DON’T SPEND MONEY ON STUPID SHIT PART IV: PAYING LAWYERS FOR WHAT MACHINES DO BETTER 

         Can you remember the last time you used the “Yellow Pages?” Can you even remember the last time you saw a Yellow Pages. For that matter when is the last time you used a regular telephone book. When you receive those books what do you do with them? Do they even make it past the garbage can? 

         Why is that? Because you Google. The Yellow Pages and telephone books are ancient artifacts that have been replaced by technology. 

         Believe it or not, lawyers use technology too. Legal book publishers have become data storage companies. So ask yourself this – why do you pay your lawyer to do something a machine can do better? 

        We’ve all seen ads for Legal Zoom. Many people who use Legal Zoom and software like it to receive all of the legal services they need. But, at least for now, Legal Zoom cannot address more than routine legal issues. 

        Legal Zoom does not work in complicated transactions or instances where a lawyer’s knowledge is important to make sure you know what you are receiving will be recognized in court.

       That being said, any lawyer who is worth your money knows that sophisticated software exists to do for lawyers what Legal Zoom does for non-lawyers. How do you know when your lawyer is charging you for something that a machine can do better?

       There are some telltale indications:

       1.    Four lawyers reviewing a contract, no matter how long the contract is.

       2.    A twelve to twenty-hour day by a young lawyer drafting and revising a document. Really? Who can even keep track of changes after that much time looking at the same document over and over.

       3.    The lawyer you hired only looks at a document after it has been through multiple layers of other lawyers.

       Sure, sometimes documents are drafted in short periods of time over long hours. Sometimes multiple lawyers have to look at documents to make sure they comply with requirements of specific subject matters of the law. But that should be clear from the bill or easily explained by the lawyer who sends you a bill.