A few decades ago, the “power” of the big computer firms shifted into the hands of geeks in garages. As those geeks have become “the man,” newer, smaller, cooler garages have sprung up, and power keeps leaking out to them. The same thing has happened in music, in journalism, and in a host of other fields where flexibility and creativity are more important than mahogany desks and cut-crystal decanters.

The same thing is happening in law. The public isn’t aware of it, because the public cares more about iPods than about jurisprudence. The media isn’t really aware of it, because they think that if they need an opinion about the legal profession, they should ask a firm that has existed since before the Civil War. Even most lawyers are only dimly aware of it, because the future isn’t widely distributed.