LPO is a Distinct Legal Services Industry – Porter’s Five Forces

The blog at Hildebrandt Baker Robbins includes an interesting series of posts analyzing the structure of the legal industry using Michael Porter’s Five Competitive Forces that Shape Strategy.  In particular, Lisa Rohrer has written Porter’s Threat of Substitutes: Do LPOs Present a Competitive Threat to Law Firms? in which she suggests that because of lawyer licensing restrictions, the threat of substitutes has traditionally been very low in the legal industry.  She then asks, “How much of what happens in law firms really falls within the boundaries of the legal ‘profession’?”  I think this is a key question, because it highlights the ongoing shifts in the legal industry.