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Settlement Malpractice
June 11, 2019
Lawyers routinely settle lawsuits or advise their clients about settlement. One might expect, therefore, that clients routinely complain about some aspect of their lawyers’ settlement services. Ten years of data from eleven jurisdictions paint a vivid, different picture: although the vast majority of civil lawsuits are resolved through negotiated settlements and although complaints against lawyers are common, fewer than 1% of reported legal malpractice cases and only about 1.5% of Bar complaints...
June 11, 2019
Lawyers routinely settle lawsuits or advise their clients about settlement. One might expect, therefore, that clients routinely complain about some aspect of their lawyers’ settlement services. Ten years of data from eleven jurisdictions paint a vivid, different picture: although the vast majority of civil lawsuits are resolved through negotiated settlements and although complaints against lawyers are common, fewer than 1% of reported legal malpractice cases and only about 1.5% of Bar complaints...
American Law Firms in Transition: Trends, Threats and Strategies
June 10, 2019
American Law Firms: Trends, Threats and Strategies takes a sweeping, incisive view of law firms' uneven progress after the Great Recession and analyzes the five elements that will determine their success or failure in the next decade: culture, character, practices, systems and leaders. Studying every critical aspect of law firms from income trends to attorney attrition rates and from gender bias to leadership development, this book shows how law firms have struggled to adapt to rapidly changing...
June 10, 2019
American Law Firms: Trends, Threats and Strategies takes a sweeping, incisive view of law firms' uneven progress after the Great Recession and analyzes the five elements that will determine their success or failure in the next decade: culture, character, practices, systems and leaders. Studying every critical aspect of law firms from income trends to attorney attrition rates and from gender bias to leadership development, this book shows how law firms have struggled to adapt to rapidly changing...
The use of iPads by U.S. Fifth Circuit judges and law clerks
June 8, 2019
When the presentation allowed for questions from the audience, I asked the judges whether they prefer to read briefs in paper, on the computer, or on an iPad, and whether that led them to have any preferences on how the brief is written, such as whether they prefer to see cites in the text or in the footnotes. All four judges said that they were big fans of the impressive use of technology at the Fifth Circuit. For example, after a lawyer e-files a brief, the court adds hyperlinks to the PDF version...
June 8, 2019
When the presentation allowed for questions from the audience, I asked the judges whether they prefer to read briefs in paper, on the computer, or on an iPad, and whether that led them to have any preferences on how the brief is written, such as whether they prefer to see cites in the text or in the footnotes. All four judges said that they were big fans of the impressive use of technology at the Fifth Circuit. For example, after a lawyer e-files a brief, the court adds hyperlinks to the PDF version...
FutureLaw 2019: Rearranging the Bits of the LegalTech Revolution
June 1, 2019
The annual FutureLaw conference — produced by CodeX, the Stanford Center for Legal Informatics, with the sponsorship...
June 1, 2019
The annual FutureLaw conference — produced by CodeX, the Stanford Center for Legal Informatics, with the sponsorship...
Bexar County District Court Verdict Reports
May 22, 2019
The Bexar County District Courts and Chief Trial Assignments Counsel are reporting recent jury verdicts. The first of these monthly reports can be downloaded from the Chief Assignment Counsel's website: https://www.bexar.org/1813/Chief-Trial-Assignment-Clerk Credit to the Bexar County District Judges, including Judge Karen Pozza, and Chief Trial Assignments Counsel, Ms. Lisa Dossmann, and her colleagues for compiling and reporting this information so others can make data-informed decisions.
May 22, 2019
The Bexar County District Courts and Chief Trial Assignments Counsel are reporting recent jury verdicts. The first of these monthly reports can be downloaded from the Chief Assignment Counsel's website: https://www.bexar.org/1813/Chief-Trial-Assignment-Clerk Credit to the Bexar County District Judges, including Judge Karen Pozza, and Chief Trial Assignments Counsel, Ms. Lisa Dossmann, and her colleagues for compiling and reporting this information so others can make data-informed decisions.
Fifth Circuit Holds Houston Law Firm May Intervene in Client’s Arbitration Case
May 15, 2019
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ordered a Texas federal court to allow a law firm to intervene in a case over a contingency fee dispute with a client following arbitration proceedings. In Adam Joseph Resources, et al. v. CNA Metals Limited, No. 17-20685 (5th Cir., March 26, 2019), a Houston law firm, Brown Sims, represented a client, Adam Joseph Resources (“AJR”), on a contingency fee basis against CNAMetals (“CNA”). ...
May 15, 2019
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ordered a Texas federal court to allow a law firm to intervene in a case over a contingency fee dispute with a client following arbitration proceedings. In Adam Joseph Resources, et al. v. CNA Metals Limited, No. 17-20685 (5th Cir., March 26, 2019), a Houston law firm, Brown Sims, represented a client, Adam Joseph Resources (“AJR”), on a contingency fee basis against CNAMetals (“CNA”). ...
Good News For Lawyers As Employment, Income Increase Again
May 12, 2019
Stephen F. Diamond (Santa Clara), Good News for Lawyers as Employment Increases Again; Silicon Valley Lawyers Get a Hefty Pay Raise: Continuing a decades old trend, employment of lawyers increased yet again from May, 2017 to May, 2018, in the latest data released today, March 29, 2019, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. (The data excludes partners, who are not defined as “employees,” and may also exclude some solo practitioners.) Nationally,...
May 12, 2019
Stephen F. Diamond (Santa Clara), Good News for Lawyers as Employment Increases Again; Silicon Valley Lawyers Get a Hefty Pay Raise: Continuing a decades old trend, employment of lawyers increased yet again from May, 2017 to May, 2018, in the latest data released today, March 29, 2019, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. (The data excludes partners, who are not defined as “employees,” and may also exclude some solo practitioners.) Nationally,...
Tech-Savvy Firms More Profitable Now, More Prepared for the Future, Finds Survey of U.S. and EU Legal Professionals
May 11, 2019
A survey of 700 lawyers in U.S. and European law firms, legal departments and business-services firms finds that organizations that already leverage technology are better prepared to keep pace with an evolving legal market than those that are just beginning to use technology or that are not doing so at all. In addition, firms that were early adopters of technology were significantly more likely to report higher profitability in the last year than were firms that lagged in technology adoption. These...
May 11, 2019
A survey of 700 lawyers in U.S. and European law firms, legal departments and business-services firms finds that organizations that already leverage technology are better prepared to keep pace with an evolving legal market than those that are just beginning to use technology or that are not doing so at all. In addition, firms that were early adopters of technology were significantly more likely to report higher profitability in the last year than were firms that lagged in technology adoption. These...
Exclusive Survey Report: Small Firms See Many Challenges, But Do Little To Address Them
April 21, 2019
Solo and small law firms face many challenges — from getting paid to managing time to keeping up with technology — but they do little to address them, according to the 2019 State of U.S. Small Law Firms survey report being released today by Thomson Reuters. This is the third year TR has surveyed firms of 29 or fewer lawyers, and the results each year have been alarmingly consistent in showing that, while small firms recognize the challenges they face, they show surprisingly little...
April 21, 2019
Solo and small law firms face many challenges — from getting paid to managing time to keeping up with technology — but they do little to address them, according to the 2019 State of U.S. Small Law Firms survey report being released today by Thomson Reuters. This is the third year TR has surveyed firms of 29 or fewer lawyers, and the results each year have been alarmingly consistent in showing that, while small firms recognize the challenges they face, they show surprisingly little...
Benefits of Data Analysis
April 16, 2019
In order to judge the likely outcome of a case, or the best strategy to pursue, attorneys often rely on the sum of their...
April 16, 2019
In order to judge the likely outcome of a case, or the best strategy to pursue, attorneys often rely on the sum of their...
