Law Firm
The Lasting 6%: My Impressions Of The 2017 Legaltech Show
February 22, 2017
But, what I’ve been asking myself in the two weeks following Legaltech is why certain things were sticking out in my memory and others had already faded. In other words, what made it into my 6%? So with no further ado, here are my impressions from three days at Legaltech. 2. The cloud is here. I know this because this year NO ONE was talking about the cloud. That said, it’s crazy finding out how many Fortune 500 cloud companies keep their own data behind the firewall. That feels...
February 22, 2017
But, what I’ve been asking myself in the two weeks following Legaltech is why certain things were sticking out in my memory and others had already faded. In other words, what made it into my 6%? So with no further ado, here are my impressions from three days at Legaltech. 2. The cloud is here. I know this because this year NO ONE was talking about the cloud. That said, it’s crazy finding out how many Fortune 500 cloud companies keep their own data behind the firewall. That feels...
Seyfarth Shaw Puts ‘Software Robots’ to Use in Automation Push
February 21, 2017
Seyfarth Shaw is already well-known in the legal industry as a pioneer of using business process improvement to make their work more efficient. Now the firm is breaking ground with the use of “software robots.” Seyfarth will announce Tuesday a licensing deal with Blue Prism, which makes software that it says can automate almost any task a human performs on a computer at one-third the cost of a person. Seyfarth and Blue Prism Group plc, which has about 200 customers including large banks and accounting...
February 21, 2017
Seyfarth Shaw is already well-known in the legal industry as a pioneer of using business process improvement to make their work more efficient. Now the firm is breaking ground with the use of “software robots.” Seyfarth will announce Tuesday a licensing deal with Blue Prism, which makes software that it says can automate almost any task a human performs on a computer at one-third the cost of a person. Seyfarth and Blue Prism Group plc, which has about 200 customers including large banks and accounting...
New Site ‘Legably’ Matches Lawyers With Lawyers For Short-Term Projects
February 19, 2017
A new website called Legably aims to enable solo and small-firm lawyers to handle higher workloads by hiring other attorneys on an on-demand basis. The site matches attorneys who are looking for extra work with attorneys who have projects with which they need help. Notably, Legably has entered into a partnership with Clio to be integrated into its practice management platform, Legably’s founder Daniel P. Reilly told me earlier this week. This will allow attorneys who obtain work through Legably...
February 19, 2017
A new website called Legably aims to enable solo and small-firm lawyers to handle higher workloads by hiring other attorneys on an on-demand basis. The site matches attorneys who are looking for extra work with attorneys who have projects with which they need help. Notably, Legably has entered into a partnership with Clio to be integrated into its practice management platform, Legably’s founder Daniel P. Reilly told me earlier this week. This will allow attorneys who obtain work through Legably...
Deep Learning Will Radically Change the Ways We Interact with Technology
February 16, 2017
Over the last half-dozen years, deep learning, a branch of artificial intelligence inspired by the structure of the human brain, has made enormous strides in giving machines the ability to intuit the physical world. At Facebook’s AI lab, they’ve built a deep learning system capable of answering simple questions to which it had never previously been exposed. The Echo, Amazon’s smart speaker, uses deep learning techniques. Three years ago, Microsoft’s chief research officer impressed attendees...
February 16, 2017
Over the last half-dozen years, deep learning, a branch of artificial intelligence inspired by the structure of the human brain, has made enormous strides in giving machines the ability to intuit the physical world. At Facebook’s AI lab, they’ve built a deep learning system capable of answering simple questions to which it had never previously been exposed. The Echo, Amazon’s smart speaker, uses deep learning techniques. Three years ago, Microsoft’s chief research officer impressed attendees...
Court Approved: Family Law Mediators Can Draft Settlement Documents in Wisconsin
February 12, 2017
From The State Bar of Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Supreme Court has approved a petition that will allow lawyer-mediators to draft and file settlement documents in family law cases. Currently, parties must obtain different legal counsel to perform those legal tasks after mediation. More frequently, parties attempt to navigate the legal system with no legal help at all. Another layer to limited scope representation rules that took effect two years ago, the new rule will give parties a more affordable...
February 12, 2017
From The State Bar of Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Supreme Court has approved a petition that will allow lawyer-mediators to draft and file settlement documents in family law cases. Currently, parties must obtain different legal counsel to perform those legal tasks after mediation. More frequently, parties attempt to navigate the legal system with no legal help at all. Another layer to limited scope representation rules that took effect two years ago, the new rule will give parties a more affordable...
Relevance and Importance of Neuroscience for Law
February 7, 2017
Michael S. Pardo and Dennis Patterson (University of Alabama School of Law and European University Institute) has posted The Promise of Neuroscience for Law: 'Overclaiming' in Jurisprudence, Morality, and Economics (Patterson, Dennis, and Michael S. Pardo (eds.). Philosophical Foundations of Law and Neuroscience. Oxford University Press, 2016, 231-248) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Claims for the relevance and importance of neuroscience for law are stronger than ever. Notwithstanding persuasive...
February 7, 2017
Michael S. Pardo and Dennis Patterson (University of Alabama School of Law and European University Institute) has posted The Promise of Neuroscience for Law: 'Overclaiming' in Jurisprudence, Morality, and Economics (Patterson, Dennis, and Michael S. Pardo (eds.). Philosophical Foundations of Law and Neuroscience. Oxford University Press, 2016, 231-248) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Claims for the relevance and importance of neuroscience for law are stronger than ever. Notwithstanding persuasive...
NY Times: Facing Fierce Competition For Clients, Elite Law Firms Take Unusual Steps To Bolster Their Brands
February 5, 2017
New York Times Deal Book: With Competition Fierce, Even Elite Law Firms Resort to the Unusual, by Elizabeth Olson: America’s law firms, even the most prominent, are mired in an era of noticeably modest growth and volatility in the industry, and 2017 promises to be no better. Fierce competition is prompting firms to take unusual steps to bolster their profiles. Top firms are hiring groups of lawyers to expand specific practice areas, changing pay practices, jettisoning or demoting some partners...
February 5, 2017
New York Times Deal Book: With Competition Fierce, Even Elite Law Firms Resort to the Unusual, by Elizabeth Olson: America’s law firms, even the most prominent, are mired in an era of noticeably modest growth and volatility in the industry, and 2017 promises to be no better. Fierce competition is prompting firms to take unusual steps to bolster their profiles. Top firms are hiring groups of lawyers to expand specific practice areas, changing pay practices, jettisoning or demoting some partners...
10 Years Out, Report Says Recession’s Impact on Firms is Clear
February 4, 2017
In 2017, it’s a buyer’s market when it comes to legal services, according to a report released Thursday by the Center for the Study of the Legal Profession at the Georgetown University Law Center and Thomson Reuters’ Peer Monitor. The report examines the challenges the legal industry has faced in the 10 years since the start of the Great Recession, and how law firms have had to change the way they operate to accommodate their clients’ budgetary needs. Perhaps the most significant challenge...
February 4, 2017
In 2017, it’s a buyer’s market when it comes to legal services, according to a report released Thursday by the Center for the Study of the Legal Profession at the Georgetown University Law Center and Thomson Reuters’ Peer Monitor. The report examines the challenges the legal industry has faced in the 10 years since the start of the Great Recession, and how law firms have had to change the way they operate to accommodate their clients’ budgetary needs. Perhaps the most significant challenge...
Big Data Gets Bigger: 5 Ways to Employ Legal Analytics
February 1, 2017
Technology advances in both law and the wider world will mean greater reliance on analytics in legal technology. Big data is just getting, well, bigger. And while legal technology’s progress has been slow in relation to technology changes in the wider world, legal professionals are increasingly turning to one technique to handle emerging big data challenges of the day. That approach is data analytics—a practice in which data is extracted for categorization and analysis by a variety of techniques...
February 1, 2017
Technology advances in both law and the wider world will mean greater reliance on analytics in legal technology. Big data is just getting, well, bigger. And while legal technology’s progress has been slow in relation to technology changes in the wider world, legal professionals are increasingly turning to one technique to handle emerging big data challenges of the day. That approach is data analytics—a practice in which data is extracted for categorization and analysis by a variety of techniques...
How Service, Not Tech, Is Disrupting Legal
February 1, 2017
Service (getservice.com) is my favorite new company. In fact, my experience using Service was so positive that it has impacted the way I’m thinking about legal disruption — and Service isn’t even a legal tech company per se. But before I explain the broader implications, first a word on Service. So, as the annual Legaltech show in New York approaches (which, this year, has rebranded as Legalweek), some of the companies I’m following most closely are tech enabled service companies...
February 1, 2017
Service (getservice.com) is my favorite new company. In fact, my experience using Service was so positive that it has impacted the way I’m thinking about legal disruption — and Service isn’t even a legal tech company per se. But before I explain the broader implications, first a word on Service. So, as the annual Legaltech show in New York approaches (which, this year, has rebranded as Legalweek), some of the companies I’m following most closely are tech enabled service companies...
