Law Scribbler

After playing his ACES, GC Jeffrey Carr sits out a round

Plenty of lawyers and law firms are on Twitter, but when it comes to making important announcements, the microblogging service has yet to catch on with the legal profession the way it has in other sectors. As such, my colleagues and I were surprised to see a tweet from Jeffrey…

Oct 1, 2014 2:50 AM CDT

Industry, not practice, makes perfect

For most lawyers practicing today, law firms have always been divided into practice groups. Trial lawyers join the litigation group. Deal-makers are in mergers and acquisitions, corporate law or transactional law, which basically means they deal with lots of money. Real estate lawyers, meanwhile, deal with real property. So it…

Aug 1, 2014 7:40 AM CDT

New Blackphone could help lawyers safeguard client information

While covering this year’s ABA Techshow, I reported on a session that focused on tools and services available to lawyers concerned about maintaining client confidentiality in the face of increased governmental surveillance, particularly from the National Security Agency. One of the most interesting things that I learned (and there were…

May 23, 2014 5:45 PM CDT

People looking for a lawyer are turning to the Internet first, survey finds

Once upon a time, the first thing that an overwhelming majority of people in need of legal representation would do is turn to relatives or friends for personal referrals. Some would consult the Yellow Pages or the local bar association, while only a small handful would use the Internet before…

Apr 21, 2014 8:17 PM CDT

Jenner & Block names Terrence Truax as new managing partner

One week after Jenner & Block’s managing partner Susan Levy announced her departure from the firm she had led since 2008, the Chicago-based firm has a new leader. The firm announced on Monday that IP litigator Terrence Truax would be the new managing partner effective May 1. Traux, who has…

Apr 15, 2014 6:25 PM CDT

Judge: Let’s make apps for ex-cons

This is Rachel M. Zahorsky’s last Law Scribbler column. The column is going on a temporary hiatus. Last spring, U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken stood before a crowd of nearly 500 legal tech and software gurus and gave them a problem to solve: Build a smartphone app that will support…

Nov 1, 2013 7:00 AM CDT

Minority women find blocks on the path to the top

Minority women make up only 2.16 percent of the nation’s law firm partners. In fact, for our June cover story on the female leaders of the Am Law 200 firms, not a single minority woman was present (“Women in Charge,” June). Recessionary losses of associates and partners, including “a disproportionate…

Aug 1, 2013 7:00 AM CDT

Tech geeks gather to reinvent the law

They gathered without ties or adherence to a century-old model for legal services. Instead, those in the crowd of tech geeks at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., were linked by their goal—leading a law revolution. Forty speakers presented their visions of future law at ReInvent Law, a…

May 1, 2013 7:40 AM CDT

Virtual law firm plans to multiply like magic

One part law firm and one part business entity, Washington, D.C.-based Clearspire aims to expand its nontraditional legal-services model across the country with the addition of 50 to 100 former BigLaw lawyers each year for the next five years. With brick-and-mortar outposts recently opened in New York City, Los Angeles…

Apr 1, 2013 7:00 AM CDT

‘Law is broken.’ Will these legal tech gurus bring about change?

Corrected: “The law is broken, change is coming.” So said Axiom Law Managing Director Henry Jones at a one-day session not for the many U.S. lawyers clinging to a century-old model for legal services, but for a crowd of tech geeks who say they are leading a law revolution. Forty…

Mar 11, 2013 5:30 PM CDT

Why don’t law grads participate in loan repayment programs?

Posed by a law school dean, the question above comes amid reports of rising student loan default rates. Although 1.6 million borrowers had applied for income-based repayment as of fall 2012, far too many young lawyers continue to overlook alternatives such as the government’s new Pay as You Earn program.…

Mar 1, 2013 7:50 AM CST

Law school’s ‘Debt Wizard’ breaks down loan repayment by cities and salaries

As the demands for more transparency from law schools grow louder, one school has built an online tool for would-be lawyers to calculate various potential repayment options of the hefty loans many students take on. The University of Michigan Law School’s Debt Wizard has prospective and current students and newbie…

Feb 28, 2013 9:45 PM CST

Now is the time to go to law school, at least in this state, dean says

Updated: While critics continue to disparage the state of legal education, at least some of its top figures continue to balance calls for change with assurances to prospective students of law school’s current value. And one law dean is citing the regional hiring preferences of law firms and positive local…

Feb 7, 2013 3:54 PM CST

Women partners shelve work-life balance talk, say money and power needed for real change

Sullivan Hill managing partner Madeline Cahill-Boley doesn’t want to talk about work-life balance. Neither does Lisa Borsook, executive partner of Canadian law firm WeirFoulds. Nor does Patricia Gillette, a rainmaking partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, whose book of business ranges from $5 million to $10 million. Although greater acceptance…

Feb 4, 2013 2:55 PM CST

New lawyers and military veterans both benefit from school’s legal clinic

In her own words, Kyndra K. Rotunda had a bee in her bonnet. The Chapman University law professor had turned away another case from a struggling military veteran—one too complicated for her clinic students to handle. But the matter would have been perfect for a new lawyer, and Rotunda knew…

Feb 1, 2013 8:50 AM CST