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Based on the survey findings, there are gaps to fill, and there is progress to be made.”

Amidst all the proclamations that the law profession has turned some sort of tech and innovation corner because of the pandemic comes a reality jarring Survey from Wolters Kluwer. The Survey, entitled The 2020 Wolters Kluwer Future Ready Lawyer Report, reveals that clients and law firms remain far apart in how they view the world and what they value. The Survey was performed before the crisis. But the fundamental disparity in understanding, expectation, and even values hasn’t changed. Given the mindset of many law firms reflected by the Survey, it may not, at least for a while. The Survey was conducted through interviews of some 700 lawyers in law firms and legal departments across the world.Continue Reading Clients and Law Firms: Fundamental Disconnect

By Rich Smith

Technology assisted review (predictive coding) for ediscovery still strikes fear in the hearts of many lawyers. Indeed, in the last ABA Legal Technology Survey (2018) only 12% of the respondents reported using predictive coding to process or review e-discovery materials.  Many reported  significant concerns about cost and the validity of the process.

In the following Guest Post, Rich Smith discusses the use and advantages of technolgy assisted review and dispels many of  the concerns about use. 

Rich Smith is a Senior eDiscovery Consultant for Page One Legal. With 7 years of legal technology experience, Rich will be happy to discuss your current technology needs and help craft a vision to be more successful with your practice. He can be reached at: rsmith@pageonelegal.com or 502.376.5829. Page One Legal handles all aspects of eDiscovery and Digital Forensics. With 13 years experience, they provide eDiscovery platforms with both Relativity and Relativity One.”

I would like to thank Rich for his willingness to publish his article on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Rich’s guest post.

Lawyers fear technology.

However, SUCCESSFUL lawyers are EMBRACING technology.

THE MOST SUCCESSFUL lawyers are utilizing technology to assist them, especially during review of large amounts of documents.

Wait…technology…assisted…review? T.A.R.? Hmm, isn’t that sometimes called, “predictive coding”?

YES!Continue Reading Guest Post: Predictive Coding, You’re Already Using It, Now Apply It To Your Cases…

Last summer, I wrote two pieces about the lack of gender equality in the profession generally and big law in particular. These were based on an ABA Survey, which summarized several recent trends of the profession in such areas as diversity, women, legal education, technology, and more. It was not a pretty picture. (My first piece summarized the findings, the second responded to some criticisms of my interpretations of the Survey’s findings).

A recent Survey by Burford Capital conducted by Ari Kaplan Advisors, confirms the startling gap between men and women law firm compensation, especially at the partner level. This gap translates pretty directly into a lack of power of women within the law firm. And a lack of power translates into an inability to change the conditions that cause it.

Continue Reading Burford Survey Reveals Big Law Gender Gap and Why

Amidst all the reports of downturns in the legal business with firms cutting pay and furloughing staff, there are bright spots.

I recently talked with Kristin Tyler, one of the founders of LAWCLERK, and one of the more astute observers of the innovation and legal tech scene. She had lots of good news about LAWCLERK. She also had some interesting observations of where legal may be going–a subject that seems to be on many pundits’ minds these days. It’s always good to hear, though, from someone actually in the business.

Continue Reading For Some in the Legal Community, Business Is Good

When I was a young lawyer learning how to try cases, s senior partner would always tell me: start every case by developing a chronology. What he meant was you can always better understand the case and see things you might otherwise miss if you look at the timing of the underlying facts.

My mentor’s advice was sound, at least in simple cases. The problem was that, especially in complicated cases, the chronology or timeline–which in those days was always done on paper—quickly became so long and complicated. As the case progressed, it tended to collapse of its own weight. To make it usable, you had to either put everything on the timeline or risk putting too little on it. Either way, you risked making it incomprehensible or irrelevant. Trying to use it in the courtroom (or anyplace else for that matter) was difficult. As a result, I gradually moved away from and forgot about the value of timelines.

Continue Reading THE DIGITAL TIMELINE: NOT JUST A TIMELINE

Opus 2, which has been offering a semi-virtual integrated hearing and trial platform internationally, is now poised to also video capability, enabling completely virtual trials and hearings to take place seamlessly.

No doubt, the Coronavirus pandemic has changed the face of how lawyers work at least for now. Whether it will permanently probably depends on how long we are locked down. It hinges on the future willingness of lawyers and, more importantly, clients to pay for the expense and time associated with working in a non-virtual manner. Let’s face it, a lot of costs are incurred getting to and from meetings, hearings, and trials. As lawyers, we bill lots of hours waiting around courtrooms.

Continue Reading The Future of Courtroom Litigation

As I have mentioned before, one barrier to law firm innovation is the failure of clients to demand it. If a new OpenText survey is any indication, though, that may be changing.

OpenText is an enterprise information management (EIM) business. Among other things, it offers a variety of eDiscovery tools to law firms and companies. It recently released the results of a third annual survey directed at the eDiscovery practices of large corporations.

Continue Reading OpenText Survey Reveals Clients Are Taking Control

And you still can hear me singing
To the people who don’t listen
To the things that I am saying
Praying someone’s gonna hear
And I guess I’ll die explaining how
The things that they complain about
Are things they could be changing
Hoping someone’s gonna care

Kris Kristofferson, To Beat the Devil

Is the legal world really changing, or are we all still just talking about change?

Last week, for the first time in a couple of years, I attended the ABA TechShow in Chicago. It’s one of my favorite legal tech shows. Since its geared more toward smaller firms and solo lawyers, there is less high-power selling like, say at LegalWeek. This creates space for more substantive discussions and learning from vendors. That was certainly the case this year. The show featured multiple substantive tracks, over 2000 attendees, countless exhibitors, a start-up competition, and even a silent disco.Continue Reading The Legal Innovation Glass: Half Empty Or Half Full?

Level 2 Legal Solutions, which calls itself a legal services company, today announced the formation of new Compliance and Privacy Practice Areas. These practice areas, according to Level 2 Legal, are specifically geared towards corporate counsel and law firm needs.

That in and of itself might not necesarily sound like big news, especially since Level 2 Legal has been in this space for a while. But what Level 2 Legal is doing is, in fact, a good lesson in disruption, innovation, and how to compete in today’s changing legal marketplace.Continue Reading Level 2 Legal: Defining The Business You’re In

Bob Ambrogi and I have a running dispute. He says I was the first one to ask whether it might be malpractice to not use legal data analytics in today’s litigation world. I say he was the first one to ask that very legitimate question.

But it really doesn’t matter who first coined the question. Recent results from the third annual Legal Analytics Survey by LexisNexis suggests if the answer is not already yes, it’s getting darn close to it.Continue Reading Is It Malpractice To Not Use Legal Analytics?