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.
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.”
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
Do any of you old-timers remember the first ten minutes of Raiders of the Lost Ark? Let me refresh your memory.
Dr. Jones retrieves the golden idol and tries to escape the cave. A giant boulder rolls towards him as he frantically tries to get out of its way. Finally he jumps over a cliff, only to come face to face with some scary looking natives with bows and arrows. Things only got worse for him from there.
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.
Click here to read about why your future success as a lawyer will depend on you being able and willing to keep up as technology changes:
Early in my articles, a senior partner named David asked me to draft a document and gave me a precedent to use. David approved my draft but asked me to show it to Bob, a more junior partner. Bob told me that I had left out an important clause and asked me if David had approved my drafting. When I assured him that David had thought the draft was fine, Bob rolled his eyes and I understood that Bob did not hold David in high regard.
Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution?
Groucho Marx
I am a great fan of the institution of marriage. (Second marriages actually, but that would make for a much longer post.)
Anyone who has been married understands the concept of ‘institutional memory,’ which encapsulates your spouse’s recollection of why you were wrong before, are wrong now, and will likely be wrong in the future.