NY Times Covers Consumer Benefits of JD Supra

Full client disclosure here, but I really wanted to share this...

On Sunday, the NYTimes published a very flattering article on JD Supra titled, Lawyers Open Their File Cabinets for a Web Resource.

For me, this story is as close to the original vision for JD Supra as I've come across. While the research, sharing & marketing benefits are mostly evident, what tends to get overlooked is the public consumer angle. A very interesting part of this site's concept (for me) is the way people are empowered to make better decisions. Whether you're an Executive betting the company, or an individual hiring a lawyer, engaging legal help is an expensive proposition. Good decisions are obviously critical.

I'm not sure if, as the article says, Law is the last bastion; but do believe codified examples of work history can be part of the solution. Yet another element in moving toward the complete web-view of the legal professional.

Looking purely from a consumer's view, I see the benefits of sharing work product as:

• The ability to read these documents & become better informed;
• Increased reliability of documents where Lawyers take public ownership of them;
• Researching legal issues within a collection of vetted documents;
• Ability to identify a lawyer with rare experience (& not worth the lawyer's effort to market);
• Ability to identify expertise by geographic region or practice area;
  

When decisions & execution are *this* important, I can't see DIY legal work being an issue. The question then becomes, are Consumers better off with these documents available?

That answer, at least for me, is a definite yes.