The New Normal
248 ABA Journal The New Normal articles.
In each of the last 12 months, the ABA Journal has checked in with a group of legal professionals who have pioneered the use of technology for problem-solving, research and innovation, among other traits. Read about them and listen to our interviews with them.
Dec 28, 2017 1:05 PM CST
The noble legal profession is notorious for its inability to move away from long-standing traditions. While many firms of all sizes experiment with new technologies, methodologies and business practices, the vast legal landscape can hardly be distinguished from itself two or more decades ago.
Oct 17, 2017 8:00 AM CDT
“To what extent should societies delegate to machines decisions that affect people?” This question permeates all discussions on the sweeping ascent of artificial intelligence. Sometimes, the answer seems self-evident.
Oct 3, 2017 8:20 AM CDT
For as long as we’ve had legal systems, prosecutors and police have needed to gather evidence. And for each new advance in communications, law enforcement has adapted.
Aug 24, 2017 8:00 AM CDT
When we meet with law firm managing partners and senior partners, we often ask them how well they understand their metrics.
Do you understand your firm’s profits per partner?
Yes.
Do you understand how many hours you and other partners have billed and what billing rates are?
Yes.
Jul 13, 2017 8:00 AM CDT
During the past few months, I have been giving presentations all over the world. One of the things I would touch upon are the eroding effects of commoditization. I know there are a lot of misconceptions around this topic. By now, most lawyers acknowledge that commoditization exists, but most believe commoditized work equals "simple work" or "bulk work." This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Jun 8, 2017 8:30 AM CDT
Five years ago, a committed group of law firm leaders and law firm service providers embarked on a journey to reimagine the legal profession with a futurist’s view.
While many innovation journeys begin with an examination of the current state of a business, team, product or service in order to determine how to make what exists better, this innovation journey was different.
Jun 1, 2017 8:12 AM CDT
Last year, I wrote about the first meeting of CLOC, the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium, which had come together driven by a number of Silicon Valley (and other) legal…
May 18, 2017 2:17 PM CDT
No part of legal work is unaffected by the duty of competency. And now that’s true for the duty of technology competence, too. It requires lawyers to be competent in…
May 15, 2017 8:21 AM CDT
Last month, I talked about whether doing a better job of measuring lawyer performance could unlock diversity.
This month, my co-author, Gregory Richter, partner and vice-president at Major…
May 10, 2017 8:00 AM CDT
I recently had an experience with online dispute resolution. And it wasn’t pretty.
I am embarrassed to admit it all came about when I clicked on an alluring ad for…
May 4, 2017 8:30 AM CDT
I just completed a renovation that took over four months—the apartment hadn’t been touched in 40 years. Because I visited the job site almost every week, I got to know…
Apr 27, 2017 8:30 AM CDT
I think many law firms historically acquired their clients first and their markets second. Somewhere early in a firm’s genesis, one of its lawyers landed a client and performed the assigned tasks well; impressed, that client hired the lawyer again and recommended the lawyer to a similar client, which also retained the lawyer, and more followed.
Apr 13, 2017 8:30 AM CDT
HP’s legal department recently announced that it will withhold up to 10 percent of fees from law firms that do not meet its diversity standards, to draw attention to law’s lagging performance in advancing diversity.
Apr 6, 2017 8:30 AM CDT
Innovation has been the buzzword in the legal sector for several years. These days, there is a seminar or conference on innovation or IT disruption in the legal sector every week. Fueled by these repeated messages, many law firms start building apps, giving models away for free or embark on using software for such tasks as due diligence.
Mar 14, 2017 8:30 AM CDT
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