As we move toward the end of the year, or as in Texas, the end of a lawyer’s birthday month, there becomes a mad scramble for completing Continuing Legal Education (CLE) courses. Has CLE become more about checking the box than about enhancing/maintaining a lawyer’s skill? Why is it that CLE credits are based on time, rather than knowledge? Is
Continue Reading The Geek in Review Ep. 133 – Ian Nelson, Sarah Glassmeyer, and Margaret Naughton on the Next Generation of CLE
You have to appreciate a book that discusses Legal Design and puts design concepts into action by working with a fellow designer on the layout and functionality of the book itself. The results of The Legal Design Book: Doing Law in the 21st Century is both a great read for the content and the physical interaction with the book. Astrid
Continue Reading The Geek in Review Ep. 132 – The Legal Design Book with Astrid Kohlmeier and Meera Klemola
Business value is business-centric. Law departments frequently ask me about metrics. My response is not nearly as definitive as they desire. I recommend they start with the customer—incorporating the metrics the business is already using and then proceeding accordingly to develop the complementary, internal (to the law department) metrics necessary to manage the department in supporting business objectives.
Talk
Continue Reading Defining Business Value – Value Storytelling (#3)
We bring in Brad Blickstein and Beatrice Seravello, Co-Heads, NewLaw Practice Group at Baretz+Brunelle to discuss the recently released B+B survey, “If You Build It, Will They Come?” A Research Report on the Internal Adoption of Innovation by AmLaw 100/200 and Global 100 Law Firms. This free report breaks down the adoption of innovation and the sliding scale (1-5)
Continue Reading The Geek in Review Ep. 131 – Innovation Adoption – The Law Firm Field of Dreams
Me: Which “genius” decided savings should be a prime objective and metric of success for law departments?
Jae: [purses lips & tilts head]
Me: But…
Jae: [rolls eyes]
Me: No…like…well, actually…but see…what had happened was…
Jae: [sighs]
Me: Fine. I’ll recant and repent. But, just so we’re clear, I am not happy about it.
Jae: [shrugs]
Saving money is essential.
Continue Reading The Savings Trap – The Value of Value Storytelling (2/N)
Ironclad‘s Chief Community Officer, Mary O’Carroll, has spent the past two decades bringing business acumen to the legal industry. In an industry run by lawyers, most of whom had little to no business training, Mary points out that it is logical that legal ops teams are needed to be the right-hand people in helping lawyers in the business
Continue Reading The Geek in Review Ep. 130 – Mary O’Carroll – The Power of Community in Driving Change
I posit that the most valuable skill that every corporate law department needs in 2021 and beyond is the executive art of the business case….The reasons for this are many, but I’ll give just one: This is a task that cannot be outsourced. Without the ability to secure the budget and investment required by the demands on the function, corporate
Continue Reading Maybe, Don’t Be MacGyver – The Value of Value Storytelling (1/N)
While technology is part of innovation, technology alone is not innovation. We brought in three guests this week to talk about what they are doing to innovate in the area of process improvement and give us some examples of some of the projects they are working on.
I will represent the 3 Geeks Blog on the upcoming Reuters Events: Legal Leaders 2021 (October 19-20, Online). This industry-leading event is uniting the biggest names in corporate law to help General Counsels supercharge their expertise as strategic business advisers, enhance enterprise value, and leave behind a proud legacy.
I am very excited to moderate the panel, Cultivating the Next
Continue Reading The Upcoming Reuters Events: Legal Leaders 2021 and the Star-Studded GC Panel
My partners and I made a thing. We hope you enjoy it.
We poke light fun at lawyers (which all three of us are) for remaining too analogue in an increasingly digital world. Our central premise is that digital transformation is inevitable (and already happening and good and hard and we at LexFusion can help). Underpinning the premise are some
Continue Reading Explaining the joke: lawyers lagging behind
Listeners know that we love asking our guests to pull out their crystal ball and tell us about the future. Joseph Raczynski is a futurist who works with Thomson Reuters, so he came prepared with a crystal ball ready to answer our questions on what the future has in store for the legal industry. We even get into the “red
Continue Reading The Geek in Review Ep. 128 – Joseph Raczynski – The Red and Blue Pill Matrix of AI and Emerging Legal Tech
Our good friend April Brousseau joins us to discuss her role as Director of Research and Development at Clifford Chance’s R&D Hub. The fact that a law firm has a dedicated R&D group shows how innovation cannot simply be a part-time task that someone at the firm takes on. April’s diverse background as a law librarian, lawyer, and knowledge
Continue Reading The Geek in Review Ep. 127 – April Brousseau – Innovation in the Legal Industry Can’t Be a Side Gig
In an industry focused on revenue and profit, where does something like customer experience stand in the priorities of legal providers? Leigh Vickery, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Level Legal, as well as CEO and founder of Queso Mama, says that we need to look at the corporate and legal industry world differently. Instead of putting
Continue Reading The Geek in Review Ep. 126 – Leigh Vickery on Creating Top-Shelf Customer Experience in Legal
“They’re so busy that our practitioners need to realize not a 10% improvement but a 10x improvement in productivity before they will take the time to investigate, let alone implement and incorporate, a new tool” is an observation the always astute Kyle Dumont of Morgan Lewis made to me the other day.
Kyle’s insight reminded me of one of Jason
Continue Reading Advancing Our Thinking On Low-End Friction
This post was originally published twelve years ago today. However, as I ponder the topic posed by Northwestern Law Professor Michael Zuckerman about how law students shouldn’t use automated writing technology because they will miss out on learning how to do initial drafts, this post seems as relevant now as ever. – GL]
I read a lot. But, I
Continue Reading Even Twenty-Six Years Later: Uncreative Thinking is Done Better by Machines
Suffolk Law Professor Shailini George joins us to talk about her new book, The Law Student’s Guide to Doing Well and Being Well. Professor George talks about the need for law students to take better care of their mental and physical health in order for them to not only do well in law school but to be better lawyers
Continue Reading The Geek in Review Ep. 125 – Shailini George on Law Students Doing Well and Being Well