Commodification

As of 1992, William C. Cobb, chair of the second ABA Seize the Future conference, "estimated that 60% of all available legal work can be considered commodity work because clients feel that any good lawyer could perform the services."
Stephen P. Gallagher How Should Law Firms Respond to New Forms of Competition 52 Syracuse L. Rev. 1049 at 1054 (2002)

"Commodified knowledge is turned into homogenized products or commodities that can be purchased and used off the shelf, while routinization renders erstwhile high-level work amenable to routine performance by less-skilled persons or even machines."
George C. Nnona Situating Multidisciplinary Practice Within Social History: A Systematic Analysis of Inter-Professional Competition 80 St. John's L. Rev. 849 at 873 (2006).

In the paper by Darryl Mountain assigned for the Jan. 25 class, note how Mountain states that in a commoditized market, "[l]awyers maintain a residual role to address risks not covered by the commoditized product. But the bulk of the work falls to lawyers who act as kegal knowledge engineers in updating the online systems. In that role they have little or not contact with clients." 52 Syracuse L. Rev. 1065 at 1071

Susskind: "There is no legal job whose complexity and value elevates it entirely beyond market forces. The reality is that significant parts of even the biggest transactions and disputes are repetitive and routine." Rio Tinto Deal Heralds Huge Changes.