Commodity is likely the last word that attorneys, accountants, marketing agencies and other professional service providers would use to describe their services and knowledge. Their advanced degrees and personalized, professional approaches suggest just the opposite. But professional services are becoming commoditized because clients increasingly see the outcome of a service as standard; that is, differences from one qualified service provider to the next are irrelevant to the client’s desired outcomes. And some professional services are being transformed into on-line products. For example, QuickBooksTM and TurboTax® reduced very small companies’ use of accounting services. With the law, we see LegalZoom.com, an Internet-based law firm that commoditized straightforward legal procedures like wills and business formations, offering them online at substantial discounts. Companies are sending attorneys Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to take a company public or arrange financing, another signal that even more legal services are…