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&lt;p&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;When Steven Brill was a student at Yale Law School he noticed that all firms made the same claims to prospective hires about their &amp;#8216;unique&amp;#8217; and first-rate practices, offices, technology, and cultures.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Brill thought, &amp;#8220;They all can&amp;#8217;t possibly be the same.&amp;#8221; &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;This germ of an idea&amp;#8212;&amp;#8220;hey someone should shine a light on law firms&amp;#8221; &amp;#8212;grew into &lt;i&gt;The American Lawyer&lt;/i&gt; (and its progeny, including, to some extent, Vault).&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;In 2009, David Lat is arguably the closest analogue to the early- 1980s Brill.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;On the ABA Journal&amp;#8217;s &amp;#8220;Legal Rebels&amp;#8221; site, &lt;/font&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;Lat interviews Brill&lt;/font&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt; and it&amp;#8217;s pretty riveting stuff.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;Brill recalls a conversation with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/08/ar2005050800378.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;Lloyd Cutler&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;that took place in 1976.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;In trying to dissuade Brill from reporting that Wilmer Cutler &amp;amp; Pickering had been dropped by a client, Cutler argued that a.) Nobody could possibly care about such a story, and b.) Such a report would somehow violate the code of professional responsibility and/or the attorney/client privilege.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The past really &lt;i&gt;is &lt;/i&gt;a &lt;/font&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;foreign country&lt;/font&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial&quot;&gt;. &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Once upon a time, Brill relates, &amp;#8220;there was a culture in this country&amp;#8212;and it was a good culture&amp;#8212;that maintained that lawyers should not be tagged with their clients.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This culture allows, for example, a lawyer to defend a client caught up in a communist witch hunt, without the lawyer being considered a communist.&amp;#8221;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;However, this culture went too far when firms developed an expectation of &lt;i&gt;total&lt;/i&gt; anonymity.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;Probably the highlight of the interview was this exchange:&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial&quot;&gt;Brill:&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Ten years ago, publishers decided en masse to commit suicide by giving away everything for free.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Your business model &lt;/i&gt;(i.e. that of Above the Law) &lt;i&gt;is not going to work long-term&amp;#8212;and it shouldn&amp;#8217;t&amp;#8212;because you&amp;#8217;re not putting it to a market test to see if anyone thinks it&amp;#8217;s worth anything.&amp;#8221;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial&quot;&gt;Lat: &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&amp;#8220;Well, I don&amp;#8217;t know if that&amp;#8217;s completely true&amp;#8212;you need to have enough traffic to monetize the advertising&amp;#8230;&amp;#8221;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial&quot;&gt;Brill:&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;&amp;#8220;You&amp;#8217;re never going to monetize the advertising.&amp;#8221;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;And then he goes on to explain why not.&amp;nbsp; Watch the video here.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font face=&quot;Arial&quot; size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; -posted by brian&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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