because there are still and will always be people who don't trust leaving their clothes on the front porch. Maybe they like saying hello to that angry Greek guy who runs the place. Maybe they like to explain exactly how they want their clothes cleaned. Maybe they can't afford the pick up and delivery service. Maybe they just like doing it the way they've done it for years and have no reason to change.

Then there's rental cars. I think Hertz was the first company to have a service where you got off the plane and went right to the car. No stopping at the counter.

Plane - car - done.

But I still see counters. I still see lines of people there.

There's guys like me who can't understand any of this. Why wouldn't you pay a little more for the convenience? Why would you do it the way you've been doing it for all these years?

The problem is that I'm not one of these new fangled "evangelists" who spends their days trying to convince people that the way I do things is the way they are going to be done and therefore you must do them this way or you will die.

Listen to the evangelists of the internet today as it pertains to law practice, and you will think that in 5 years there will be no offices, no paper, no pens, no clients meeting lawyers face to face, nothing will be like it is today.

But don't ever forget that those who are making these claims, are doing so because they are doing things differently, and can't imagine doing it any other way.

See, I think there's many ways to practice law. I know very good lawyers with nice offices and computers that sit on a credenza behind their desk collecting dust. I also know very good lawyers who are hired by fax and credit card and have well organized trunks.

Don't tell me I have to get on board. Don't tell young lawyers looking to rent an office and hire a secretary that this spells disaster.

Just put your pajamas back on, sit at the dining room table, and shut up.

The people in line at the dry cleaners and rental car counters don't give a crap what you think.

Located in Miami, Florida, Brian Tannebaum practices Bar Admission and Discipline and Criminal Defense. He is the author of I Got A Bar Complaint.