Rethinking the Lawyers’ Monopoly

For decades, American lawyers have enjoyed a monopoly over legal services, built upon strict unauthorized practice of law rules and prohibitions on nonlawyer ownership of law firms. Now, though, this monopoly is under threat – challenged by the one-two punch of new artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technologies and a staggering access-to-justice crisis, which sees most Americans priced out of the market for legal services. At this pivotal moment, this volume brings together leading legal scholars and practitioners to propose new conceptual frameworks for reform, drawing lessons from other professions, industries, and places, both within the United States and across the world. With critical insights and thoughtful assessments, Rethinking the Lawyers’ Monopoly seeks to help shape and steer the coming revolution in the legal services marketplace. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

David Freeman Engstrom is the LSVF Professor in Law and Co-Director of the Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford University. An award-winning scholar, longtime litigator, and nationally recognized expert on procedure and law and technology, Engstrom is a member of the American Law Institute, where he serves as Reporter for Principles of the Law, High-Volume Civil Adjudication, a member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and a faculty affiliate at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.

Nora Freeman Engstrom is the Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford University, and she also holds the R. Ammi Cutter Reporter’s Chair of the American Law Institute. A nationally recognized authority on tort law, professional responsibility, and complex litigation, she is the author of numerous award-winning scholarly articles, the co-author of two leading casebooks, and Reporter for two Third Restatement of Torts projects.