Actions are supposed to speak louder than words. Directionally, client action seems fairly unambiguous:
Law Firm Partners: If It Ain’t Broke…
It is rational for someone who has been wildly successful doing something a certain way to keep doing it that way, especially when the odds appear favorable that they will continue to be successful. Most people don’t exit their comfort zone without a compelling reason. This is doubly true of many high-status experts.
Any story
Legal Tech Assessment Case Study (Annotated)
Word limits are a very good idea. Constraints benefit my regular writing (which needs all the help it can get). Here, however, I get to ramble, which has its own virtues.
As some you may have seen, Legaltech News published the first Legal Tech Assessment case study in November. This was a milestone moment for
Managing Partners on Change: Clients Don’t Ask, Partners Resist
It is hard to feel sympathy for extremely successful people. The problems of the powerful pale in comparison to the problems of the powerless. But the thing about power is that those who lack it have a difficult time understanding its limitations. Those who earn at the poverty line don’t really see the gap between
I wrote a book. I hope you like it.
I am the primary author of Unless You Ask: A Guide For Law Departments to Get More From External Relationships, written and published in partnership with the External Resources Interest Group of the ACC Legal Ops Section. The book was introduced at last week’s fantastic ACC Legal Ops Section Conference. I guarantee this will
Real Lawyers v. Cyborgs (Part 3)
In Part 1, I introduced the idea that we are all professional cyborgs. I used my personal experience with a diabetic toddler whose life literally depends on computers attached to his body to ruminate on how technology is so deeply intertwined with our professional lives that we often don’t even notice it. I rejected
Real Lawyers v. Cyborgs (Part 2)
Continuing with my two-year-old son, Pickle. As I laid out last post, Pickle is a cyborg. A Type 1 diabetic, his life literally depends on computers that are attached to his body. Because of him, I find myself contemplating the fact that we are almost all professional cyborgs. Technology is now an inescapable element of
Real Lawyers v. Cyborgs
My two-year old just got his first iPhone. Now, Pickle (yes, Pickle!) is never without it. The iPhone goes everywhere with him the way other kids might drag along a stuffed bear. We are even thinking about getting Pickle a haute couture fanny pack to ensure his iPhone is on him at all times.
I’ll
Client-led Change: Toward a More Perfect Legal Market
The CLOC Institute last week was phenomenal. I barely tweeted because I was so engaged by the content and conversation. I did, however, transcribe one quote that got some attention from the legal commentariat:
I gravitated to the quote because it was consistent with my pre-existing notions of the role clients and structured dialogue play
Outside Counsel Guidelines and Collective Conversations
I hate outside counsel guidelines. Hate. It’s visceral. I have never encountered a set of guidelines I liked. My antipathy includes guidelines I had a hand in writing.
As an associate I worked for a client whose guidelines forbade time entries that suggested any form of communication between lawyers–meetings, conversations, conferences, correspondence. So, too,