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Harvard Prepares Students To Thrive In A Disrupted Legal Profession
February 21, 2016
Harvard Law Bulletin (Fall 2015), The Laws of Adaptation: Change is coming to the legal profession—whether attorneys like it or not—and HLS is at the forefront of efforts to anticipate it, and prepare students. The warning bells have been ringing for at least two decades: The legal profession as we’ve known it is doomed, and lawyers must adapt—or face extinction. For the most part, these dire predictions have been ignored, even as globalization and technology have revolutionized markets,...
February 21, 2016
Harvard Law Bulletin (Fall 2015), The Laws of Adaptation: Change is coming to the legal profession—whether attorneys like it or not—and HLS is at the forefront of efforts to anticipate it, and prepare students. The warning bells have been ringing for at least two decades: The legal profession as we’ve known it is doomed, and lawyers must adapt—or face extinction. For the most part, these dire predictions have been ignored, even as globalization and technology have revolutionized markets,...
NYT: Nursing Home Suit Raises a Simple Question
February 21, 2016
Arbitration clauses have proliferated over the last 10 years as companies have added them to tens of millions of contracts for things as diverse as cellphone service, credit cards and student loans. Nursing homes in particular have embraced the clauses, which are often buried in complex contracts that are difficult to navigate, especially for elderly people with dwindling mental acuity or their relatives, who can be emotionally vulnerable when admitting a parent to a home. State regulators are concerned...
February 21, 2016
Arbitration clauses have proliferated over the last 10 years as companies have added them to tens of millions of contracts for things as diverse as cellphone service, credit cards and student loans. Nursing homes in particular have embraced the clauses, which are often buried in complex contracts that are difficult to navigate, especially for elderly people with dwindling mental acuity or their relatives, who can be emotionally vulnerable when admitting a parent to a home. State regulators are concerned...
Avvo Offers Fixed-Fee Legal Services in 18 States
February 21, 2016
Expanding on a fledgling plan to offer fixed-fee legal services through a network of lawyers, Avvo has announced that it is rolling out the program in 18 states beginning Tuesday. “The beauty here is we get them the customer, we get the cash up front, and they don’t have to worry about billing or tracking time,” Avvo founder and CEO Mark Britton told Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites blog, explaining the services provided by Avvo Legal Services to its lawyer network. “This is a shortcut to everything...
February 21, 2016
Expanding on a fledgling plan to offer fixed-fee legal services through a network of lawyers, Avvo has announced that it is rolling out the program in 18 states beginning Tuesday. “The beauty here is we get them the customer, we get the cash up front, and they don’t have to worry about billing or tracking time,” Avvo founder and CEO Mark Britton told Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites blog, explaining the services provided by Avvo Legal Services to its lawyer network. “This is a shortcut to everything...
How Big Data Is Changing Disruptive Innovation
February 20, 2016
There is no doubt that disruption is underway here. These players create products that are cheaper and more accessible than their peers. But it’s not necessarily starting at the low end of the market, it’s coming from orthogonal industries with strong information synergy. It’s starting where the source of data is, then building the information enabled system to attack an incumbent industry. It’s time for executives, entrepreneurs, and innovators stop quibbling over whether something satisfies...
February 20, 2016
There is no doubt that disruption is underway here. These players create products that are cheaper and more accessible than their peers. But it’s not necessarily starting at the low end of the market, it’s coming from orthogonal industries with strong information synergy. It’s starting where the source of data is, then building the information enabled system to attack an incumbent industry. It’s time for executives, entrepreneurs, and innovators stop quibbling over whether something satisfies...
What Happened to the Class of 2010? Empirical Evidence of Structural Change in the Legal Profession
February 20, 2016
Poor employment outcomes have plagued law school graduates for several years. Legal scholars have debated whether these outcomes stem from macroeconomic cycles or from fundamental changes in the market for legal services. This Article examines that question empirically, using a database of employment outcomes for more than 1,200 lawyers who received their JDs in 2010. The analysis offers strong evidence of structural shifts in the legal market. Job outcomes have improved only marginally for the Class...
February 20, 2016
Poor employment outcomes have plagued law school graduates for several years. Legal scholars have debated whether these outcomes stem from macroeconomic cycles or from fundamental changes in the market for legal services. This Article examines that question empirically, using a database of employment outcomes for more than 1,200 lawyers who received their JDs in 2010. The analysis offers strong evidence of structural shifts in the legal market. Job outcomes have improved only marginally for the Class...
Ga. Case Could Decide Whether State Law Is In Public Domain
February 20, 2016
Can Georgia state law be copyrighted? A legal research company, Fastcase, is trying to prove that it can’t. The company filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta. The suit is against another research service, Casemaker, that has exclusive rights to Georgia's Rules and Regulations through an agreement with the state. According to Massachusetts attorney Bob Ambrogi, the case could have an impact outside of Georgia, since many states have these kinds of agreements with publishers....
February 20, 2016
Can Georgia state law be copyrighted? A legal research company, Fastcase, is trying to prove that it can’t. The company filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta. The suit is against another research service, Casemaker, that has exclusive rights to Georgia's Rules and Regulations through an agreement with the state. According to Massachusetts attorney Bob Ambrogi, the case could have an impact outside of Georgia, since many states have these kinds of agreements with publishers....
Delaware’s Two Courts for Trade Secrets and Restrictive Covenants
February 19, 2016
Delaware is known for its robust litigation in the field of corporate governance, generally arising from transactions among some of the country’s largest and most well-known companies. But Delaware also has become a forum of choice for litigants seeking to protect a variety of intellectual and competitive interests, including trade secrets, restrictive covenants, and confidentiality agreements. Delaware offers parties in such disputes two sophisticated trial courts: a court of equity, the nationally...
February 19, 2016
Delaware is known for its robust litigation in the field of corporate governance, generally arising from transactions among some of the country’s largest and most well-known companies. But Delaware also has become a forum of choice for litigants seeking to protect a variety of intellectual and competitive interests, including trade secrets, restrictive covenants, and confidentiality agreements. Delaware offers parties in such disputes two sophisticated trial courts: a court of equity, the nationally...
More In-House Lawyers Looking to Transition Back to the Firm
February 19, 2016
In-house departments may soon be facing an exodus of legal talent to law firms, as lawyers seek new opportunities and more varied work. Burgess Paluch Legal Recruitment director Doron Paluch has commented that growing numbers of in-house counsel are looking to steer their career paths back towards law firms. 'We see lawyers who genuinely enjoyed, and perhaps now miss, the structure and nature of private practice,' commented Mr Paluch, suggesting that the emerging trend bucks the well-worn wisdom...
February 19, 2016
In-house departments may soon be facing an exodus of legal talent to law firms, as lawyers seek new opportunities and more varied work. Burgess Paluch Legal Recruitment director Doron Paluch has commented that growing numbers of in-house counsel are looking to steer their career paths back towards law firms. 'We see lawyers who genuinely enjoyed, and perhaps now miss, the structure and nature of private practice,' commented Mr Paluch, suggesting that the emerging trend bucks the well-worn wisdom...
New Lex Machina Feature Corrects Erroneous Lawyer Listings in PACER
February 19, 2016
Legal analytics company Lex Machina — which LexisNexis acquired in November — is introducing a new feature today that...
February 19, 2016
Legal analytics company Lex Machina — which LexisNexis acquired in November — is introducing a new feature today that...
Litigation Finance Competition Heats Up in North America
February 18, 2016
The race for dominance among top commercial litigation financers continued this week, with UK-listed Burford Capital and Australia-listed Bentham IMF announcing that they are hiring Big Law veterans and expanding their operations in North America. Burford Capital has plans to begin backing intellectual property matters—an area ripe for funding that the firm has previously avoided. It has hired Justin Daniels, a litigator with two decades of experience, to help lead the effort. CEO Christopher...
February 18, 2016
The race for dominance among top commercial litigation financers continued this week, with UK-listed Burford Capital and Australia-listed Bentham IMF announcing that they are hiring Big Law veterans and expanding their operations in North America. Burford Capital has plans to begin backing intellectual property matters—an area ripe for funding that the firm has previously avoided. It has hired Justin Daniels, a litigator with two decades of experience, to help lead the effort. CEO Christopher...
