Corporate law departments are increasingly separating new matters into one of two buckets of legal work: routine/basic and higher value/risk. There is a clear division: black and white—no shades of gray.
“Maybe you shouldn’t say that routine work is being commoditized,” said a lawyer-friend with a frown. “Attorneys can be a bit sensitive.” But once she read the Business Dictionary’s definition of commoditization, she was convinced that although the word commoditization might seem inflammatory, it was an accurate description: “Almost total lack of meaningful differentiation… thin margins … sold on the basis of price and not brand… characterized by standardized, ever cheaper, and common technology that invites more suppliers who lower the prices even further.”
