thought leadership

Law Firms as General Contractors? Or the Other GC

By Toby Brown on July 15, 2011

Ron Friedmann and I ran a point-counter point post a while back on Bet-the-Farm versus Law Factory models for law firms. The dialogue was intended to generate some thoughts and ideas on the future shape of law firms.

In this post I take a tangent on that topic and explore whether firms should or could

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Disruptive Forces in Patent Litigation On the Rise?

By Toby Brown on June 10, 2011

Eventually I will blog on my Case Study on The Evolution of Pricing in the Patent Litigation Market. One reason I keep putting this off is that this topic continues to evolve – quickly.

Over the past few weeks a number of news items on this topic caught my attention. Adding them together highlights how

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Setting Market Prices (a.k.a Fees) with Reverse Auctions

By Toby Brown on June 7, 2011

We have previously mentioned on 3 Geeks the need for effective pricing mechanisms in the legal market at the fee level, versus the hourly rate level. One possible tool to achieve this is using an online reverse auction tool.

We have also noted the increased involvement of the Procurement Department in selecting outside counsel. In

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Industry Standard Documents – With a Capital “S”

By Toby Brown on May 27, 2011

Kingsley Martin’s KIIAC KM tool has been highlighted on the 3 Geeks before. The KIIAC tool is a next-generation KM analysis resource, that analyzes a volume of documents to determine the most standard language for each clause within the document set.

The direct value of something like this tool is obvious for a firm.

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Adapting to Changes & Finding a Different Groove

By Greg Lambert on May 17, 2011

I’m going to give everyone a chance to make fun of me on this one as I try to explain how I thought of some change management issues that we fight all the time in law firms by referencing similar issues that happened in last weekend’s NASCAR race in Dover, Delaware. First of all, yes,…

Using Third Party Client Satisfaction Surveys – At the Right Time

By Toby Brown on May 16, 2011

An admitted failing of the legal industry is a lack of effort on understanding the client’s pain. Previously we have noted on 3 Geeks the need to listen to clients to construct the best AFA. Now that lawyers and firms are becoming aware of the need to understand more about clients beyond “they’ve been served,”

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My Conversation with SLA President Cindy Romaine on Her Future Ready 365 Project

By Greg Lambert on May 12, 2011

I got a chance to have a telephone conversation with SLA President, Cindy Romaine, this week to discuss her brainchild of the Future Ready 365 blog. Romaine’s idea was that the association would run a blog for one year with the theme of “Future Ready” and would compile 365 blog posts from members

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New-Style Legal Competitor Going Public

By Toby Brown on April 13, 2011

Many times I find the most interesting news buried well below the fold. In this case, the news was actually front-and-center in an ALM newsletter, but the full impact of this story is still buried in a sense. The news item: “The Best Defense? Patent Aggregator RPX Prepares For IPO.”

RPX is advertised

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The Next Thing: Your Own QR Code?

By Toby Brown on March 28, 2011

Step 1: This weekend I attended the Bayou City Arts Festival. After seeing a 100 or so QR Codes, I finally noticed how prevalent they were. Good marketing I thought.

Step 2: Greg invited me to attend lunch with Debra Kolah and him at the Hubcap Grill today (Mmmmm – good burgers). Debra

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“Bet the Farm” Versus “Law Factory”: Which One Works?

By Toby Brown on March 22, 2011

Ron Friedmann of Strategic Legal Technology blog and I consider in this joint post the impact of “Law Factories” on the future of large law firms.
Introduction – by Ron Friedmann and Toby Brown

Law firms face an uncertain future, with competitive markets, intense price pressures and a drive to change. So they are beginning…