When is a law firm not a law firm?

July 18th, 2013

Lee Pacchia of Blomberg Law held a fantastic interview with Mark Harris, the CEO of Axiom Law. Much of the interview, Pacchia was trying to pin down Harris about what Axiom was–a law firm, a legla process outsourcer, or something else. Harris resisted every urge to characterize his company, though repeated over and over again that it was not law firm, though it engages in large-scale transactional work for clients. And it has raised $25 million–something a law firm could never, ever do.

At 10:00 Pacchia asks Harris directly, what can Axiom not do, as it is not a law firm. Harris offered a very carefully worded answer (based on my rough transcription):

Axiom itself, cannot give legal advice, and cannot interfere in the independent judgment of our attorneys, and their provisioning of legal advice. What we do is surround the delivery of legal advice with disciplines and methodologies and best practices that we have borrowed from other industries . . . that just fundamentally improve the service experience for the client, and deliver a completely different level of value.

His answer focuses on Axiom as the institution, and the attorneys working separately. Keep an eye on alternate providers of legal services, and how the Bar aims to regulate, or shut them down.