Legal Rebels

A New Wave of Legal Rebels

Get reacquainted with the ABA Journal’s 2016 Legal Rebels: women and men who are remaking their corners of the legal profession. This cover story was recently given a Best Cross-Platform Package of the Year Top 10 Award by the American Society of Business Publication Editors .

Sep 1, 2016 12:30 AM CDT

Introducing the 2016 Legal Rebels

It’s a talented 10 we honor in this, the eighth year of the Legal Rebels. Once again celebrating those women and men who are remaking their corners of the legal profession, the ABA Journal and its readers have found ample evidence of innovative thinking and forward action. The list of…

Aug 30, 2016 10:11 AM CDT

William C. Hubbard: A president presses buttons

A president presses buttons

Aug 30, 2016 8:45 AM CDT

Why is there a disconnect between what firms are doing and what clients want?

Ever wonder about the law firm/client disconnects? It’s reminiscent of the Theater of the Absurd, where conversations are at cross-purposes. Here are some examples: • Profit-per-partner (PPP) numbers remain astronomically high while demand for law firm services has been flat for almost three years. • More than 100 law firms…

Aug 18, 2016 8:30 AM CDT

Legal machines give lawyers the structure we need

Lawyers excel at creating structure. They can weave disparate facts and convoluted laws into a coherent narrative that persuades a judge or a jury. They can merge two unrelated entities while navigating a complex regulatory environment. They can transform inchoate business ideas into a comprehensive contract that covers contingencies that…

Aug 11, 2016 8:30 AM CDT

Jerry Goldman’s Oyez project gives a voice to SCOTUS arguments (podcast)

The license plates on Jerry Goldman’s Subaru Legacy read “OYEZ” in honor of his U.S. Supreme Court-focused multimedia archive, Oyez. And the ringtone on the retired political science professor’s iPhone is the voice of a marshal saying the word three times, which starts the traditional call announcing the justices’ arrival.…

Aug 10, 2016 8:30 AM CDT

The agony of invoices: When it comes to math, humans are no match for machines

Quick, critique the following billing entry: Invoice generation is an awful exercise. Invoice review may be worse. In a series of posts, I’ve used invoice review as a point of departure to talk about analytics and algorithms because the idea of machines taking on more of that thankless task should…

Aug 4, 2016 8:30 AM CDT

The judgment machine: How algorithmic software won me over

You’d think that lawyers would be attracted to written rules. Last post, I drew the link between our mental shortcuts and the operation of computer algorithms. In many instances, algorithms are simply the formalization, codification, and accumulation of rules that human beings have derived through experience and our natural facility…

Jul 28, 2016 8:30 AM CDT

Lawyers, the algorithms are better than you (at some things)

One of the joys of watching amazing lawyers at work is how quickly they get to the heart of the matter. Five minutes with an experienced partner can be worth 500 hours of associate time not only because of the accumulated knowledge but because of the attendant know-how. They are…

Jul 21, 2016 8:30 AM CDT

Deborah Rhode is at war with complacency (podcast)

Stanford Law School professor Deborah Rhode is the enemy of complacency. This Legal Rebels Trailblazer is one of the most cited scholars in legal ethics, though she wears many more hats. She has carved out specialties in discrimination (ranging from race and gender to the unfair advantages that flow to physical beauty, often probing their intersection with legal ethics) and in criticism of legal education itself.

Jul 20, 2016 8:45 AM CDT

‘Analytics for Dumm ...’ eh, lawyers

Just because we do something all the time does not mean we are good at it. The internet, for example, has recently informed me that I don’t know the right way to tie my shoes, use a kitchen knife, or eat Chinese takeout. I’ve been doing these things most of…

Jul 14, 2016 8:30 AM CDT

Associate salary increases may not be good business

On June 6, Cravath Swaine & Moore announced it was raising base salaries for starting associates from $160,000 per year to $180,000 per year. Of course, firms never give a raise to just one class of associates. There is a “ripple effect” throughout all associate classes, and Cravath raised salaries…

Jul 7, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

Why law schools need to teach more than the law to thrive (or survive)

The ongoing discussion on the future of legal education all too often misses the opportunities for innovation and re-invention. In its most recent discussion of the topic, for example, the New York Times highlighted the impact of declining applications (down by around 40 percent from the peak six years ago),…

Jun 23, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

Tech fails too, says Sensei’s Sharon Nelson (podcast)

Lawyers often think technology should always work. That’s aspirational, says Sharon Nelson, president of the cybersecurity, information technology and digital forensics firm Sensei Enterprises Inc. “People can screw up, but technology fails too,” says Nelson, who has been selected as a Legal Rebels Trailblazer by the ABA Journal. “You really…

Jun 15, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

Rocket Lawyer’s Charley Moore sees lawyer collaboration as the future (podcast)

“Nicholas Negroponte’s book Being Digital had a profound effect on me,” Charley Moore recalls. “The book said that anything that can be digitized will be. It’s just a matter of who endeavors to participate in that transition.” Moore, who has been selected as a Legal Rebels Trailblazer by the ABA…

Jun 1, 2016 8:00 AM CDT