With the coming of the information age and the increasing reliance on information technology, consumers have become increasingly savvy in how they research and shop for good and services. Legal services are no longer an exception to that trend. Today’s potential clients searching for lawyers as well as legal information on the internet are not only beneficiaries of easier access to legal information, forms and services, but are also more educated on the law.

 

This assessment, education and recommendation is vital to the client in order for them to make a good, informed choice as to the most appropriate DR process. It is a service that gives the client real value, and establishes a level of comfort in the process choice ultimately selected. It is something that the client should be charged for (I recommend pricing it on a flat rate basis) as you are providing an education and a blueprint that is responsive to the situation. It is also a niche legal service which a lawyer can add to their toolbox of valuable services.

Carrying out this assessment and recommendation step sometimes means that we as lawyers or neutrals refer clients to other practitioners as the situation dictates; in the long run, that too results in benefits. It helps all practitioners by funneling the disputes to the right processes and lawyers, which is beneficial to the entire DR community as well as the overall communities we serve. Finally, as more lawyers provide this beneficial effort, we restore the confidence of our clients and of society in our profession. We affirm our roles as problem solvers and in some cases, as peacemakers. As Abraham Lincoln noted in his 1850 “Notes for a Law Lecture,” “As a peacemaker, the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.”

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