One Trillion Dollars? An Analysis ofY2K Employment Implications for Attorneys

I. INTRODUCTION The potential litigation arising from the Year 2000 computer bug (Y2K) has sent attorneys scrambling to position themselves as advocates in the somewhat ethereal, yet intriguing, new legal field of technological entomology. "We've seen the $1 trillion estimate of costs, and nobody really knows what it will be. . . . But the number is so huge that even if it's just a fraction of the estimate, it's still a huge number."1 Whether Y2K will actually create such an unprecedented source of employment revenue for lawyers is a question that will likely remain without a definitive answer until late in the year 2000. This article undertakes a predictive analysis of the effects of Y2K on attorney employment trends, identifying the viable analytical factors which both support and undermine the prediction of a Y2K employment jackpot for attorneys. Part II provides a rudimentary introduction to the Y2K problem itself, including the media-reported predictions for Y2K-generated legal work and examples of documented Y2K malfunctions. Part III reviews Y2K legal work to date, specifically focusing on a sampling of Y2K lawsuits already filed. The legal theories supporting potential Y2K claims and prospective parties to such claims are addressed in Part IV. Finally, Part V balances the pro and con factors relating to Y2K attorney employment, resulting in the conclusion in Part VI that Y2K will not revolutionize the world of work for attorneys, II. BACKGROUND A. verson's Definition of Y2K "Y2K' is the less-than-ingenious abbreviation for the widely anticipated "Year 2000 computer problem." It bears the alias of the "millennium bug" and other related variations.2 In most basic terms, Y2K is a three-character shorthand for describing the procedure whereby computers of many varieties attempt to change their internal calendars from December 31, 1999, to January 1, 2000. Unlike other predicted catastrophes, the precise moment of the Y2K attack has been known, to the nanosecond, for years. Y2K will arrive in all its glory (or maybe without attending glory) at 12:00:00 A.M. on January 1, 2000. The much-debated question is whether computers will recognize the end of the millennium as the year 2000, or, having long since been programmed to assess year dates in only two digits, will interpret the digits "00" as "1900." To the "nontechie" masses, the practical application of this little glitch could represent the difference between having two weeks to pay a January 15 Visa bill before interest accrues and being more than ninety-nine years late on your payments at 17.5% interest. Even nonmathematicians can appreciate the difference. Although Y2K is arguably a recent phenomenon, it actually had its inauspicious beginning decades ago during the infancy of the computer era. In the "dark ages" of computer use, prior to the time when computers could fit on top of a desk, be set on one's lap, or be held in the palm of the hand, computer programmers, using the COBOL programming language, were limited to eighty-digit program sequences on computer "punch cards."' By punching holes in these cards, the functional equivalent of modern-day keyboards, programmers were able to input critical data applications. At some unknown point, facing the expense of computer memory and the scarcity of disk space, an executive decision was likely made by a high-ranking wearer of pocket protectors to exclude the "1" and the "T from the first two digits of the year designation, thus saving two spaces on the eighty-digit computer punch card.' This frugality in the face of exponential growth in technological knowledge and production planted the insidious Y2K seed that not only provides hope of increased income for attorneys, but also, according to the media, possibly threatens the continuation of civilization itself. B. Media Hype on Y2K Attorney Employment The hype on Y2K and attorney pocketbooks is that one trillion dollars of litigation will result from Y2K legal issues. …