The Future of Legal Practice in Zimbabwe

THE FUTURE OF LEGAL PRACTICE IN ZIMBABWE—A BIRD’S EYE VIEW. HOW DO YOU STAY AHEAD?

A paper written for and presented at the Strategic Retreat for Messrs. Kantor & Immerman


Tererai Mafukidze
1/22/2011
Imba Matombo, Harare, Zimbabwe

Not for publication

Table of Contents
Table of Contents. 2
“THE FUTURE OF LEGAL PRACTICE IN ZIMBABWE—A BIRD’S EYE VIEW. WHO DO YOU STAY AHEAD?” 4
Introduction. 4
Is Law a Business?. 6
What is the legal landscape going to be like?. 9
An international perspective. 10
Globalisation. 11
Communication and Technology. 12
Shareholder drive for higher profits. 15
The Unhappy Young Lawyer 16
Advertising prohibition. 16
Tendering for services. 17
Sharing risk with clients. 18
Restricted business forms for lawyers. 19
Multi-disciplinary Practices. 19
Developing new skills, new and innovative services. 21
Teamwork. 22
Fees. 23
The Scourge of the Billable Hour 25
The Courts, Litigation and Justice Delivery. 27
SUMMARY OF THE FUTURE.. 28
How do you stay ahead?. 29
External Analysis. 29
Branding. 30
Price or should I refer to it as fees. 31
Place/Distribution. 32
Promotion. 32
Communications Planning. 32
Contagion. 33
And so what are the current realities in marketing?. 34
Recruitment of lawyers. 36
Firm management 37
Specialisation. 38
The Courts and the Legal System.. 40
CONCLUSION.. 41
Bibliography. 43




























“THE FUTURE OF LEGAL PRACTICE IN ZIMBABWE—A BIRD’S EYE VIEW. WHO DO YOU STAY AHEAD?”[1]

By TR Mafukidze[2]
Introduction
It is for me a great pleasure to come and speak to you about the future of legal practice in Zimbabwe, and how you can stay ahead. As some of you know, I ran away from the private practice of law after only three years. Maybe you need one who is not immersed in the subject to tell you how it looks from out here. As Lord MacMillan put it;
‘The Lawyer does well from time to time to lift his eyes from his desk and look on the wider world beyond.’[3]
Peter Williamson (2003), the then President of the Law Society of England & Wales expressed his own fears about the legal profession’s failure to adapt to change as follows;
‘If this profession does not adapt itself and fall into line with what the consumer of the 21st century wants from legal services...(be it litigation, conveyancing, wills or whatever) it will be done some other way. We have therefore to adapt, and it is no good standing and saying that we have traditions, and the way we have always done it is best. That is a recipe for disaster for this profession.’[4]
I have been asked to look into the seeds of time, and tell which seed will grow and which will not. It is a hard prediction to make. The wrong predictions one makes will live after them. People love to remember the wrong predictions. Yet, my task is less onerous than that of a fortune-teller.
I have been asked again to educate you on ‘how to stay ahead’. This latter part is pregnant. It assumes that you are ahead—and so desire to just stay ahead. I will not argue whether you are ahead or not. I will go with your assumption, for now.
The world has changed dramatically over the last 10 years. It continues to change. I can do no better than to agree with Leonard S. Janosky when he stated 30 years ago that;
‘No profession will long exist if its members spend their time in rearguard action fighting for past methods that are no longer responsive to need or economically sound. A profession whose leadership is primarily concerned with maintaining the status quo and building protectionist rules and tariffs is a deteriorating profession.’[5]

Is Law a Business?
Talking about law as a business is frowned upon by many lawyers and judges. To refer to a law firm as a business is considered a heresy. ‘This is a profession and not a business’ goes the frequent retort. But business simply means the investment of human effort for profit. Law is a business. You can never be successful as a law firm unless you treat your law firm as a business. By business, I do not mean that you should ingest many of the unscrupulous business practices that infest our business community. No. Yours is a higher calling that demands different standards of conduct. But never fool yourself. If you do not run your law firm like a business you are set to fail. At the same time, the profession is there to serve the community. This is why lawyers are some of the few members of professions that are required by law to render their services for free in certain circumstances.
Learned friends, despite the often glowing and heart-warming description of the practice of law, throughout the ages, from William Shakespeare in Henry VI to Mario Puzo in the Godfather,[6] lawyers have been accorded the most callous of reputations. Sometimes, they have been called by the names of nature’s greatest predators or its most unashamed scavengers. In recent times they have been called some of the vilest wealth-seekers.
Jonathan Swift was similarly scathing when he defined lawyers’ thus;
‘Lawyers, a society of men, bred up from their youth in the art of proving words, multiplied for the purpose and in a jargon of their own that no other mortal can understand that white is black and black is white, according as they are paid.’[7]
But there are some redeeming voices. Justice O’Connor of the United States Supreme Court said it eloquently in Shapero v Kentucky Bar Association in the following words;
‘One distinguishing feature of any profession, unlike other occupations that may be equally respectable, is that membership entails an ethical obligation to temper one’s selfish pursuit of economic success by adhering to standards of conduct that could not be enforced either by legal fiat or through the discipline of the market. There are sound reasons to continue pursuing the goal that is implicit in the traditional view of professional life. Both the special privileges incident to membership in the profession and the advantages those privileges give in the necessary task of earning a living are means to a goal that transcends the accumulation of wealth.’[8]
I may add that the American justice was opining this in the minority in a judgment dealing with restrictions on lawyer’s advertising in the State of Kentucky.
In his speech, ‘Examining Values’, delivered to the Australasian College of Surgeons,[9] the then Chief Justice of Australia, Mr. Murray Gleeson, noted that there is a world of difference between a profession and a business. In his view, the difference lay in that ‘professional people accept certain restraints on their capacity to pursue personal gain -restraints that go beyond the requirements of honesty and fair dealing that are accepted by decent people in any occupation.’
This is true with the legal profession in this country. The legal profession carries exacting responsibilities in our pursuit of a society that is free and open, where every person enjoys their human rights. The legal profession must be in the service of the public. For that reason, those who are called to serve in the legal profession are expected to serve with the highest standards of professional conduct. The highest standards of ethical conduct lie in the ability of lawyers to maintain the values that underlie the practice of law. The maintenance and sustenance of these values is a matter of great concern to us all. These values are honesty, integrity, sense of public duty and the desire to see justice done according to law. But professional values are constantly under strain. As Justice Gleeson put it;
‘The rules of professional practice, which impose restraints on the pursuit of self-interest, cannot be sustained merely by custom. This is an age that questions every rule and challenges every authority. Those questions and challenges cannot be met by an appeal to tradition. Tradition cuts no ice. Self-interest is clearly understood; but I am talking about restraints on the pursuit of enlightened self-interest. How can they be explained? They can be justified only in terms of values; and if the values are not shared, the justification carries no weight. It all comes back to values. That is the common challenge to our professions: to identify and maintain our values.’[10]
It must be emphasised that the legal profession is built a foundation of moral responsibilities. Legal ethics and professional responsibility are not mere rules. They ‘are also a commitment to honesty, integrity and service in the practice of law.’[11] While the practice of law is indeed done with an expectation of earning a reasonable income for the service, the legal profession can never be regulated as if it were another business in the service industry. Lawyers are not mere agents of the clients who have employed their skill and knowledge. They ‘are involved in the administration of justice according to law, a function on which a free and democratic society depends.’[12]
I must say something about the commitment to public service. We are a country of great of huge inequalities. Many of them are historical, and many we have manufactured for ourselves. Despite the strides we have made in seeking to bridge the gap between those that are wealth and citizens who live in constant deprivation, a lot of work remains. The differences in wealth are reflected no less in the challenges the poor face in accessing justice and, with that, access to legal advice and representation. The cost of accessing the legal services is prohibitive. The legal aid services are not working efficiently and cannot accommodate everyone. If I may borrow from Sir Anthony Mason, unless the legal profession ‘dedicates itself to the ideal of public service, it forfeits its claim to treatment as a profession in the true sense of the term. Dedication to public service demands not only attainment of a high standard of professional skill but also faithful performance of duty to client and court and a willingness to make the professional service available to the public.’[13]
But learned friends, can any lawyer meet these responsibilities on an empty stomach?
What is the legal landscape going to be like?
An international perspective
The leading law firm Eversheds have studied what they have termed ‘the client’s revolution’. They have published two reports entitled the Law Firm of the 21st Century. The second of the reports was published was as an analysis of the post-recession legal sector in 2010. The report is highly recommended. In his foreword, Bryan Hughes, the Chief Executive of Eversheds LLP notes;
‘General Counsel (corporate lawyers) are under pressure to deliver more for less. In turn, they are demanding reduced costs and greater value from the legal advisers. Quite rightly they want accountability when it comes to how their budgets are being spent and more imagination when it comes to fee structures. For law firms this has meant facing up to the challenge and change. Whilst some are holding fast, hoping that the boom times will return soon, the smarter ones are adapting for the longer term.’[14]
Eversheds identify four main drivers for change, namely globalisation (look east), increasing professionalism and status of General Counsel (corporate lawyers), technology and the Legal Services Act in the UK. According to Eversheds the ‘aftermath of the perfect storm’ is a revolution whereby the stakeholders in the legal market are properly aligned. These are their findings;
· Clients take centre stage- ‘balance of power shifts to clients and the legal sector enters the modern world; fee levels are set for long-term overall decline or stasis; General Counsel have increased status and expanded role in business’[15]
· Delivery of legal services is geared up to efficiency and value: ‘recession drives efficiency; legal services are increasingly unbundled, also contributing to efficiency; strategic resourcing through outsourcing and technology dramatically increased; the hourly rate is simply one billing tool among many; value enters the client-lawyer relationship through increased use of value billing and the development of value resourcing.’[16]
· Law firm market in flux: ‘law firm peer groups and categorisations re-align; less premium work means there is a new optimal size for large international law firm with less headcount and lower leverage; moderate growth will continue for mid-sized firms, at least in the medium term future; loyalty to partnership model continues to decline; other models develop; UK law firm leaders begin to see opportunities in the LSA.’

Globalisation
Firstly, no matter how much we parrot ‘sovereignty’, we are not an island. We will never be an island. The winds that blow in China, India, Brazil will find their way through our borders. Global business is having a huge impact on the way we provide services and manufacture products. Today, business seeks the cheapest sources of labour. We are constantly buying goods made in China and Vietnam, despite them carrying genuine iconic American logos. Accounting and consulting firms have opened offices across the entire globe, or have their presence through other means. Big law firms are doing the same. Consulting firms have shown their ability to draw on experiences derived from previous assignments wherever in the world they were undertaken. They have strategic assets like brand name, capital, technology and research and development capabilities to defeat local competition.[17]
Nearly 10 years ago, I was a member of Trust Bank Corporate Finance team that were local advisors on the proposed privatisation of Tel-One. We were working at risk. The external legal advisors were Clifford Chance, while the local ones were Sawyer & Mkushi. Clifford Chance walked away with USD 1m in legal fees. PwC were external financial advisors and they walked away with similar riches. The privatisation bid was stopped at the last leg. We walked away with nothing. We did a lot of work. Clifford Chance often sent one senior partner and a young South African lawyer to the assignment.
The lesson from that experience was that: global law firms and global accounting firms will compete in your territory, with better brands, more capital, more muscle and still feed in your trough. No law society has the ability to stop them. Money is not made through a right of appearance in court. By the time the matter goes to court, the clever ones would have long fed.
Taking this to a local level, do not be surprised to see South African law firms doing work in Zimbabwe. All they will need is a big business that believes in their brand, capital, technology and ability to deliver value. As we speak now, I am aware of at least one big SA law firm that has a department that deals with African work—this is work across the continent!
Communication and Technology
A story is told about how the arrival of the fax machine astounded legal secretaries. This brought demands for relatively instant communication and everything that came by fax was urgent. Now, observe what the arrival of email, text and the internet has done to communication. If I email you at 9am and ask;
‘Is there a right of appeal against a decision of the Commissioner of Taxes?’
I want an acknowledgment of that email immediately. I then expect the answer within hours. If you are silent, I will email another lawyer. By the time you get back to me after three days with 5 page ‘opinion’ citing 23 decisions of the Supreme Court, you are too late. I will neither accept nor pay for your time! This is the new world guys!
Physical proximity is no longer necessary for doing business. And so, a person seeking legal assistance in settling an acknowledgment of debt may receive electronic assistance from many places across the globe. Price will drive this.
‘The Internet increases buyer power by facilitating a customer’s comparison of services offered and prices charged by different providers.’[18]
In South Africa, a website www.hippo.co.za allows customers to compare insurance quotes for themselves before they decide on who to approach. A similar one www.autoworld.co.za allows a person looking to purchase a car to compare different models, calculate repayments, compare brand new and used cars and even pick dealers who have stock. It will not be long before clients are able to compare fees by visiting a middlemen service that offers comparative quotes on say, consensual divorce, maintenance applications, due diligences, criminal appeals etc. Similar middlemen services relating to legal services are available in Australia.
When I joined Messrs. Calderwood, Bryce-Hendrie and Partners of Bulawayo, in December 1996, I could not work a computer. My secretary had a typewriter. She was a shared resource. When I joined Scanlen and Holderness a year later, I had a secretary with a computer. I still could not make use of it in her absence. When I joined Old Mutual in August, 1999, I was presented with an office with a Compaq computer and a printer. The secretary for the department would come to my office a few times in a week to restart the machine after a few cock-ups. In 6 months, I had taught myself to use a computer. It was a painful exercise I would not wish anyone. But today, I rarely draft anything in long hand for anyone to type for me. I have spent a good part of the last 4 years of my career working on a project to provide free access to law via the internet. I have been to courts in the region and spoken to lawyers and judges and top civil servants. I have seen how information technology has driven major changes in the law. This is not change by choice it is imposed by the necessities of the law.
After my computer challenged years in I realised that computers should be compulsory subject in law school or at least for anyone over the age of 10! More than 14 years since I left law school, the university is still churning out lawyers who cannot work computers. If you cannot use a computer, you will be useless in ten years’ time! Clients are also expecting service delivery via the use of information technology. You will be required to answer clients’ queries via video conferencing, Skype etc to board meetings in progress.
This is not to say technology is going to eliminate the need for personal service provided by lawyers. As Harcup puts it;
‘Clients will still require the influencing, analytical and creative skills of human lawyers. Empathy and our use of language are the traits that distinguish us as humans from animals, or indeed computers. These skills will still be in demand from clients in the 21st century and will become even more important. On the other hand, less legal work will be available for solicitors because of the availability of online legal services for basic transactions.’[19]


Shareholder drive for higher profits
I am aware that your firm is seen as a corporate firm-one that places greater resources on serving corporate clients and doing commercial work. In the modern business world, you will not see Jack Welchs anymore. CEO will be replaced at quick pace. There is a strong drive by shareholders for higher returns and growth. CEO in turn have been driving towards the reduction of costs. Cost cutting initiatives are affecting legal work too. Your clients are scrutinizing your bills more than ever before.[20] As a result, there has been a major change in the way global business views legal services. They have segmented legal services into two broad categories, which are;
a. Commodity work
b. Value-added services
Commodity work is normally given to local firms, but we are beginning to see a trend whereby it is even farmed out to cheaper jurisdictions. Local firms are retaining a good part of the litigation work. But still, local firms are expected to provide good service at a low cost.[21]
Value-added services such as mergers and acquisitions and capital market transactions are being reserved for huge global firms. The clients are willing to pay top dollar for the best and will pay a premium to get the best law firm.[22]
So, you may well achieve the status of a corporate or commercial law firm, but you will not necessarily be earning the top dollar unless you can do not only the commodity services but also the value added work.

The Unhappy Young Lawyer
One of the worrying trends in the legal world today is that young lawyers are not prepared to wait for many years to become partners with equity in the law firm. Young lawyers are more married to their work than to the employer. Dunstone says that they ‘see each new position as a way of acquiring experience to equip them for their next ‘gig’. They also value flexibility, lifestyle and leisure time.’[23]
So the challenge is to put together a formidable team of legal professionals and yet you have challenges in recruiting and retaining them. We need not look beyond the ‘big law firms’ of the 1990s to see what poor succession planning and motivation culture can harm the future of a law firm.
Advertising prohibition
We have retained some of the most archaic professional rules of conduct in this country, in the same way we have continued with rules of court that have been discredited and abandoned in countries that gave birth to them in the first place. One such relic of the past is the prohibition on advertising. Many countries have accepted that legal practice is like any other business. It must be allowed to advertise for so long as the advertisement is truthful, in good taste and not misleading. I foresee in the near future either a change in legislation to allow for advertising or at least a legal challenge to the prohibition. In countries where the challenges have been made, the prohibition has been considered to be unconstitutional for being an unnecessary infringement on the right to receive and impart information. Yet in this country to approach a client of a rival to pitch is considered an abomination. It is considered touting. You cannot even indiscriminately hand out business cards at a function. The size of the lettering you put on your firm’s signage is regulated!
Frankly, this is ridiculous. It may even infringe upon fair competition. How do you expect a start-up firm to get known?
I must state that I asked the Minister of Justice Cde Chinamasa at the Victoria Falls Winter School about this prohibition. He categorically stated that he supported the removal of s23 of the Legal Practitioners Act. It was up to the lawyers to approach his office for this to be effected.
What are the implications of the removal of this prohibition?
· You will see more and more law firms gaining visibility
· Clients will be able to compare service providers, their price and services and make an informed choice.[24]
Tendering for services
In 1999, a huge Zimbabwean state entity had suffered losses due to the conduct of a law firm. It enlisted the services of a more established law firm to help in resolving the matter. The latter firm gave outstanding service to the entity. The entity decided to fire its offending legal practitioners and put its work out to tender. A few hours before the tender had closed, the entity was worried that the established firm had not put in a tender. It phoned to enquire about the apparent snub. The preferred law firm responded by pointing out to the organisation that it would NOT tender for legal work and that any law firm that had responded to their advertised tender may have been in breach of the law!
Today, competitive tendering is not only in vogue for everything but it is a means through which organisations procure good value from service providers. In the public sector, it is an efficient and effective tool against corruption. And so, what is so special with lawyers that excuses them from being subjected to a transparent and accountable appointment process?
I foresee in the near future more organisations putting their work out to tender. In Australia, clients have been demanding fixed fees for commodity work, faster service and value-adds (which is a euphemism for free services). It is not uncommon for some of the government tenders to demand that certain levels of pro bono work to be scored on the tender adjudication process.[25]
Sharing risk with clients
Clients are now demanding full or partial success fees or offering remuneration in the form of equity.[26] This is a very important development which you can use to lure new work and to earn a good return. If you act for a client in a listing, share issue, recapitalisation, mergers and you are the principal legal advisers, why should you not take equity in place of fees? If you advise on suing for a huge sum of damages, why not take risk on the success of the claim?
Billing clients by the hour is already being strongly resisted in many parts. Clients want you to share in the value you generate. As Dunstone notes;
‘This way of working is fairly new for lawyers, but has long been a way of life for consulting firms. A recent survey of consultants found that one third of their large clients insist on performance-based or results-based fees.’[27]
Restricted business forms for lawyers
In terms of the law in Zimbabwe, a law firm can only operate as a sole trader or as a partnership. You cannot even be a legal practice company, limited as that form is. You can therefore not have the benefits of limited liability. You can only manage your business risk through insurance and being careful.[28]
Secondly, lawyers cannot share profits with other professionals. This limits your ability to form cross-professional teams to perform special and highly rewarding work.
Thirdly, you are prohibited from operating another business under the same banner. This means that you cannot gain competitive advantage through differentiation.[29] If you are a law firm that specialises in conveyancing, why should you not be able to run a property sales business as well?
Fourth, you cannot raise capital from the public. This means you cannot make a public offer to the public to subscribe to your shares. If this was possible, you would have the benefits of huge sources of capital to run and build bigger firms which are well equipped.
Multi-disciplinary Practices
Law firms are structured as sole owner or partnership businesses supposedly to maintain professional standards. In Australia, for example, the Law Council has decided to do away with the traditional restrictions. Business structures are no longer considered important and necessary to the maintenance of professional standards.[30] Multi-disciplinary practices (MDPs) are now allowed. It is not even necessary for lawyers to be the majority in a MDP. A lawyer in such a practice remains subject to the same professional standards as a lawyer in a law firm. The change has enabled legal service to be provided by entities other than traditional law firms. In effect, other professionals like accountants may practice law. There is however some core work that remains reserved for lawyers.[31]
A MDP could take any of the following forms;
· ‘A law firm that add non-law services by bringing in a non-lawyer partner
· A law firm adds non-law services, which are provided either by the lawyers or by employed non-lawyers.
· A non-law firm adds law services by bringing in a lawyer partner
· A non-law firm adds law services by employing lawyers.’[32]
MDPs are considered better forms of business. They bring many advantages, some of which are;
· MDP can serve clients better by bundling services up with non-legal services which gives them greater scope.[33]
· Allows lawyers to provide a seamless service rather than have a client go through a network of service providers.[34]
· It provides new ways of differentiating a firm. New services can be marketed together with the traditional ones.[35]
· There is a huge cost saving on administrative costs of running two or more separate businesses.[36]
A mental shift is required of lawyers. You cannot simply be problem solvers. You have to look at yourselves as business support services. Many accounting firms have changed the way they look at their services. They have added to their usual accounting services new services like financial planning, strategic and business planning, change management and marketing. They now charge retainers to look after a client’s business on a monthly basis rather simply charge a fee for helping a client resolve a particular problem. This continuous client interface offers the lawyer the advantage of understanding the business of the client and with it the opportunity to detect business needs. You will also be able to anticipate the needs of the client.[37] Clients increasingly expect not to simply receive legal opinions. They want legal advice to be embedded with other information relevant to the business. As Dunstone puts it;
‘Lawyers are the only people who see legal issues as “separate”. Our training teaches us to spot the “legal issues”, break them off and analyse them separately. Anything that is not a “legal issue” is regarded as someone else’s business. Yet clearly problems do not really come in labelled boxes, and issues must be examined in their context.’ [38]
Developing new skills, new and innovative services
Dunstone encourages lawyers to learn new skills and stop living off the existing skills only. The environment is changing. She cites the example given by Maister, that ‘if all you work on is what you already know how to do, you’ll eventually be overtaken by someone younger who will learn how to do what you do, and will probably be willing to do it for less than you get paid.’[39] Maister classifies legal work as either asset-milking or asset-building. With asset-milking, you will be ‘taking advantage of and exploiting existing skills, relationships, and reputation’, while asset-building is ‘offering the opportunity to develop new skills by working on frontier innovative projects, building new and stronger client relationships that will pay dividends in future years, and creating a reputation in new fields or market segments.’[40]
In order for you to be able to develop new ideas, there is need for a major shift in our thinking. As Dunstone articulates;
‘Law firms do not usually provide an environment in which new ideas can thrive and grow. On the contrary, stress is endemic, risk is discouraged and failure is not well tolerated. Lawyers are trained to object, refute and win argument, but this approach is not conducive to the development of new ideas...Developing new services should be a response to client needs, but clients cannot always articulate what they need or want. We need to move beyond problem solving to needs-identification.’[41]
In addition, we need to look less viciously at fee spending initiatives that seek to develop new products.
‘Research and development is a hard bullet to bite, because it looks like fee-spending rather than fee-earning. It requires a change to the “eat what you kill” culture that often exists in law firms. What’s worse, some of the experiments won’t work, giving the impression of wasted time.’[42]
Teamwork
Firms need to look less like individual playfields. More teamwork is required and it must be visible to your clients. If you rely too much on individual efforts, it limits the potential of the firm. The firm’s goodwill and brand is built on teamwork.[43] And this must be a deliberate firm policy. As Maister suggests;
‘A firm that can supplement the skills of individual professionals by bringing to bear its collective experience regarding each individual client problem is going to be more valuable in the marketplace than otherwise. It therefore behoves every firm to ensure that there is value in the firm itself.’[44]
Learned friends, this is how you ensure that your firm is able to collect as much skills and experience from senior lawyers as possible. It is not an accidental process, it is a deliberate.
Fees
In the UK and in South Africa, there is pressure on the legal profession from competition authorities who are keen to open up the market and break down monopolies being enjoyed by the legal profession.
Clients have become more demanding. They are demanding high quality service at less cost. In the commercial sector, the well known cash cow for the legal profession, there is a greater demand for fees to be fair and transparent. The clients want value for money.
Your clients are continuously reviewing your role as legal advisers. You have to continuously worry whether you meet the expectations of your clientele. Richard Bennett, the HSBC general legal counsel notes that his legal team is an integral to the bank achieving its objectives. The legal team like other sections has to account for the ‘overall cost of things’.[45] Internal legal counsels are nowadays continuously concerned about how to reduce costs. In order to achieve this, they will ensure that they are very careful about what work to farm out to external legal advisors and what to do internally. They will consider how to manage the external advisors. They will ask questions like…’[A]re we paying too much? Can we cut costs by finding quicker, better ways of doing things?’[46]
Spencer cites the example of the US manufacturing giant Tyco which has done away with the briefing of external firms and paying fees at an hourly rate. It has entered into a partnership with the firm Eversheds in terms of which Tyco pays a flat annual fee of 8million pounds.[47] He adds that the Swiss Bank, UBS is now ranking legal service provided by external lawyers in order to determine the quality of the service.[48] The software giant Cisco has achieved standardisation of patent applications and contract renewals. It has forced its suppliers, including law firms, to find cost cuts of 20% per year. As of 2007, HSBC was looking at outsourcing routine legal work to cheaper countries. Its core external legal suppliers could then concentrate on ‘value added’ tasks.[49]
Richard Susskind has spent considerable time researching on the future of the legal profession and comes to the conclusion that the legal profession is ‘on the brink of fundamental transformation.’[50] In his view, two major forces will drive this transformation: ‘ a market pull towards commoditisation and by pervasive development and uptake of information technology. Commoditisation and IT will shape and characterise 21st century legal service.’[51]
The practice of the law is fast changing. Our territorial jurisdictions will not provide a wind cheater against the winds of change. Lawyers and their clients must now think ‘think more creatively, imaginatively, and entrepreneurially about the way in which lawyers can and should contribute to our rapidly changing economy and society.’[52] In summary, the new challenge is to re-examine our law firms and say;
‘what elements of …current workload could be undertaken differently—more quickly, cheaply, efficiently, or to a higher quality—using alternative methods of working. In other words, the challenge for legal readers is to identify their distinctive skills and talents, the capabilities that they possess that cannot, crudely, be replaced by advanced systems or by less costly workers supported by technology or standard process, or by lay people armed with online self-help tools.’[53]
The market conditions
‘… the market is increasingly unlikely to tolerate expensive lawyers for tasks (guiding, advising, drafting, researching, problem-solving and more) that can equally or better be discharged, directly or indirectly, by smart systems and processes. It follows that the jobs of many traditional lawyers will be substantially eroded and often eliminated. At the same time, I foresee new law jobs emerging which may be highly rewarding, even if very different from those of today.’[54]
The Scourge of the Billable Hour
Billing by the hour is a practice that is most common in Zimbabwe and many countries across the globe. There is an assumption that we make that the work that the lawyer has done is reflected by the hours the lawyer has spent on that client’s work. As noted in the Report of the CBA Young Lawyers’ Conference in Canada (2000);
‘The fundamental problem with hourly billing is that it assumes that time spent is uniformly an adequate measure of value delivered to a client...The point of any fee should be to attach an appropriate value to the lawyer’s service. A successful lawyer is one who can provide a service at a fee which is reasonable to the client, but which exceeds the lawyer’s costs of performing that service. The fee, therefore, should be an attempt to charge what the service is worth. An hourly rate should be a technique to help calculate what that value is.’[55]
The result of the billable hour is that a brilliant or competent lawyer will charge less than a less capable one for solving the same problem. The billable hour rewards the one who spent the most time without necessarily looking at the value delivered. As the CBA YLC report puts it;
‘Hourly billing creates a “productivity paradox”. By one measure, a lawyer who can accomplish a task twice as quickly as another lawyer is more productive and more efficient: that ought to be a good thing, and would be desirable from the client’s point of view. But if that lawyer’s performance is measured by hours billed, on paper he or she has been less productive, by billing only half as many hours.’[56]
But it is not going to be easy to simply do away with the billable hour. The billable hour is embedded in legal practice. The tariff recommended by the Law Society is based on billable hour. It is an easy estimate of costs to a client. It determines targets for lawyers and ultimately, pseudo as is, it is the measure of productivity and a costing tool.
Some of the alternatives are (1) task based billing- where a lawyer charges for various tasks in the legal action (eg. Drafting pleadings, attending negotiations etc). The client is upfront aware of the costs of each stage.[57] The risk for the lawyer is that if more time is spent, no additional remuneration is received.
Another method could be fixed fee billing. In this instance, the entire file is treated as a task. It is a workable method for tasks that are standard like preparation of wills.[58] The Law Society tariff makes provision for this, I think. For the hourly billing to be effective, the lawyer must be able to determine what will be profitable in the long run and still be attractive to a potential client.[59] This is quite ideal in services that could be achieved by most lawyers, the so-called commodity services. While it promotes efficiency, it similarly may encourage the cutting of corners where insufficient volumes have been generated.[60]
There could be hybrid billing systems that incorporate hourly rates and flat fees. This is possible where fees are capped to a maximum or where a lawyer and client agree on a lower fee level provided the lawyer can get a higher fee if success is delivered or the party and party costs recovered.
The Courts, Litigation and Justice Delivery
The state of our justice delivery system is disappointing, to say the least. The court system has virtually collapsed. The quality of the judicial appointments has deteriorated. Courts will pose a major challenge for a while in the future until there is serious commitment to the resolution of justice delivery by our courts. This is likely to continue in the future;
· Poorly paid judges and magistrates
· Serious teething problems with the setting up of the Judicial Service as separate from public service
· Lack of public confidence in the judiciary
· Poor appointments or candidature for judicial office
· Constitutional law will grow in importance once a new constitution has been passed
· Criminal law will be a growing area of practice, as well as immigration.
· Government lawyers and prosecutors will remain of poor quality, compromising justice delivery
· IT will be introduced in the courts but will face institutional resistance due to poor training and skills
· More specialized courts will emerge but will have little impact in improving justice delivery
SUMMARY OF THE FUTURE

The future will see the following features;
ü Increased competition from regional and international firms and local substitutes for legal services
ü Challenges to the traditional way of doing legal business
ü Unfriendly operating environment in the courts
ü Unhappy young lawyer will continue to be a challenge to future stability of law firms
ü IT will take centre stage
ü Billing will change dramatically
ü Clients will want to see commodity vs. value distinction in charges
ü Law firm regulation will move away from self-regulation
ü New areas of the law like competition law, mining law, energy law, IT law, environmental law will become lucrative practice niches.

I now turn to the next question...
How do you stay ahead?
According to Eversheds, a premium law firm which is successful and sustainable will have the following characteristics;
a. Resourcing: efficiency and technology
b. Legal practice: well hedged (‘a hedged well rounded legal practice arranged around an industry sector focus’), present in emerging jurisdictions like China and India; ‘as regulation increases and is reformulated a regulatory practice is crucial.’
c. Human capital: Lean (‘low leverage, emphasis on quality lawyers’); commercial, generalist lawyers (‘continued investment in training and development of generalist lawyers with more than legal skills-MBAs, leadership training, etc.’
d. Client relationships: collaboration (‘accepts the law firm is a service provider which can provide genuine collaboration with clients, willing to share risk and reward’); Billing (‘provides a tool box of fee arrangements, including fixed fees and value billing’)
Like I said in the beginning of my presentation, I assume that you are ahead and all I am required to do is tell you how you can stay there! In order for your firm to maintain its position ahead of the pack, it must be positioned strategically. The development of that business strategy involves an internal and external analysis.
External Analysis
· Political- the political environment has had a major impact on the conduct of business in Zimbabwe.
· Economic-law firms are affected by the same economic policies that prevail and affect other players in the economic sector.
· Social-cultural- what social and cultural factors influence the practice of law in Zimbabwe? Are the prevailing attitudes towards women or members of a particular tribe or race impacting on your business?
· Technological-what are the technological advances that are impacting on your business? Cell-phone network, internet, email, video conferencing etc.
· Legal-what legal regime affects your business? Labour? Law society?
· Ecological-what environmental factors are impacting on your business? Can you still afford to produce the huge volumes of paper lawyers are famed for?
For your internal analysis, you will need to understand the following;
· S-build on your strengths
· W-you must find ways to overcome your weaknesses and exploit those of your competitors
· O-Identify market opportunities
· T-Plan to circumvent external threats

Branding
‘Kantor and Immerman, Legal Practitioners’, so says your letterhead! What does this convey in the minds of judges, fellow lawyers, law students, prosecutors, state attorneys, advocates, the Deeds Office, the Companies Office, prison officers, police officers and the general public? A Jewish firm? Black Jews (Varemba)? Gentiles?
Scott Bedbury has said;
‘The best brands never start out with the intent of building a great brand. They focus on building a great—and profitable—product or service and an organization that can sustain it.’[61]
Branding is about the traditional Ps in marketing: product (in your case service), place (distribution channel), price and promotion.[62] Others add a prayer to this, but Kawasaki prefers proselytisation-‘which is the process of converting others to your belief, doctrine, or cause.’[63]
Price or should I refer to it as fees
Lawyers’ fees have been and will continue to a major source of controversy. How do you set your fees? Do you follow the Law Society tariff that assumes that because you are an old lawyer you must therefore charge more irrespective of your ability and the quality of service? A fee, like any price must be set in a very deliberate way. A number of factors affect pricing. Some of these are;[64]
a. How does the clientele perceive the value of what you are offering?
b. How are you positioning yourself?
c. What are the costs of providing the service?
d. What are the competitive forces at play?
e. What value does your firm expect to gain?
You then have to decide whether you want to pursue cost based pricing or value-based pricing. With cost-based pricing, you look at the service/product—cost—price—value—customers. With value-based pricing, you look at customers—value—price—cost—service/product.[65] Customers will pay your price if the total benefits outweigh or match the total price. A client will look and say, what were the features of the service; of what quality was it; how was the service; how is the availability; usability and how much personal satisfaction have I received. They will weigh this against your total fee.
Place/Distribution
How, when and where do you make your services available to your clients? Do you send letters and faxes, do you sit and consult one-on-one, do you use the internet? Do you visit clients at their offices and give assistance or you want your clients to come to your offices and sit for hours in reception? Learn from chartered accountants. Clients will pay for an advisor who cares for them and goes to their offices to serve them.
Promotion
This is a broad term that refers to a range of activities and communication channels that are used reach customers. What the firm would be trying to achieve is influencing how you clients think, feel and act toward a brand or a service on offer. The most common channels used are:
a. Advertising- gets messages to large audiences efficiently
b. public relations- positive image and strengthen ties with stakeholders
c. sales promotions- stimulates immediate purchase and rewards repeat business
d. personal selling-one to one selling, builds and strengthens relationships
e. direct marketing-reach targeted audiences, encourage direct response
f. digital-web/mobile- brand engagement, dialogue, strengthens relationships
Communications Planning
In order for you to plan your communication properly, you need to ask and resolve the following questions;
1. What- what specific proposition or message?
2. Which-which channels to reach the clients, and how much money will be spent on each?
3. When-when, in what mood and frame of mind, with what deployment strategy?
4. How-who will it all be stitched together to create the big picture?[66]
Kawasaki succinctly puts art of branding in modern parlance by describing it thus;
‘The art of branding requires creating something contagious that infects people with enthusiasm, making it easy for them to try it, asking them for help in spreading the word, and building a community around it.’[67]
Branding, contrary to what some money-wasting marketers think, is not about having a posh letterhead and adverts in every place. Great brands start with a great service.[68] I may visit your nice and well presented website, I may have your glossy letterhead, I can see your beautiful support staff in elegant and short dress, I can see your modern offices freshly painted but if Kantor & Immerman does not have a great service for its clientele, all the perfumes of Arabia cannot sweeten your name.
There is great wisdom in the old aphorism, that; the taste of the pudding lies in the eating! The lesson is this, if you want to have a great brand, provide great service. As Kawasaki puts it;
‘If you have something that’s gold, you can make a lot of mistakes with it and still succeed. If you don’t, you have to do almost everything right. So make it easy on yourself and create or find products and services that are inherently contagious.’[69]
Contagion
In other words, if you are a great law firm with great services, you may mess up a client’s work but the client will return. If you have poor service, you do not get a second chance. If you want your clients to find you irresistible, create contagion. Contagiousness has the following key elements;[70]
a. Cool. Create something different but cool. Anything that is cool is contagious.
b. Effective. You cannot brand rubbish.
c. Distinctive. ‘A contagious product is easy to notice and advertises itself. It leaves no doubt that it is different from the competition.’[71] Eg. The Hummer.
d. Disruptive. ‘Contagious products are disruptive. They upset the status quo or make them go into denial.’[72]
e. Emotive. ‘A contagious...service exceeds expectations, and by exceeding expectations, it makes you joyful.’[73]
f. Deep. It must be deep in its usability. The more you use it, the more you discover its capabilities.
g. Indulgent. ‘Purchasing a contagious product or service makes you feel as if you’ve indulged yourself. This may be because it costs more than the alternatives, it’s cooler, or it’s more that you really need. Thus it enables you to escape the mundane.’[74]
h. Supported. ‘Providing exemplary service makes a product or service contagious.’[75]
And so what are the current realities in marketing?
These are the realities to marketing in the 21st century;[76]
a. The pace of change is swift and dramatic
b. There is increased competition
c. There is shorter time to market eg. Surf-pick-a-box shows are gone
d. End of mass communication- people want personal communication.
e. There is a deluge of information-there are too many people saying too much already.
f. There is a constant constrain on budgets- advertising and marketing in general are expensive.
g. There is growth of digital technology-digital technology has changed the way we communicate.
Marketing is facing new challenges. Some marketers call this the marketing catch-22. This is how the catch-22 works: the challenge is the law firm wants to market its services; the problem is that there is marketing resistance; the response from the market is that there is more marketing saturation; the result is that there is more marketing resistance.[77]
A strategic marketing planning process consists of two main elements: Situation analysis and marketing communication programme. I will briefly touch on the situation analysis:
1. First do the research and market analysis
2. Secondly, understand markets and customers
3. Thirdly, segmentation, targeting, and positioning must be done.
Then you move to the communication programme, and do it as follows;
1. Goals (long term targets), objectives (shorter-term targets) and marketing support. Effective objectives must be specific, time defined and measurable, realistic (but challenging), consistent with mission and overall goals, consistent with external and internal environmental analysis. They must be appropriate when considered in the light of opportunities and threats. Your marketing objectives must target the management of relationships. This includes the acquisition of new clients, retention of clients you already have, customer satisfaction, etc.[78]You must watch the dollar. There is need to set financial targets as well. This must be aligned to the marketing objectives. This is where profitability targets come in. How well is the business projected to do?
2. Marketing strategies, programmes and tactics
3. Implementation control and measurement
Recruitment of lawyers
The University of Zimbabwe and the Midlands State University produce the lawyers. Are they producing the lawyers that we want? Is Dougie Chinawa and his accomplices meeting the demands of the market? Let me start by saying that it has never been possible for law schools to produce ready-made products. Law schools are incapable of producing lawyers for the market who meet our requirements. We have as law firms to invest in the training and mentoring of young lawyers to become able lawyers who can work efficiently and intelligently in our law firms. The ideal attributes often sought in your candidates are;[79]
· Good legal knowledge
· Good communication skills
· Hard-working-willing to do both interesting and boring work
· Practical/commercial
In addition, most law firms highly rate professionalism, mature attitude, enthusiasm, being a team player, well organised and use of initiative as good attributes.[80] But I can safely assume that our law schools do not have the facilities to produce what we are expecting of them. The dearth of academic staff, lack of basic books, lack of information technology etc have negatively impacted on the quality of the lawyer we want. In addition, the curriculum has not been revamped continuously to ensure that the law schools produce graduates who are able to meet the needs of the market. The ideal lawyer you want who has a very good grasp of substantive law, has good analytical skills, research and other technical skills while at the same time possessing very good interpersonal skills you have to make yourselves. You have to endeavour to develop lawyers who are capable of retention of the black letter of the law and at the same time able to do serious legal research and have the autonomous ability to take responsibility for his or her own learning.[81]
If you want your firm to stay ahead of the pack, you must ensure that you get involved in the training of lawyers at the school and hire the most promising. Once they are in your firm, you must invest in their training. This training must cease to be the accidental anecdotal training by senior lawyers. It must be a deliberate curriculum that is developed to meet the needs of the firm and ultimately the commercial and practical needs of the general public/clientele.
In addition, have clear-cut career plans for your young lawyers. They must know when partnership is to be expected. They must know the standards that will be used to judge their work when the decision is to be made. Our young lawyers are mobile. They will leave if there is no hope of progress.
Firm management
The only real business subject taught in Law School remains possibly ‘Accounting for Legal Practitioners’. Most lawyers believe that armed with that subject they have miraculously become business managers. Please disabuse yourselves of that mentality. You do not become an able law firm manager because you are a lawyer. Law firms must employ able, talented and trained business managers. The idea that firms appoint a managing partner from amongst their number or that the most senior lawyer is for some reason the most competent is discredited. This is why the growth of law firms has been severely hampered. Hire managers who may be CA’s etc to run your business. Do not waste invaluable legal training on doing mundane tasks like ordering stationery, hiring secretaries, etc. Let managers manage your practice.
Harcup argues that law firms today ‘must provide excellent client service as well as market to new clients. Manage their staff and finances to be successful. To do so, they require not only excellent legal knowledge and legal skills, but also good interpersonal and management skills.’[82] The importance of these skills have been acknowledged by UK solicitors, who now invest in extensive internal training programmes which cover topics from drafting and negotiating skills, leadership, supervision skills and networking skills. Learning and personal development have become important in building and managing modern law firms.[83]
Specialisation
Specialisation in one or more fields of law is fast becoming unavoidable. Some law firms have built big enough specialist practices. It not uncommon to find law firms like Adams & Adams in South Africa majoring in intellectual property law. Some law firms just deal with personal injury cases only. This in my view is the narrow specialisation. Many law firms in Zimbabwe and in other countries strive to have a reputation as ‘commercial law firms’. This based on the belief that commercial law pays better. Big business does not fail to pay fees. The work is cleaner and does not involve having to deal with the police, prison officers, rude and underpaid prosecutors etc.
The complexity of laws being passed on a regular basis, globalisation, international regulation, cross-border practices, regional co-operation, among others, have created an environment for lawyers who prefer to work as specialists to create thriving practices. Specialisation in Zimbabwe, of a narrow kind, is still difficult because the economic shrinkage has limited growth. This may be a misstatement as some law firms seem to specialise in bail and such other criminal practices. But for many of them, this is not a deliberate strategic choice. It is a survival instinct determining economic activity.
Some firms still accept general work but have specialised units that deal with certain type of work. This would be ideal in an environment like Zimbabwe. It would allow the firm to survive on income from several sources, while at the same time affording its clients an array of legal services. Financially, this is good for diversity in sources of income. Should there be a slump in the mining law section, human rights litigation maybe able to carry the ken.
Pro Bono Work
As I said at the beginning of my presentation, practicing law is a public service—a service to the community. It is a commitment to work for justice. We live in a country of inequalities. Lawyers have a special role to play in ensuring that the poor members of the community access legal services. As a law firm, I would urge you to set aside hours every month to provide pro bono services. This service will go a long way in promoting your own firm and in serving your own community. When well supervised, it will an important tool in training young law students and detecting future legal resources. With the new constitution, this is a good field for picking up good challenging work.
The Courts and the Legal System
I have until now ignored a major issue regarding the success or failure of your legal practices. This issue concerns the delivery of justice by our courts. Are our courts capable of delivering justice—quality justice? Do our legal system and our judiciary in particular enjoy public confidence? Do we have able judges? Can you guarantee quality delivery of justice by our courts? Do our courts have the necessary infrastructure to deliver justice? How about the endless delays and the undelivered judgments?

Learned friends, we face a major handicap. Our courts are not yet ready to work in tandem with a legal practice that is ready to deliver value to its clientele. We should expect frustrations. We may have to consider ADR a major force in ensuring delivery of justice to our clients, particularly in matters in which arbitration is permitted by law. Negotiation skills are important. They may give you the ability to settle and negotiate settlements in litigation to the advantage of your clients.
UNDERSTAND YOUR CLIENT
It is very important for you to understand your clients. You need to have a full understanding of their business in order for you to serve them well. In order to understand your client, you need to understand the whole organization structure; vision and mission, strategic goals, five year plan, long term aspirations of the client, how they do business, assets and resources, changes affecting them, products and services, competitors, problems they are experiencing etc.[84]
Aspire too to understand the industry they are in, the markets they operate in, the competition they face and market share, general environmental circumstances, etc.[85] In this analysis, the firm must continuously update its knowledge in order to fully anticipate client needs. Ultimately, a proper understanding of clients will generate ideas on;
· Where can we help more?
· How can we help better?
· How can we add more value?
· How can we increase the strength of our relationship?
· Do we need to change to reflect these changes?[86]
CONCLUSION
No doubt the world has dramatically changed. Clients have become increasingly sophisticated; demand more; have higher expectations; measure value for money more; more inclined to use tenders; shop around more; subject legal work to regular re-tender; more careful in scrutinizing bills; monitor the performance of legal professionals more; prefer proactive lawyers; want creativity and innovation and desire tailor-made services.[87]
As a result, a lot more is now demanded of lawyers. Lawyers are supposed to marry their services to the commercial goals and objectives of their clients; offer commercially viable solutions; know and understand the client very well; trustworthy; enthusiastic; reliable; and competent.[88]
We have to adapt in order to survive!
If you cannot identify or develop distinctive capabilities as lawyers and a law firm you will soon be history.[89] I think the words of Susskind poignantly reflect the challenge that legal practice will face in Zimbabwe and conquering the challenges will determine who will succeed and who will be vanquished;
‘I do not believe lawyers are self-evidently entitled to profit from the law…the law is not there to provide a livelihood for lawyers any more than ill-health exists to offer a living for doctors. Successful legal business may be a bi-product of law in society, but it is not the purpose of law. And, just as numerous other industries and sectors are having to adapt to broader change, so too should lawyers.’[90]









Bibliography
1. Leonard S. Janofsky ‘The Future of the Legal Profession and the Role of the American Bar Association’ speech published in 11 U.Tol.L.Rev 201 (1979-1980) at page 214
2. Chris Maina Peter cites at page 368 the Private Practice Reform Committee of the Law Reform Commission of Tanzania (the Shivji Committee) in its Working Paper No. 1 of 1985
3. Mario Puzo in his book The Godfather
4. William Shakespeare, Henry VI
5. Peter Williamson, Law Society of England and Wales, speech to the 2003 Annual Conference
6. Chris Maina Peter, Human Rights in Tanzania,
7. Private Practice Reform Committee of the Law Reform Commission of Tanzania (the Shivji Committee)
8. Shapero v Kentucky Bar Association, (1988) 486 US 466
9. Mr. Justice Murray Gleeson, Chief Justice of Australia, ‘Examining Values’ a paper delivered to the Australasian College of Surgeons, St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 14 May 2006
10. Ross Cranston ‘Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility’ published collection of essays by the same title, Clarendon Press
11. Chief Justice Brennan of Australia, ‘Profession or Service Industry: The Choice’ delivered as an opening address to the Australian Bar Association Conference, San Francisco, 18-21 August, 1996
12. Sir Anthony Mason ‘The Independence of the Bench (1993) 10 Aust. Bar Review 1
13. Eversheds ‘Law Firm of the 21st Century: the Client’s Revolution, An Eversheds Report on the post-recession legal sector, 2010’
14. Shelley Dunstone ‘The Future of the Legal Profession’ a paper presented at the Southern Australian Legal Convention, July 2002
15. Maister ‘True Professionalism, 1997 Touchstone
16. Alex Spencer ‘Richard Bennett: Every Industry Changes’ www.timesonline.co.uk, October 29, 2007
17. Richard Susskind ‘Legal Profession is on the brink of fundamental change’ www.timesoline.co,uk
18. ‘The Future of the Legal Profession: The Challenge of Change’ A Report of the Canadian Bar Association Young Lawyers Conference, August 2000
19. Guy Kawasaki ‘The Art of the Start: The time-tested, battle-hardened guide for anyone starting anything’ Penguin Books, 2004
20. Luiza, Gibbs Business School, Joburg
21. Joy Harcup, Head of Training, Berwin Leighton Paisner ‘The Future of Legal Profession and Learning: A View from Practice’
22. Pippa Blakemore ‘Developing your practice—Increase the value of current clients: The Rainbow Strategy’ A Paper presented at the 2005 Conference of the International Bar Association
23. Richard Susskind: The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services, Oxford Press 2008

[1] This paper was prepared and presented by TR Mafukidze at a strategic retreat for Messrs. Kantor & Immerman, Imba Matombo, Harare, Zimbabwe on the 22nd January, 2011. It is not for publication.
[2] Tererai Rector Mafukidze holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) [LL.B (Hon.)] from the University of Zimbabwe awarded in 1996. He is due to complete his Master of Laws (LL.M) in Corporate Law with the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg at the end of June 2011. He is majoring in Competition Law, Banking and Finance and Company Law. He was admitted as a Legal Practitioner, Notary-Public and Conveyancer in the High Court of Zimbabwe in February 1997. He practised law in private law firms in Bulawayo (Calderwood, Bryce Hendrie and Partners) and Harare (Scanlen & Holderness) for three years before he joined Old Mutual as Legal Advisor. He later joined the Trust Group, a listed financial services company as Legal Manager of Trust Bank. He became Group Company Secretary in April 2005. He left Trust in October 2006 and moved to South Africa to take up a position with the Constitutional Court Trust of South Africa as the Co-ordinator/Secretary of the Southern African Judges Commission (latterly Southern African Chief Justices Forum). He subsequently combined this responsibility with the Directorship of the Southern African Legal Information Institute (www.saflii.org). Tererai left the employ of the Constitutional Court Trust at the end of March 2010. He works for the African Legal Information Institute (AFRICANLII). He is a co-founder of the AFRICANLII. He is involved in the establishment of legal information institutes across the Continent. He has attended and spoken at many international and regional conferences on Free Access to Law, constitutional law, judicial independence, human rights and corporate law. He also works part-time in the Office of the Chief Justice of South Africa as a researcher responsible for writing speeches and papers for Chief Justice Ngcobo.

[3] Cited by Leonard S. Janofsky ‘The Future of the Legal Profession and the Role of the American Bar Association’ speech published in 11 U.Tol.L.Rev 201 (1979-1980) at page 214
[4] Speaking at the 2003 Law Society Conference, cited by Harcup at page 5
[5] Ibid at 214-215
[6] Chris Maina Peter cites at page 368 the Private Practice Reform Committee of the Law Reform Commission of Tanzania (the Shivji Committee) in its Working Paper No. 1 of 1985 as reporting that;
‘There is street talk circulating around that private advocacy is a means to easy and quick riches and that privately engaged lawyers are fast-talking, money-grabbing lot. The saying by Mario Puzo in his book The Godfather has a lot to do with this image when he said “A lawyer with a briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.” To the Don, saying lawyer and robber, are one and the same thing.’
[7] Qouted by Chris Maina Peter at page 367
[8] (1988) 486 US 466 at 488-489
[9] Delivered at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 14 May 2006
[10] At page 3
[11] Ross Cranston ‘Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility’ published in a collection of essays by the same title, Clarendon Press,
[12] Chief Justice Brennan of Australia in his paper ‘Profession or Service Industry: The Choice’, delivered as an opening address to the Australian Bar Association Conference, San Francisco, 18-21 August, 1996 at page 4
[13] Sir Anthony Mason, ‘The Independence of the Bench’ (1993) 10 Aust. Bar Review 1 at page 9, cited by Chief Justice Brennan in his paper ‘Profession or Service Industry: The Choice’, delivered as an opening address to the Australian Bar Association Conference, San Francisco, 18-21 August, 1996 at page 4
[14] ‘Foreword’ Eversheds ‘Law Firm of the 21st Century: The Client’s Revolution, An Eversheds report on the post-recession legal sector in 2010’
[15] Eversheds ‘Law Firm of the 21st Century: The Client’s Revolution, An Eversheds report on the post-recession legal sector in 2010’ at page 3
[16] ibid
[17] Shelley Dunstone, ‘The future of the legal profession’ page 1 of paper presented at the Southern Australian Legal Convention, July 2002
[18] Shellye Dunstone, Ibid
[19] Harcup at page 5
[20] Ibid
[21] ibid
[22] ibid
[23] Ibid
[24] ibid
[25] ibid
[26] ibid
[27] Dunstone at page 4
[28] Ibid at page 5
[29] Ibid
[30] Dunstone at page 5
[31] ibid
[32] Ibid, Dunstone suggests that joint venture arrangements may provide further possibilities
[33] ibid
[34] ibid
[35] ibid
[36] ibid
[37] Ibid at page 6
[38] Dunstone at page 6
[39] Ibid, at page 7
[40] Cited by Dunstone at page 7 [Maister, True Professionalism, 1997 Touchstone]
[41] Ibid
[42] Ibid at page 8
[43] Ibid
[44] Maister, at page 98-99 cited by Dunstone, ibid
[45] Alex Spencer “Richard Bennett: ‘Every industry changes’”www.timesonline.co.uk October 29, 2007

[46] Ibid
[47] ibid
[48] Ibid
[49] Ibid
[50] Richard Susskind ‘Legal Profession is on the brink of fundamental change’, www.timesonline.co.uk the first of his six draft excerpts from his then forthcoming book at page 1.
[51] ibid
[52] Ibid
[53] Ibid
[54] Ibid
[55] ‘The Future of the Legal Profession: The Challenge of Change’ A Report of the Canadian Bar Association Young Lawyers Conference, August, 2000 Page 53
[56] Ibid at page 54
[57] Ibid
[58] Ibid
[59] Ibid
[60] Ibid
[61] Quoted in Guy Kawasaki’s, The Art of the Start: The time-tested, battle-hardened guide for anyone starting anything, Penguin Books, 2004 at page 167
[62] Ibid at page 167
[63] Ibid
[64] Luiz
[65] ibid
[66] Luiz
[67] ibid
[68] Ibid at 168
[69] Ibid
[70] Ibid 168-169. As set out by Guy Kawasaki
[71] Ibid
[72] Ibid
[73] At 169
[74] Ibid
[75] Ibid
[76] Based on a presentation by Luiza of Gibbs Business School, Johannesburg
[77] Luiza
[78] Luiz, ibid
[79] Joy Harcup, Head of Training, Berwin Leighton Paisner, ‘The future of the legal profession and learning: a view from practice’ at page 3
[80] ibid
[81] Harcup at page 4
[82] Harcup at page 2
[83] ibid
[84] Pippa Blakemore, BSc PGCE, ‘Developing your practice-Increase the value of current clients: The rainbow strategy’ A paper presented at the 2005 Conference of the International Bar Association at page 10
[85] Ibid
[86] Ibid at page 11
[87] Ibid
[88] Ibid
[89] Ibid
[90] Richard Susskind, first draft extract, www.timesonline.co.uk