It is a foolhardy grab at easy dollars for law firms to attempt to portray themselves as full-service information service providers. The fact is that law firms, which operate principally as private partnerships, are not sufficiently well-capitalized to address the extraordinary capital needs of a full-service IT provider. The competition—often well-capitalized public companies or accounting firms—simply outpace law firms in the ability to invest in people and equipment necessary to achieve such a status.
That said, I happen to believe that law firms have enough trouble mastering the practice of law at the sort of eye-catching qualitative level that is necessary in todays market, so I regard it as a distraction when anyone suggests that we try to be what we are not. We use information technologies—from extranets, to automated litigation support, to Internet and intranet sites and communications, to videoconferencing, to imaging of documents, and so much more—to facilitate the practice of law, which is why clients come to us in the first place.
Count me as old-fashioned. Kirkpatrick and Lockhart is not and doesnt want to be a full-service information service provider. We practice law.