“Some people see things as they are never and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask why not.”

 

 

For months, ILTA (the International Legal Technology Association) remained committed to its annual in-person conference in Nashville on August 23 through 27.  As most of you know, the ILTA Conference is on the largest in the legal tech space.

 

 

As 2020 drug on and the pandemic got worse, we all saw most events either canceling or going virtual. ILTA stubbornly and almost single-handedly hung on to the idea that we would be back to normal by August. As March turned into April and April turned into May and June, most of us thought ILTA would cancel the whole thing at the last minute. That it couldn’t shift fast enough to virtual to have a worthwhile conference.

Continue Reading ILTA>On Virtual Conference: Be Bold. Reimagine the Space

One of the more fascinating keynotes at this week’s ILTA virtual conference was a panel discussion among three representatives of the big four accounting firms: Peter Krakaur, Managing Director of EY Law, Mark Ross, Principal, Deloitte, and Juan Crosby, PWC NewLaw Services Leader. The title of the talk was Legal’s Next Disruptor? Demystifying the Big 4. Or as I put it before, is the Big 4 the proverbial big bad wolf?

If you may be wondering, the answer whether will the Big 4 be the next legal disruptor is not only yes. Its hell yes. (It’s no coincidence that the titles of two of the panelists feature the word law front and center).

Continue Reading Big 4 As The Next Legal Disruptor: Is It Game Over?

As most of you know, this year’s ILTA conference is totally virtual. I don’t know whether it’s the outstanding content, the innovative approaches ILTA has rolled out or whether I’m just used to living virtually, but I’ve been impressed (more on this later).
 
Yesterday’s keynote (there is a keynote every morning) was a nuts and bolts discussion about law firms’ future. The presenter was Richard Punt, former CEO of Peerpoint. He  has a long history in legal and is now the Chief Legal Strategist and Market Development for Thomson Reuters. He has a ringside seat to what is going on in the legal industry both for in house counsel and law firms. His predictions for the future due to the ongoing changes in the industry and COVID should cause many law firms to think long and hard about where they are and where they are going. (As I have discussed before, the leaders of many law firms don’t lower themselves to attend conferences like this, so how information like this filters up may in and of itself separate the sheep from the goats).

Continue Reading Punt’s Prediction: A Scary Future for Some Law Firms

As most of you know, in the United Kingdom, you are frequently reminded to “mind the gap” when stepping on and off trains. It’s a precaution to watch out for the gap between the train and the platform, so you don’t trip and fall flat on your face.

 

I was reminded of this this admonition recently. LexisNexis has rolled out a premium research service called Lexis+. I had a chance to talk to Jeff Pfeifer, LexisNexis’ Chief Product Officer and David Ganote, LexisNexis’ Senior Director of Product planning, about the product and the design process.

Continue Reading Legal Tech: Mind The Gap

I have talked before about legal tech products that either try to do too much or are so nonintuitive that lawyers who bill by the hour won’t use them. One problem often begets the other: in attempting to do too much, a product often becomes too cumbersome to learn and use. I have found examples though of legal tech developers that get it right. Casepoint, for example, which I have written about before. More recently, LexisNexis’ Product Liability Navigator has found the sweet spot as well. Continue Reading Trellis: The Google of State Court Analytics?

I recently wrote and published a piece on my blog about the LexisNexis Product Navigator, an analytical program I thought was very impressive.

After I published that post, I learned more about the team at LexisNexis that put it together. The product was designed and built by the User Experience (UX) Group at LexisNexis and Michael Oberle, a Senior UX Designer II, along with the Product and Development Team. The UX team \includes UX Designers, UX researchers, and Visual and Product Designers.

Michael and I exchanged several messages about the product, which was his first while with LexisNexis. According to Oberle, the UX team, “used elements from Design Thinking, Design Sprints, Lean Business Canvas, SVPG training to make a new product in a new way. We started with subject matter experts that had experience in the industry and kept testing and refining with our potential users. In one stage, we let the users design their own dashboard. We continually refined the top tasks and the jobs to be done.”

Continue Reading Meet the Team Behind Product Liability Navigator

If productivity increases are passed along to customers via lower prices or better quality services, then the demand for whatever goods and services are being provided is likely to rise…

Daniel Susskind

A World Without Work: Technology, Automation and How We Should Respond

 

Imagine a well-heeled consultant coming to your law firm and saying guys (yes, its usually guys. See my most recent rail on this subject) “I have great news. You can lower your rates and make more money”! He or she would likely be fired on the spot for such heresy. After all, the mantra of most law firm consultants and the practice of most law firms is always to raise hourly rates. At every chance. Whether clients like it or not.

 

Continue Reading Lower Hourly Rates. Make More Money. Hold My Drink

We all suffer daily with trying to figure out the “new normal. In the following Guest Post,  Rose Jackson discusses how to make the new normal better than normal. What we can do to improve ourselves and organizations as a result of the circumstances . How we can adapt. I recently met Rose and was impressed with her insights. I think you will be too.

Rose E. Jackson, MBA, is the Chief Empowerment Officer at Professional Legal User Support Specialists (PLUSS), LLC, a technology trainer and user support professional who specializes in legal applications.  With over 30 years of training, project management, administrative management, and technical support experience, Rose can assist your organization with workflow improvements, tech support, training, and technology consultation services. Rose can be reached at rose.jackson@getpluss.com or (312) 589-0962. PLUSS consultants can support all of your end-user technology needs.

 

 

Recently, a colleague informed me that the law firm she works for is just waiting to “get back to normal.” I am not sure what that means. I have had several conversations since with legal professionals that suggest that whatever the normal was will never be again.

Continue Reading The New Normal:Better Than Normal


In my former life as a defense product liability lawyer, I was often called on by clients to evaluate the exposure and risk of a case. Or I might need to determine whether and how many similar cases there might be out there to better assess risk. Or I might want to know what experts to vet and hire. Obtaining this information wasn’t easy, however. It took time and patience and even then was not always complete. You had to look at a variety of sources in different places. Often the results allowed you to make little more than a wild ass guess.

 

That’s why the LexisNexis Product Liability Navigator, announced today, looks so promising. As most of you know, LexisNexis is a global provider of information and analytics. The Product Liability Navigator is the second Navigator offered by LexisNexis. The first being the Lexis Medical Navigator®.

Continue Reading LexisNexis Announces New Product Liability Tool

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