I would have to guess that at the law firm where I toiled for 34 years, some people like what I write on LinkedIn, and some do not. The reason that I have to guess, is that with the very occasional exception of one Associate, none of them ever react or comment. Now you might think that the flaw in my logic is the underlying assumption that they are reading my stuff, but the LinkedIn analytics tell me that a good number of them do.
In the mid-90’s, someone called a recession, and everyone showed up. We had one lawyer who did nothing but enforce mortgages for a Bank. I was a junior partner who fancied myself as a business promotor, and I suggested that we use the slogan, “[name of our firm], kicking more people out of their houses in Peel Region than any other law firm.” For some reason, the senior partners did not agree.
I met a lawyer named Alice the other day, who does a lot of unsophisticated work, as well as a bit of higher-end work. Through her looking glass, Alice does not spy Wonderland. Instead, she fears that much of the work that she is doing will become a commodity, and her competitors will flock to low-cost service providers who use technology to produce legal documents.
My neighborhood was hit hard by the ice storm. We have been without power for eight days now and counting. Some of my neighbours have generators. Some don’t. Some have heat and water. Some do not.
It’s Not a Principle Until it Costs You Money
~ Bill Bernbach
We have all been reading about the law firm of Paul Weiss having settled with the Trump Administration to get out from under an Executive Order, the legality of which is to say the least, questionable.
Some say that Paul Weiss buckled under instead of defending the rule of law. Their Managing Partner said that they were facing an existential crisis and that they took reasonable steps to survive and protect their clients. He also mentioned that their peers in the legal industry offered little support, and in fact targeted their clients.
Stephen Shapiro is a speaker and advisor on business transformation. He wrote an article titled, “The Art of Decision Making” after the publisher rejected his preferred title of, “When You Sit on the Fence, You Get Splinters in Your Ass!” In his article, he argues that “movement in any direction is better than stagnation or indecision,” and he concludes that “if you sit on the fence, all you will get are splinters.”
I was at the receiving end of a rant from a young associate recently, who I will call Mike. I don’t mind when Mike calls me to rant, usually late at night on his commute home from work. He needs to unload, and I am happy to be a sympathetic audience.
This Article is about what lawyers need from LegalTech providers. I use Wills and Estates as an example, but the principles apply to many areas of practice.
You can read the article here: https://appara.ai/news-and-insights/where-theres-a-will
We all know that when it comes to hiring people, “if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.” But what about when it comes to buying technology?
In a recent survey conducted by Appara about the State of Canadian Legaltech, eleven factors were identified as being important when law firms evaluate Legaltech, and cost was the third most-cited consideration, ranking just behind ease of use and features and functionality, but ahead of security, customer support, vendor reputation and reviews, and others.
The old timers among us will remember the 1970 movie Love Story, which featured what may be the stupidest line of dialogue ever. I refer to the statement that “love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
It would take a lawyer to build upon that bit of nonsense and make it into something even worse. And we are up to the challenge!