Practice Technology

Incubator network boosts Europe’s startup community

A Brooklyn Law School professor is helping Europe’s small but growing startup community get affordable legal services through a network of newly created law school clinics—a relatively new concept overseas that appears to be taking off. Jonathan Askin, founder of the Brooklyn Law Incubator and Policy Clinic—which offers low-cost legal…

Apr 1, 2015 3:00 AM CDT

When making things free means gaining more interest

Law firms aren’t known for giving away their services, especially when it comes to a time-consuming process like paperwork. So it was a bit surprising to see Cooley offer its full-scale automated document generator gratis. But that’s what the firm did in July when it launched Cooley Go. The Web-based…

Apr 1, 2015 2:50 AM CDT

Automation is a threat without human roles, keynote speaker says

“Automation Makes Us Dumb.” The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. “Are Google Maps and GPS Bad for Our Brains?” These are some of the many provocative technology-related works published by Nicholas Carr. The Denver-based journalist will deliver the keynote address at the 2015 ABA Techshow, which…

Apr 1, 2015 2:40 AM CDT

Making legal services a subscription product can make sense

A lawyer friend talking about getting his estate planning updated said he felt the price was much too high for standard documents, and that it did not reflect what he believed to be documents generated from forms (or at least they should have been). I made the radical suggestion that…

Apr 1, 2015 2:10 AM CDT

Does your legal LinkedIn profile have off-base endorsements? Ethics opinion has a problem with that

Lawyers with LinkedIn profiles should monitor their endorsements and recommendations for accuracy, according to an ethics opinion by a New York bar group. Lawyers should exclude inaccurate recommendations and endorsements, according to the March 10 opinion (PDF) by the New York County Lawyers Association Professional Ethics Committee. The opinion provides…

Mar 30, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

Which BigLaw firms were targets in cyberattacks? Internal Citigroup report lists two of them

Large law firms are at “high risk for cyberintrusions,” according to an internal report by Citigroup’s cyberintelligence center that called for public disclosure of security breaches by law firms. The report, obtained by the New York Times DealBook blog, said law firms would “continue to be targeted by malicious actors…

Mar 27, 2015 7:13 AM CDT

Firms of the future must orbit around the client

I recently received a strategy presentation from a very sophisticated law firm, which can be summarized in one, MBA-ish slide. The client is in the center planet, surrounded by “law firm” on top, and then other planets in an ecosystem representing what we have called the “unbundled” service providers like…

Mar 26, 2015 1:55 PM CDT

Winning app at Hackcess to Justice New Orleans helps clients preserve evidence

Ensuring that all Americans have sufficient access to justice has been one of the top priorities of the American Bar Association. One of the states with the largest gaps between the demand for legal services and the availability of adequate legal resources is Louisiana. According to the National Association of…

Mar 23, 2015 4:15 PM CDT

Representing clients in China? Prepare to be hacked; BigLaw is a frequent target

At least 80 percent of BigLaw firms have been hacked, according to one expert. And that number may be conservative, Blooomberg Business reports. Peter Tyrrell, the chief operating officer of Digital Guardian, is the expert who told Bloomberg that at least 80 percent of the nation’s top 100 firms have…

Mar 11, 2015 9:37 AM CDT

Philadelphia lawyer creates app to help the homeless

A Philadelphia lawyer who experienced homelessness as a child has created an app that makes it easy to donate to groups that help local poor people. Nikki Johnson-Huston says she created and funded the app, Donafy, with her husband, Shawn Huston. Johnson-Huston is a tax attorney and motivational speaker, and…

Mar 6, 2015 5:45 AM CST

Bloomberg BNA unveils new business of law website

Bloomberg BNA has launched a new website dedicated to covering important issues and news relating to the business of law. Bloomberg BNA’s Big Law Business site, which went live on Thursday morning, will focus on the Am Law 200 law firms and the companies that they represent. The site, which…

Mar 5, 2015 9:00 AM CST

Law firms clash over laptops taken by departing lawyers

A battle over laptops taken by lawyers to a new law firm failed to reach a settlement last week during a three-hour session before a magistrate judge. The suit by Pennsylvania insurance boutique Nelson Brown Hamilton & Krekstein initially sought the return of laptops taken by 14 departing lawyers to…

Mar 3, 2015 7:11 AM CST

Law partner creates SheStarts, a group to help female entrepreneurs

Women starting companies just don't get the breaks men do.

According to a 2014 Babson College study, startups with women on their executive team are three times more likely to get venture capital funding now than 15 years ago. However, 85 percent of businesses that received venture capital had no women on their executive team. Overall, startups with female chief execs got only 2.7 percent of investments.

Mar 1, 2015 6:15 AM CST

Tax boards use an online system to resolve disputes

As a proving ground for online dispute resolution, there is no better venue than eBay. Transactions there give rise to some 60 million disputes a year. Virtually all are handled through eBay’s own ODR process. Ninety percent of the disputes are resolved through the software alone, without a need for…

Mar 1, 2015 2:10 AM CST

Are you smarter than a robot? Lawyers, surgeons make list of jobs being replaced by computers

In past years, blue-collar jobs were most threatened by automation. But white-collar jobs–including lawyer jobs–are also on the line, Forbes reports. IBM’s Watson computer has already demonstrated its prowess at Jeopardy and has bested humans in diagnosing lung cancer. The ramifications have produced a “drumbeat of worry,” Forbes says. The…

Feb 26, 2015 10:44 AM CST