For the first time in 17 years the government is once again facing a partial shutdown due to congress and the president not being able to come to a firm agreement on the highly debated spending bill.  Due to the proliferation of technology since the 1996 shutdown there has been a lot of speculation about both the short and long term effects.

While hundreds of government entities are expected to be affected both immediately and after the standstill, the law sector is already grappling with the consequences of the shutdown.  Firms that operate closely with the Federal Trades Commission, the Department of Justice and the US Government Accountability Office were the first to feel the consequences.

The impact that the shutdown will have on legal services is highly contingent on the duration.  Washington legal firms have already noted a slowdown in things like subpoenas or Inspector General Investigations, two areas that drive a lot of billable hours to certain sectors of the law industry.

What this ultimately means is that firms who operate in regulatory work will feel the greatest aftershocks.  But, under the time tested theory of supply and demand, where there is a deficiency there is an opportunity.  As more and more government lawyers come to an impasse with congress, private defense lawyers have been left to fill in the gaps where specific industry expertise is not necessarily needed.

While this is a good thing for those select defense lawyers who have filled in to pick up the slack, this ultimately leaves a shortage at the end of the hypothetical law food chain.  As these private defense lawyers are continued to be tied up in other areas, the everyday average Joe may begin to feel the magnitude of the shutdown.  We have already seen this happen in the health care sector through the highly publicized case of Michelle Lanbehn who’s clinical trial to treat her rare form of sarcoma was put on hold because of the shutdown. 

Will the legal industry run into these same roadblocks? It’s tough to say at this point but the longer congress and the president operate within this stalemate these fears could soon become a reality.

Eli Murphy is an editor who works with AbacusLaw.