Vanderbilt Law School Professor, Cat Moon, doesn’t just have one of the coolest names in the legal industry, she also brings insights and a perspective on the human element of legal project management. Human centered design thinking is a core function of her teaching. It all goes back to the fact that you can teach law students, lawyers, and legal managers all the concepts in the world, but it’s all for naught if you leave out the human element. Professor Moon also gives a brutally honest view of why women in the legal field tend to leave law firms in order to pursue their creative and life passions outside the firms.
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Marlene and Greg are recently back from Legalweek in New York. While there, they went around to a number of vendors to ask a simple, but relevant question, “what are you doing to change the legal industry?” This week, we get the perspective of four vendors:
- Christina Rosas – Reorg
- Shmuli Goldberg – Lawgeex
- Matt Kroll and Anthony Moeller – PwC
- David Kamien – Mind Alliance
It is a fairly easy question, but one company that had a hard time answering? Thomson Reuters. It was a disappointing response from the company that probably has changed the industry more than any other. The marketing cuts that TR has taken for conferences was painfully apparent at Legalweek. One suggestion: if you’re going to cut the quantity of your representation at conferences, make sure you increase the quality of your presence.
Information Inspirations
James Goodnow interviews American Lawyer Editor Gina Passarella
Fennemore Craig, PC Managing Partner, James Goodnow asks AmLaw Editor Gina Passerella what she observed from the panels at Legalweek. Passerella notes that clients are craving data analytics, but that law firms are not producing them. Perhaps because it is not in the firm’s best interest to do so?? Greg isn’t sure that the full reason, but it needs to be a part of a conversation, which many clients and their firms simply are not having. All problems are communications problems. It’s easy to talk on a panel about what’s wrong… it’s tougher to have that conversation face to face. But that’s what needs to happen.
Legalweek had a KM Managers’ Day
Legalweek isn’t just for e-discovery (although, there’s a lot of that!) There was an entire day, and multiple discussions on the value of knowledge management in the legal industry. The American Association of Law Libraries had two panel presentations from some KM powerhouses. It was great to see legal information professionals stepping up and showing the value KM managers bring to their law firms.
SALI Releases Version 1 of Legal Matters Standards
The mission of SALI (Standards Advancement for the Legal Industry) is to help define exactly what services the legal industry provides by creating a standard language surrounding legal matter types. It’s an ambitious, but important step in helping law firms and clients to have a common language to speak so that they understand each other.
Marlene listened to a recent episode of Legal Speak called “Move Over Big Law. It’s Time for an Alternative.” Once again, Jae Um discusses how lawyer’s value isn’t defined in six-minute increments. Along with Bill Deckelman of DXC Technologies, examples are given on how alternative legal services providers are shaking up the industry.
Snopes and Facebook go separate ways on fact-checking.
Facebook is making more money than ever. Despite being under constant scrutiny for the spread of false information, Facebook and Snopes are no longer teaming up on fact-checking. The biggest reason? No surprise… money.
Even the New York Times wants Free PACER – but what would that mean for the courts?
The call for FREE PACER even reaches the pages of the New York Times. We all want it to be free, but Greg puts on his Devil’s Advocate hat (complete with horns) and takes a view from the unpopular side of what does FREE PACER mean for the courts and its technology? Who is actually benefiting from FREE PACER? And, would Congress be willing to ask taxpayers to pick up the tab now paid by law firms, lawyers, litigants, and vendors?
Never stop trying new things. Like Golden Coffee??
Marlene found the exotic “golden coffee” of South Florida. It reminder her that she should never stop exploring.
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Thanks to Jerry David DiCicca for his original music.