A website called PFHub has a piece suggesting that big box stores such as Walmart and Target may soon legal services to their suite of offerings as they look to expand their appeal and draw customers into their stores.
The story says that "Paul Paton, a law professor and a vice-provost at California’s University of the Pacific in Sacramento, hypothesized that lawyers, in order to remain competitive in a highly competitive industry, will likely offer their services next to tax professionals and pharmacists in big-box retail outlets in the not-so-distant future."
The reason? Well, once again it is the Internet, where consumers can find vast amounts of legal information, therefore making them less willing to visit traditional law offices and may high legal fees. This, the story says, "is part of the reason why the average lawyer will need to stay ahead by serving its potential clients in unconventional ways." In much the same way, one supposes, that health care companies are opening medical clinics inside retail stores as a way of being more accessible to patients.
Paton also sees potential problems, among them: "Despite the inevitability behind it, there still remains the ethics: how can a lawyer be loyal to clients when it is employed by a multinational corporation like Walmart, which has shareholders on the stock market to answer to?"
The story says that "Paul Paton, a law professor and a vice-provost at California’s University of the Pacific in Sacramento, hypothesized that lawyers, in order to remain competitive in a highly competitive industry, will likely offer their services next to tax professionals and pharmacists in big-box retail outlets in the not-so-distant future."
The reason? Well, once again it is the Internet, where consumers can find vast amounts of legal information, therefore making them less willing to visit traditional law offices and may high legal fees. This, the story says, "is part of the reason why the average lawyer will need to stay ahead by serving its potential clients in unconventional ways." In much the same way, one supposes, that health care companies are opening medical clinics inside retail stores as a way of being more accessible to patients.
Paton also sees potential problems, among them: "Despite the inevitability behind it, there still remains the ethics: how can a lawyer be loyal to clients when it is employed by a multinational corporation like Walmart, which has shareholders on the stock market to answer to?"
- KC's View:
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Nothing would surprise me.
