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NewLaw, Innovation, and the Importance of Failure
June 15, 2014
Jordan Furlong is one of the first-rate commentators on the legal industry. He is an excellent observer, a deep thinker, and skilled and stylish communicator. Over at Law 21, Jordan has written a set of companion essays that explain the ferment that is now taking hold in the legal industry. Check them out if you need or want the seemingly complex made simple. The first essay is a highly useful reference guide to NewLaw (#NewLaw), a category coined by the Australian consultant George Beaton....
June 15, 2014
Jordan Furlong is one of the first-rate commentators on the legal industry. He is an excellent observer, a deep thinker, and skilled and stylish communicator. Over at Law 21, Jordan has written a set of companion essays that explain the ferment that is now taking hold in the legal industry. Check them out if you need or want the seemingly complex made simple. The first essay is a highly useful reference guide to NewLaw (#NewLaw), a category coined by the Australian consultant George Beaton....
All Rise: The Era of Legal Startups is Now in Session
April 25, 2014
The legal industry has not been particularly well known for innovation and forward thinking. This massive industry, however, is presently in acute distress. News in recent years has highlighted the cracks in the traditional law firm business model, as clients have begun pushing back against stratospheric rates and significant inefficiencies. Storied firms have been folding, merging, and laying off staff and attorneys at unprecedented rates. The legal market’s transition is, however,...
April 25, 2014
The legal industry has not been particularly well known for innovation and forward thinking. This massive industry, however, is presently in acute distress. News in recent years has highlighted the cracks in the traditional law firm business model, as clients have begun pushing back against stratospheric rates and significant inefficiencies. Storied firms have been folding, merging, and laying off staff and attorneys at unprecedented rates. The legal market’s transition is, however,...
BREAKING: Citing Legal Industry Disruption, West, Lexis Open their Data to Free Access
April 1, 2014
Last month, Harvard Law School hosted the conference, Disruptive Innovation in the Market for Legal Services, featuring Harvard Business School Prof. Clayton M. Christensen, author of the seminal 1997 book, The Innovator’s Dilemma. That came not long after ReInvent Law NYC, another conference that focused on innovation and disruption in the legal industry. Indeed, as I wrote then, we may be in the midst of a time of unprecedented innovation in legal technology. Citing this very trend towards...
April 1, 2014
Last month, Harvard Law School hosted the conference, Disruptive Innovation in the Market for Legal Services, featuring Harvard Business School Prof. Clayton M. Christensen, author of the seminal 1997 book, The Innovator’s Dilemma. That came not long after ReInvent Law NYC, another conference that focused on innovation and disruption in the legal industry. Indeed, as I wrote then, we may be in the midst of a time of unprecedented innovation in legal technology. Citing this very trend towards...
LegalTech New York Reviews Are In
February 12, 2014
Observations from the biggest technology show in the legal industry: "no new stuff." It’s been about a week since LegalTech New York attendees packed their bags and headed home. Now it’s time to reminisce, and in the case of bloggers, offer up reviews of the massive event. First up is attorney Robert Ambrogi, who runs LawSites. He says in a Feb. 10 post that there were few innovations this year, adding if there were any to be found they were “at best incremental.” However,...
February 12, 2014
Observations from the biggest technology show in the legal industry: "no new stuff." It’s been about a week since LegalTech New York attendees packed their bags and headed home. Now it’s time to reminisce, and in the case of bloggers, offer up reviews of the massive event. First up is attorney Robert Ambrogi, who runs LawSites. He says in a Feb. 10 post that there were few innovations this year, adding if there were any to be found they were “at best incremental.” However,...
ACC Looks into the Future of General Counsel
December 20, 2013
If the general counsel of the future could communicate with the general counsel of the present, what would they have to say about...
December 20, 2013
If the general counsel of the future could communicate with the general counsel of the present, what would they have to say about...
Bringing the Disruption of the Legal Services Market into the Law School Classroom
December 15, 2013
Is it important to help law students understand the disruptions that are now occurring in the legal industry? Well, let me ask a more fundamental question. How can a law professor efficiently obtain better information on these complex and diffuse changes? None of us legal academics are experts in this area, and that's a problem in and of itself. In the process of struggling with these questions, I decided to carve out 15% of the grade in my Corporations class for team-based profiles of NewLaw companies....
December 15, 2013
Is it important to help law students understand the disruptions that are now occurring in the legal industry? Well, let me ask a more fundamental question. How can a law professor efficiently obtain better information on these complex and diffuse changes? None of us legal academics are experts in this area, and that's a problem in and of itself. In the process of struggling with these questions, I decided to carve out 15% of the grade in my Corporations class for team-based profiles of NewLaw companies....
A Glimpse at the Legal Profession’s Future
December 8, 2013
The “Legal Technology Future Horizons” report, to be released by the International Legal Technology Association in January, examines the potential impact of technology advances on the legal industry over the next decade. Here are 10 observances that might be surprising from our survey: 1. New entrants—different but the same? 2. Crowdsourcing judgements—opportunity deferred: 3. Education—ivory towers or digital oasis? 4. Big data, low differentiation: 5. Regulatory barriers...
December 8, 2013
The “Legal Technology Future Horizons” report, to be released by the International Legal Technology Association in January, examines the potential impact of technology advances on the legal industry over the next decade. Here are 10 observances that might be surprising from our survey: 1. New entrants—different but the same? 2. Crowdsourcing judgements—opportunity deferred: 3. Education—ivory towers or digital oasis? 4. Big data, low differentiation: 5. Regulatory barriers...
U.S. Legal Industry Experiencing Record Year for Mergers
July 22, 2013
The landscape of the legal industry is seeing some pronounced changes, according to a recent analysis by Newton Square, Pa.-based Altman Weil Inc. During the second quarter of 2013, 18 law-firm mergers and/or acquisitions were announced in the U.S., according to the latest Altman Weil MergerLine — which tracks law-firm combinations as they are announced by media outlets and press releases. Over the first six months of the year, there have been a total of 39 mergers. Should the pace of mergers...
July 22, 2013
The landscape of the legal industry is seeing some pronounced changes, according to a recent analysis by Newton Square, Pa.-based Altman Weil Inc. During the second quarter of 2013, 18 law-firm mergers and/or acquisitions were announced in the U.S., according to the latest Altman Weil MergerLine — which tracks law-firm combinations as they are announced by media outlets and press releases. Over the first six months of the year, there have been a total of 39 mergers. Should the pace of mergers...
ALM Legal Intelligence Tracks Alternative Fee Arrangements
May 28, 2013
A report released Thursday by ALM Legal Intelligence, ALM Media's provider of business information to the legal industry,...
May 28, 2013
A report released Thursday by ALM Legal Intelligence, ALM Media's provider of business information to the legal industry,...
ALM Legal Intelligence Tracks Alternative Fee Arrangements, More Law Tech News
May 10, 2013
A report released Thursday by ALM Legal Intelligence, ALM Media's provider of business information to the legal industry, showed more corporate clients using alternative fee arrangements in 2012 to determine how to pay outside counsel. The survey found that 19 percent of corporate legal departments used AFAs for more than half of their legal work, a 12 percent increase over 2011, and 51 percent said the volume of AFAs increased in 2012. To download the report, go to http://at.law.com/AFAReport..
May 10, 2013
A report released Thursday by ALM Legal Intelligence, ALM Media's provider of business information to the legal industry, showed more corporate clients using alternative fee arrangements in 2012 to determine how to pay outside counsel. The survey found that 19 percent of corporate legal departments used AFAs for more than half of their legal work, a 12 percent increase over 2011, and 51 percent said the volume of AFAs increased in 2012. To download the report, go to http://at.law.com/AFAReport..
