E. coli and Specialization

The recent Taco Bell E. coli outbreak has triggered some discussion of lawyers who “own” a particular area of law (of course there is an E. coli law blog, for instance).  It reminded me of something I’ve been meaning to mention here:

A recent ABA Journal article (which appears to no longer be online) discussed the impact of the various changes to the law relating to medical malpractice in Texas.  A bunch of lawyers, both plaintiff- and defense-side, have had to completely change their practice, and there’s some anecdotal evidence that it’s really changing other areas of law.  The story mentioned a fellow who does some relatively obscure area of law involving employers who opt out of workers’ comp insurance, and whose practice was, I guess, a friendly little area of law.

He reported that a bunch of med mal lawyers have come in and made the cases much more complicated and contentious, with more document requests, depositions, and a generally more aggressive approach.  Maybe that’s good — perhaps it was an area that needed more aggressive lawyering — but it’s certainly an interesting potential side effect of changes in one area of law.  Last month, I spoke to defense lawyers in the amusement industry and suggested that a combination of factors, including specialty-specific tort reform measures, might cause some more aggressive lawyering in their area too.

So: Is there other indication that this is happening?  Is this the legal equivalent of Whac-a-Mole?  Will lawyers who currently “own” a specialty start seeing more invasions?