An institution governed by convention, strict divisions of labor and a rigid decision-making hierarchy. A head of the house content to stay “upstairs” with little interest in the work being done “downstairs.” Traditional ways on a collision course with seismic cultural change. Yes, that’s a description of Masterpiece Classic’s popular period drama “Downton Abbey,” which just wrapped up its second season on PBS. But it could just as easily refer to a legal team handling the typical e-discovery litigation project.
When lawyers fail to adapt to the technological revolution and, for example, resist taking a direct role in e-discovery, they face the same challenges and fate as Downton’s patriarch, Robert Crawley, the Lord of Grantham, who is stuck firmly in the Victorian era even while the world around him is changing irrevocably.
