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Effective Paperwork in Mediation
April 18, 2018
So, while the papers produced for mediation are not usually the first opportunity each party has to see how the dispute is approached by others, those papers, and in particular the position papers, are hugely important and becoming more so – especially given the trend for commercial parties to have less contact time as they spend little time together in joint and more time apart in caucus on mediation day. Paper can therefore sometimes be the primary way in which parties communicate the entirety...
April 18, 2018
So, while the papers produced for mediation are not usually the first opportunity each party has to see how the dispute is approached by others, those papers, and in particular the position papers, are hugely important and becoming more so – especially given the trend for commercial parties to have less contact time as they spend little time together in joint and more time apart in caucus on mediation day. Paper can therefore sometimes be the primary way in which parties communicate the entirety...
Syllabus Surgery: Integrating Arbitration and Mediation into Modern Curricula
April 14, 2018
The contributors to this excellent symposium on the Future of Legal Education have proposed large-scale changes to the ways that law schools are organized and the ways that law schools teach. My suggestion is more humble: Schools must do a better job of reflecting the dramatically heightened place of arbitration and mediation in modern legal practice. Arbitration and mediation have traditionally been viewed as elective courses. Sometimes they are lumped together into a single course, called something...
April 14, 2018
The contributors to this excellent symposium on the Future of Legal Education have proposed large-scale changes to the ways that law schools are organized and the ways that law schools teach. My suggestion is more humble: Schools must do a better job of reflecting the dramatically heightened place of arbitration and mediation in modern legal practice. Arbitration and mediation have traditionally been viewed as elective courses. Sometimes they are lumped together into a single course, called something...
Is Online Dispute Resolution The Future of Alternative Dispute Resolution?
April 13, 2018
The tech revolution has been underway for some time now but has only recently come to the forefront of the general public’s consciousness from the explosion in attention to bitcoin. The progress of technology has allowed it to creep into the domain of alternative dispute resolution. There is now online mediation, online arbitration, and even arbitration utilising the same blockchain technology as cryptocurrencies: blockchain arbitration. These forms of alternative dispute resolution, known as “online...
April 13, 2018
The tech revolution has been underway for some time now but has only recently come to the forefront of the general public’s consciousness from the explosion in attention to bitcoin. The progress of technology has allowed it to creep into the domain of alternative dispute resolution. There is now online mediation, online arbitration, and even arbitration utilising the same blockchain technology as cryptocurrencies: blockchain arbitration. These forms of alternative dispute resolution, known as “online...
Data-Driven Client Retention Program Wins Fans at DLA Piper
April 6, 2018
Marketing experts have long pressed lawyers to genuflect at the altar of existing client relationships, arguing that law firms grow faster and more efficiently by expanding their business with the clients they already have. It’s a lesson that hasn’t been lost on the marketing team at DLA Piper, which has begun rolling out an ambitious program aimed at helping its lawyers grow their business. The initiative, which the firm first introduced in pilot form last year, uses internal...
April 6, 2018
Marketing experts have long pressed lawyers to genuflect at the altar of existing client relationships, arguing that law firms grow faster and more efficiently by expanding their business with the clients they already have. It’s a lesson that hasn’t been lost on the marketing team at DLA Piper, which has begun rolling out an ambitious program aimed at helping its lawyers grow their business. The initiative, which the firm first introduced in pilot form last year, uses internal...
The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Legal Operations
April 2, 2018
Artificial intelligence (AI) promises to be the most disruptive class of technologies in driving digital business forward during the next ten years. Yet even among the most tech-savvy professionals, there is conflict over what it can and cannot do. The most promising aspect of applying AI in the legal profession lies in automating simple and repetitive tasks, like e-discovery or legal bill review, while enabling human experts to improve results beyond what machines or people could do alone. This...
April 2, 2018
Artificial intelligence (AI) promises to be the most disruptive class of technologies in driving digital business forward during the next ten years. Yet even among the most tech-savvy professionals, there is conflict over what it can and cannot do. The most promising aspect of applying AI in the legal profession lies in automating simple and repetitive tasks, like e-discovery or legal bill review, while enabling human experts to improve results beyond what machines or people could do alone. This...
Law Firm Innovation? We’re Not Seeing It, Says Survey of Corporate Counsel
April 1, 2018
A 2017 Altman Weil survey found that half of law firms say they are actively engaged in creating special projects and experiments to test innovative ideas and methods. But a newly released survey finds that the corporate clients of those law firms are seeing little or no actual change in how law firms deliver services. Conducted by the law firm Thompson Hine, the survey, Closing the Innovation Gap, interviewed in-house counsel and senior executives at 176 companies and financial institutions....
April 1, 2018
A 2017 Altman Weil survey found that half of law firms say they are actively engaged in creating special projects and experiments to test innovative ideas and methods. But a newly released survey finds that the corporate clients of those law firms are seeing little or no actual change in how law firms deliver services. Conducted by the law firm Thompson Hine, the survey, Closing the Innovation Gap, interviewed in-house counsel and senior executives at 176 companies and financial institutions....
Law Firms Are Investing in Tech Before It Overtakes Them
March 31, 2018
The trend toward melding tech into law firms’ core business comes as both a response to a shifting legal market, where firms’ traditional business is coming under increased competition, and as a realization by firms that they are well-positioned to capitalize on the demand for tech and data-enabled services. And it is fundamentally altering what it means to be a law firm in the 21st century. “The current climate of investing is part of a redefinition of the law firm model, where law firms...
March 31, 2018
The trend toward melding tech into law firms’ core business comes as both a response to a shifting legal market, where firms’ traditional business is coming under increased competition, and as a realization by firms that they are well-positioned to capitalize on the demand for tech and data-enabled services. And it is fundamentally altering what it means to be a law firm in the 21st century. “The current climate of investing is part of a redefinition of the law firm model, where law firms...
Big Law Embraces Litigation Finance
March 26, 2018
Litigation finance is booming, and Big Law is getting on board. The practice originated in Australia in the 1990s and took...
March 26, 2018
Litigation finance is booming, and Big Law is getting on board. The practice originated in Australia in the 1990s and took...
Yale, Cornell Law Libraries Help Launch Global Rule of Law Initiative
March 24, 2018
In partnership with the United Nations, law librarians at Cornell and Yale are getting law journals, e-books and other legal content to people in low- and medium-income countries for free. Yale Law School and Cornell Law School are part of a new effort to get free legal information and legal content to academics, researchers and policymakers in developing countries in a bid to strengthen the rule of law around the globe. The law libraries at both schools are partners in the Global Online Access...
March 24, 2018
In partnership with the United Nations, law librarians at Cornell and Yale are getting law journals, e-books and other legal content to people in low- and medium-income countries for free. Yale Law School and Cornell Law School are part of a new effort to get free legal information and legal content to academics, researchers and policymakers in developing countries in a bid to strengthen the rule of law around the globe. The law libraries at both schools are partners in the Global Online Access...
Some Thoughts on The Future of Law
March 24, 2018
In January 2018, I wrote a column for the Oklahoma Bar Journal titled The Future of Law. The 2012 talk was intended to be very broad and give lessons to all lawyers about how to succeed in the future. The 2018 column was focused on several recent trends and how they were going to impact the practice of law. I thought regular readers might appreciate the opportunity to compare my 2012 predictions with my 2018 predictions. To me, the most interesting thing was how many things I mentioned in the 2018...
March 24, 2018
In January 2018, I wrote a column for the Oklahoma Bar Journal titled The Future of Law. The 2012 talk was intended to be very broad and give lessons to all lawyers about how to succeed in the future. The 2018 column was focused on several recent trends and how they were going to impact the practice of law. I thought regular readers might appreciate the opportunity to compare my 2012 predictions with my 2018 predictions. To me, the most interesting thing was how many things I mentioned in the 2018...
