The reason the Third Wave works now, where it did not work well in, let us say, the 80s is that we are finally completing the arduous, hurtful and mournful task of transforming from a brawn based society to a brains based society. We can see this still in what they call the innovation sector which constantly complains about a lack of "skilled workers". This means, in short, that work is becoming more high-tech and skill-based as the more repetitive, less-skilled work is moving overseas.
Simply put, nobody fits into this new brainier model better than an attorney. It is a profession based up logical reasoning, analytical research and argument. A law degree, when you break it down into its component parts, is nothing more than training in these elements.
Oh, but you say that defines the manufacturing segment of our society an not law. I say, yes and no. Unskilled manufacturing is dead. Low skilled factory jobs dropped 25% (by 2 million workers) since 1983. But, you can see it in law as well.
In the not so distance past law firms had to employ staff and lawyers to do a lot of repetitive tasks related to moving litigation and transactional work along. Mental brawn if you will. Published libraries had to be maintained, and law firm's were full of people to handle the mail room and to run constantly to the courthouses, just to name a few examples. One more example, were the number of secretaries law firm's employed to type, copy, mail, and deal with all of the menial tasks necessary to keep a lawyer productive. (Does anybody need a secretary to take shorthand today).
Most law firms needed to be close to the courthouses in which lawyers practices because of the great amount of material that had to be taken to and from the courthouse daily. When I practiced bankruptcy law in the late 80s and 90s we would go to the courthouse, a few blocks from our office, with one to two dollies loaded with four to five boxes each of files and materials.
When I started practicing law in the 80s the older lawyers were still use to operating with pre-printed forms in which they would type or handwrite in the various dicker information. We were young and dumb and thought they were crazy, but recall they started practicing before copy machines were available. Everything operated off carbon paper. Corrections required nearly a complete retype.
On a more studious note, with the advancements of tech today, judges are becoming impatient with the form practice of law. You see it everyday in the bankruptcy courts where creditor and debtors, and their attorneys, are sanctioned daily for oversights that really represent nothing more than form practices.
Today, we do not need these forms, law libraries, static locations close to the courthouses, or really even staff because tech has taken over the mental brawn tasks that got in the way. At least we do not need everybody in the same location. We now survive off our ability to perform logical reasoning tasks with the tech we are now provided.
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