Big Law and Big Med: The deprofessionalization of legal and medical services

Ribstein's account of the perilous times ahead for “Big Law” mentions “deprofessionalization” as one of the major risks for the legal profession. Deprofessionalization involves the substitution of standardized practices and protocols for existing methods of production of professional services. This article examines and compares the extent to which the advances in both techniques will speed deprofessionalization in both medicine and law.