Today’s morning keynote at ILTA was a topic near and dear to the heart of most legal industry observers and pundits: the so called Dramatic Shifts in Legal Services. A panel of esteemed luminaries including John Elbasan of Wilkie Farr, Zabrina Jenkins, Starbucks in house counsel, Dan Linna of Northwestern University, Jeffery Schwartz of Hinshaw and last but certainly not least for reasons that will become apparent below, John Fernandez of Dentons. Unrepresented on the panel, ironically, was anyone actively practicing with a law firm which, in and of itself, is emblematic of the continuing gap between those of us who believe there is a better way to provide legal services and those who provide them. Continue Reading Lawyers and Innovation: Let’s Talk About the Elephant In the Room

So, the 2018 ILTA Conference opened today. ILTA calls itself the “premier peer networking organization, providing information to members to maximize the value of technology in support of the legal profession.” This year’s version sported record attendance and enthusiastic crowds even though just as last year, there was a leadership crisis on the eve of the conference–the CEO “resigned” just days before the start–and even though for some reason ILTA decided to crack down on press passes and some say selectively apply its media criteria. Continue Reading ILTA Keynote: That Will Never Happen. Until It Does

Here we sit on the virtual eve of the 2018 International Legal Technology Association annual conference.  ILTA, as most readers probably know, is primarily made up of large law firms and better known legal technology vendors and the conferance, along with ABA techShow and LegalWeek are the largest legal tech events.

Once again, I plan on attending and look forward to learning, networking and seeking out vendors in the legal tech space. But I wonder about the future of big conferences like this one. All of these conferences are spectacles, expensive to put on, expensive to attend, and expensive to travel to. In many instances, the bang for the buck can certainly be questioned, especially when there may be other alternatives for the same content at less cost.  Continue Reading ILTA, TechShow and LegalWeek: the Future of the Really BIG Conference

This Post will be a little different.

I promised myself when I started this blog that I would not review tech products or offer tech hints mainly because I didn’t think I would typically have much original to say. Also, I didn’t think I would have the time to keep up with all the new tech products and adequately try them out to write accurately. Continue Reading The Mobile Lawyer: Kanex, MSFT Keyboard and Jabra

The American Association of Law Librarians (AALL or double a double l as it is commonly referred to) conference started last Thursday in Baltimore. This is the annual gathering of knowledge management and information services types—still often referred to librarians in some firms– for law firms, universities, and some companies. Continue Reading Law Librarians Are Pissed Off

The other day I came across an article by one of my favorite writers, Lee Rosen. Lee was a successful lawyer who decided he didn’t want to spend his life sitting in an office in North Carolina but instead wanted to see the world AND practice law. How he did that, and the lessons it holds for all of us is for another day and time.

The essence of Lee’s recent article that caught my eye was his conclusion about the need to have a vision first and then act. Continue Reading About That Vision Thing

Standard innovation theory tells us that we move from an early adoption phase to mainstream very quickly. This is in part true because our  behaviors are influenced by our peers, how widespread we think the use of a particular product is and how well known the provider of the product is to us. This is particularly the case where the product saves time, is easy to use and produces a better result. And all this is especially true in the legal profession.

If true, then Thomson Reuters’ new Westlaw products announced today may be the event that takes AI and data analytics into the mainstream for the legal profession. Continue Reading Westlaw Edge: AI For Lawyers Goes Mainstream?

Last January, I wrote an article about the possible impact of the Supreme Court decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees on state bar associations.

As has been widely reported, last week, the Supreme Court actually issued its Opinion. Continue Reading 6 Reasons Your Bar Association May Be Worried about Janus