3 Geeks and A Law Blog

A law blog addressing the foci of 3 intrepid law geeks, specializing in their respective fields of knowledge management, internet marketing and library sciences, melding together to form the Dynamic Trio.

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By: 3 Geeks and a Law Blog

Blog Authors

Greg Lambert
Zena Applebaum
Toby Brown
Casey Flaherty
Marlene Gebauer
Marlene Gebauer
Greg Lambert
Ryan McClead

Latest from 3 Geeks and A Law Blog

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This week on the In Seclusion Podcast, the discussion began a pivot away from how are we adjusting to working remotely, to how are we planning the slow progress toward reopening some offices. Let’s be honest, it is very possible that some legal professionals never go back to the office full time ever again. But, for some, getting back to the office is seen as essential for both their job, and maybe even their sanity. Take a listen to the five episodes from this week from a diverse group of legal professionals around the globe. Monday, May 18th – Navigating …
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While most of us in the legal industry were still finding their sea legs when it came to working from home, today’s guests were planning a moon shot experiment of creating a virtual legal conference completely from scratch. Haley Altman and Alma Asay from Litera Microsystems talk with us about their experiences in creating and producing The Changing Lawyer LIVE! virtual conference back in April. There were some victories, and some challenges along the way, but the end result was pretty impressive. As we enter the Summer, many other organizations are looking to do some type of online/virtual conference to…
One of the most consistent themes of the over 40 people I’ve interviewed for my In Seclusion Podcast, is that everyone is handling the stress of the pandemic in their own ways. As with companies like Twitter, it is very possible that some of us may never return to an office permanently ever again. For some people that is a godsend. For some people that is a nightmare. Just as in diversity and inclusion, the broad range of how we are looking at our future is a good thing. (I’m looking at you Google… diversity and inclusion is …
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On my In Seclusion Podcast miniseries this week I’ve talked with government law librarians from across the country to see how they are continuing services through the shelter-in-place rules, and how they are preparing to reopen as states start to ease these restrictions. The common emotions are a mix of frustration and determination. One of the traits of librarians, especially those who serve the public directly, is that nothing should get in the way of access to justice and the open availability of government resources and information to those people who need it to protect their personal freedom and their…
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It’s episode 75!! We think we look fabulous and that we definitely don’t look a day over 50. While most professional associations are experiencing significant changes due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, today’s guests have launched a brand new network and say that this might be one of the best times to enter the market. The Legal Value Network (LVN) focuses on the delivery of services and connecting professionals from law firms, corporate legal departments, alternative legal services companies, and technology providers. Kristina Lambright and Purvi Sanghvi are part of the LVN Executive Board and discuss the launch of the network,…
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Yesterday (4, 21,20), while I was putting the finishing touches on this post, the AmLaw 100 was released. As always upon release there was lots of analysis, conjecture and even some predictions about the future of the legal industry post pandemic. This post as you will read is not a prediction about the economic viability of firms, nor about the business models that will survive, but more about the cultural and human changes that are coming out of current moment and the good that I hope we can sustain. “ You take the good, you take the bad, you…
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Many of the Luminaries agreed that we are likely to see a big increase in demand for LPM services. Legal Value Network Council of Luminaries Meeting Report: COVID-19 Crisis Series As director of (what is to the best of my knowledge) the largest legal project management team of any law firm, I was not the source for the above. But it was music to my ears and consistent with my lived experience. My team has observed a spike in demand for LPM services. There are, however, limits in the legal ecosystem’s overall ability to immediately satisfy this demand for better…
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It’s not unusual for law firms to invest $1M or more in recruiting, hiring, training, and retention of Associates over the first four years of their legal career. However, if you look at the actual retention rates through the fourth or fifth year, it is essentially a coin flip on whether the firm retains, or loses that talent. Bryan Parker, CEO of Legal Innovators thinks that it is not a good return on the law firm’s (and the Associate’s) time and capital investment. Parker believes that you can take a more holistic approach to the recruitment process and evaluate the…
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Heidi Gardner, Distinguished Fellow and Lecturer at Harvard Law School, and Brian Stearns, Chief Commercial Officer at Workstorm, talk with us about collaboration when most of us are under a shelter-in-place order. There are definitely tools to make it easier to collaborate remotely, but there is a process that must be evaluated first. There’s also a human element that must be considered in who people react to the stress they are currently under. As we have said before, never let an emergency go to waste, and Gardner and Stearns have some insights on how to evaluate your…
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There is no reason why we should let an emergency go to waste. So, we’ve both taken on a side project while we work remotely. Marlene’s new daily ILTA blog presents a quick update on the skills we need to work on while we’re working from home. Her first post, Be Sheltering: Not Sheltered discusses a number of initiatives going on which we all can contribute. You can find out more on the ILTA blog page. Greg began his daily podcast miniseries, In Seclusion, this week. These are short, less than 15 minutes, interviews of an eclectic group…
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I am launching a podcast miniseries called In Seclusion. The first episode dropped this morning. #oklaHOMEa In the inaugural episode of In Seclusion, I talk with Jim Calloway, the Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association’s Management Assistance Program (MAP). Calloway and I go back to my early legal days with the Oklahoma Supreme Court Network. He discusses the issues facing the state bar, the courts, and the members of the bar as everyone faces the reality of working from home over an extended time period. Jim reminds us that this is going to be a marathon and not a…
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We try… and fail to stay off the COVID-19 topic this week, but it’s just too ingrained in our lives right now. For those of you out there doing the remote work thing, we understand and hope you are adapting to the new work mode with little interruption. We, too, are working remotely, and hope there are not too many background noises of kids, refrigerators, or pets making cameo appearances on this week’s show. We have a great talk with Charlie Uniman, Legal Tech Startup Evangelist, and founder of Legal Tech Startup Focus. LTSF is an online community…
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 At the recent, excellent Law 2030, Vijay Govindarajan observed, “There is only so much Six Sigma you can do.” Despite my affinities, I concur. Low baselines can have an outsized impact on the efficacy of interventions—but then baselines stop being low. Consider buying a car with an eye towards better gas mileage. Which technological leap saves more gas? Improving a car’s miles per gallon (i) from 10 mpg to 20 mpg or (ii) from 20 mpg to 100 mpg? Put another way, from the perspective of gallons saved, what is the ‘bigger improvement’ (i) +10 mpg/2x or (ii) +80 mpg/5x? Since…
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  Using Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Natural Language Processing to hold a conversation might seem like a far off idea when it comes to the legal industry, but it is not. We sit down with Baker Hostetler’s Katherine Lowry, and Puerto Rico defense attorney Diego Alcala to get a better understanding of how chatbots work, and what value they can bring from legal practices ranging from BigLaw Bankruptcy practice to a solo attorney’s criminal law practice. Katherine Lowry won the American Association of Law Libraries’ Innovation Tournament in 2018 with her attorney-facing chatbot. In the nearly two years…
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Photo by Dimitri Karastelev on Unsplash With all of the news about COVID-19 (Coronavirus) making its way into the United States, it is time for law firms to think about what they are going to do to prepare for a possible outbreak that will affect their business operations. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plans need to be dusted off and updated to manage the different scenarios that may come our with over the next few months. We asked the Association of Legal Administrators interim Executive Director, April Campbell, to discuss what law firms need to be doing to prepare.…
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The legal industry relies upon the writings and communications of lawyers, judges, and lawmakers. For the citizens and clients who are subject to these legal writings, understanding the legalese is painfully frustrating. We were asked by a fan of the show (in full disclosure, it was Greg’s sister-in-law Wendy) why lawyers can’t write in plain English. We pulled together a panel of four experts on legal communications and asked them just that. It turns out that writing in plain English is not only possible, but it is the preferred method of legal writing. Our guests on this episode are: Listen…