There are newspapers, magazines, and blogs that publish posts that make you feel good.

You know, the articles that make you feel better about yourself:

• “Fat Is the New Thin—Why an Extra 30 Pounds Extends Your Life”
• “Why Procrastination Is Really Good for You”
• “How Not Returning the Call Is Really Best”
• “Extra Money Isn’t Worth the Tax Headache”
• “Disorganized Is the New Organized”
• “Lots of Coffee Is Good for You”
• “Drinking Helps You Live Longer”
• “The Future of Law Is Just Like the Past”

These types of articles make us feel good about what we’re already doing. They endorse our lackadaisical approach to life, and they make us smile.

“See, I told you that I didn’t need those fruits and vegetables,” I tell my wife. This study says I’ll live forever by eating ice cream and steak and drinking lots of beer.

I love these articles, and the publications understand our need for confirmation of our decisions. They know writing those stories garners readers and attention, so they do everything they can to find a way to write what we want to hear.

Unfortunately, most of the time, these stories aren’t true. Best case, they contain a tiny kernel of truth justifying the headline. There’s almost always some reason that we can’t do the thing the headline suggests without some remorse and backlash.

Are the Headlines about the Future of Law True?

Today, I’m focused on the “Future of Law” headlines. Lots of articles are being written about what’s happening and what’s coming for us as a profession. Most all of those articles predict a future that looks very different from what we’re doing right now.

Interestingly, there’s also a crowd of legal writers who argue the opposite. They take the position that the future of our profession looks pretty much like our present. They get lots of support from lawyers who are comforted by the idea that nothing is going to change.

I’m a big believer that the future of law is different from what we’re doing now. I think the future is here, and change is underway. That’s especially true with regard to family law:

• We’re experiencing increased lawyer and non-lawyer competition.
• We’re dealing with pressure on fees.
• We’re dealing with a very different attitude on the part of many prospective clients.

Things are certainly in flux.

Accepting the inevitability of change opens the door to developing a response and taking action. Denial of change results in paralysis.

I know we’d like to believe that hamburgers are good for us, that procrastination is helpful, and that beer is the solution to all of our problems. We’d also like to believe that the future of law looks like our glorious past.

Don’t get sucked into believing those who tell us what we want to hear. Change is happening. It’s past time for a response.