I am disappointed every time I guest lecture a law school class.
Because anecdote is often more compelling than data, I’ll start with an example from two weeks ago. An adjunct professor who teaches one of those great law school classes with cool titles like Tomorrow’s Lawyer had his students take the Word module of
Lawyers who entered the profession when the standard means of production were a dictaphone and a dedicated secretary will, without any sense of irony, EMAIL me to tell me that technology has no impact on the way they practice law. One of the most underappreciated characteristics of technology is how quickly it can be assimilated
Technology training is important. Competence-based assessments are a great technology training tool. At the outset, assessments permit trainees to test out of training they do not need. By identifying competencies and deficiencies, assessments serve as the basis for tailored training plans. Assessments then validate that training has been effective.
As formulated above, training
I, like most legal professionals, cringe at memories of sitting in a large room and having someone demonstrate the use of a technology tool. Despite my confirmed case of technophilia, I hated re-learning the basics and had a hard time absorbing anything new. Sitting through videos was even worse. The medium trumped the message.
These
I had my
Among the nontraditional stakeholders who bring so much to the delivery of legal services, technology trainers hold a special place in my little lawyer heart.
the fundamental task of management remains the same: to make people capable of joint performance through common goals, common values, the right structure, and the training and development they need
[Ed. Note: Please welcome Guest-Blogger, Matt Coatney as he gives us some insight on how to deal with the smart machines and AI technologies coming our way.]
Much has been said about how technology will disrupt the legal profession and spell the end of lawyers. From Richard Susskind’s End of Lawyers? to IBM Watson
 |
| Image [cc] Clive Darra |
I started a very robust conversation with some colleagues the other day, including Dan and Jane of this site, who I am certain you will hear from soon, about a decision my team made to opt out of business cards.
The initial conversation came up because I often get asked for
I read Nick Milton’s Must you fail in order to learn? post on Friday with trepidation. I have written of the importance of failure a few times (In praise of failure, Ryan’s rules for projects) and I talk about it all the time. I often say my philosophy is ‘to fail quickly’
 |
| Image [cc] Rachel |
As I was rolling around the Future Law conference via my Beam vehicle on Thursday, Twitter was lighting up with a series of tweets from the actual presentations (as well as about my robot form.) During his State of the Art of Legal Technology session, Professor Oliver Goodenough fielded a question that