The Future Of The Legal Profession: How To Ethically Lie About Your Fake Office

So much discussion about the future of the legal profession is running around the internet these days that you may begin to think that the people talking about it actually know what they are talking about. Look a bit closer and you will see that the so called "future" is being described by those who are tired of practicing, addicted to tech, have no real substantive practice to speak of, and generally make up things to bolster their self-fulfilling prophecies. In essence, those that talk about the future of the legal profession these days are mainly spewing their vision of the profession. A vision that many "real" lawyers don't share.

One vision I do share with these "future of the legal profession" idiots, is that the future includes more acceptable lying. You know, pretending you have a certain amount of experience, or credentials, or yes, even a certain type of office.

Which brings me to the topic at hand.

Why do some lawyers put photos of their office building on their website? I don't have a picture of my office building on my website. Maybe I should. Maybe one day I will. But when I do, it will be a picture of the office building where I have an office, with a desk, and people working for me and with me. It will not be a picture of the building in which some timeshare company owns a floor and of the address I own for $100 a month.

Which leads me to the answer to my own question. There are lawyers who put a picture of the building in which their "office" is located in order to create an impression that they in fact, have an office there. When in fact, I, as well as many other lawyers know (not potential clients though) that in each city there are Class A office buildings that have a floor rented by a "Regus" type company that in turn, provides fee-for-service office solutions for lawyers and other businesses.

A lawyer can have merely the address to receive mail, or someone answering a dedicated phone line, or conference room time, office time, and yes, lawyers can actually rent offices and work there like in any other place. But for the most part, in this "future of the legal profession," lawyers buy the address and pretend (lie) that this is actually where they practice.



Cool, huh?

Welcome to the future.

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

How To Get The Client And Lose Your Law License

There's no better collection of B.S. than the "Attorneys" section of the Yellow Pages. Lawyers presenting themselves to the unknowing public as "aggressive," or whatever other adjective hits the emotions of the recently arrested, injured, or preparing for divorce.

Sometimes though, it goes beyond B.S. and becomes a flat-out lie.

Take the case three years ago of the lawyer who told a client he had won a $1.1 million medical malpractice settlement.

Except he didn't.

He didn't even file a suit.

The New Jersey Supreme Court ordered his immediate disbarment.

Seems harsh, except that the lawyer was serving a one-year suspension for lying to another client.

I know, you would never do that.

But that's you.

Located in Miami, Florida, Brian Tannebaum practices Bar Admission and Discipline and Criminal Defense. Read his free ebook The Truth About Hiring A Criminal Defense Lawyer. Please visit www.tannebaumweiss.com