I occasionally hear lawyers bemoan the dumbing down of professional services, particularly where commoditisation is concerned. This has, in some quarters, become the equivalent of the well-worn knee-jerk term ‘political correctness gone mad’, a riposte to a changing world where old values are challenged and sometimes turned upside down. In like-minded company these phrases are met with sage head-nodding and much tut-tutting.

Now, I do not suggest that such reactions are always inappropriate, but I do object to the use of such labels without thought or perhaps by way of protectionism. No one likes to think that the work they have undertaken, or the way that it is performed, can now be done just as well, if not better, by a computer, but to deny this where it is patently true is not clever.

Failure to recognise the benefits of technology in the delivery of quality services by hanging on to bespoke working practices where they are not warranted will have uncomfortable consequences. Either clients will not pay for handcrafted work that they know only too well could have been commoditised, or the lawyer will have to restrict the charge for such work to the price it commands on a commoditised basis.

A residential conveyancing solicitor told me not long ago that he abhorred the use of case management systems in conveyancing and that his clients could spot a system-produced letter a mile off. His clients wanted only bespoke communications and they appreciated that he was providing such a service. This service was being delivered at a price more appropriate to a technology-backed service, so I asked him what level of profit he was achieving. A pause for thought was followed by the answer: ‘Probably none.’

A well-designed case management system should not produce impersonal and unspecific correspondence and documents, but that is beside the point. I suggest that eschewing the benefits of technology in favour of a craftsman approach where it is not warranted (and the emphasis is important) amounts to ‘dumbing up’ and perhaps that has become the new "dumbing down".