Legal Rebels

Suh sees LegalZoom’s job as fixing a ‘failed’ legal system 〈podcast〉

"We didn't start out to be disruptive," John Suh, LegalZoom's chief executive officer, tells the ABA Journal's Victor Li. "We were set up to fix a problem. The legal system was broken, and too many people were frozen out of it."

May 18, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

Overcoming fixedness: How thinking ‘inside the box’ can drive innovation

If you are like me, your desk drawer is crammed with random office supplies like half-used notepads, loose paper clips and maybe a lonely Post-it note. I didn’t think much about it until someone sent me this brilliant video highlighting 15 different uses for ordinary binder clips. Suddenly, that single…

May 12, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

Technology? ‘It’s here, it’s good—do it,’ Ernie Svenson urges (podcast)

Ernie Svenson--aka well-known blogger Ernie the Attorney--was an early evangelist for what he calls The Paperless Chase. The basic premise: "Anything you can do with paper, you can do more with PDF. Way more."

May 4, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

Who should make this year’s Legal Rebels list? Nominate an innovator

The ABA Journal is seeking nominations for the 2016 list of ABA Journal Legal Rebels. Our Legal Rebels are risk-takers and innovators, attorneys and others in the legal space who are pushing the envelope to expand and improve legal practice. We are currently selecting this year’s Rebels, so get your…

May 3, 2016 12:30 PM CDT

Technology is ‘breathtakingly positive,’ says writer Monica Bay (podcast)

A focus on developing communities is a significant part of Monica Bay's writing, and she says that's why she was drawn to legal technology.

Apr 20, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

Legal Rebels Podcast to launch in joint effort with Legal Talk Network

Legal Talk Network and The ABA Journal are pleased to announce the launch of the ABA Journal: Legal Rebels Podcast. The Legal Rebels podcast will feature men and women who are remaking the legal profession. It will highlight pioneers who are changing the way law is practiced and setting standards…

Apr 19, 2016 2:45 PM CDT

The CLOC is ticking: Will lawyers embrace operational excellence?

From the beginning of our conversation around the New Normal, we’ve argued that the way legal work is created, consumed and assessed would be more and more like other knowledge and digital work. Faster. More integrated. More automated. More measured. Hence New Normal. For my money, this has all somehow…

Apr 19, 2016 8:30 AM CDT

Is the herd finally embracing legal ops and procurement?

We are at the front end of something that will change the way the game is played. Or not. It’s early, and inertia has a stellar win/loss record. As mentioned last post, 2015 marked the first time a majority (56 percent) of law departments used metrics. That was quite a…

Apr 14, 2016 9:00 AM CDT

Get rid of the billable hour—but then what?

The billable hour is not the immediate cause of all that ails the legal industry. Freedom from the tyranny of the billable hour would be a fine start. But there is much more to do and discuss. For proof, look no further than law departments. Many corporate law departments suffer…

Apr 7, 2016 8:30 AM CDT

Clients are mad as hell—but also really vague

Corporate clients are displeased with their law firms. And the displeasure is not confined to opinion surveys. A decades-long decline (PDF) in realizations has been paired with flattening of demand for external law firms. Overall demand remains on upward trajectory, but law departments are insourcing and sending increasingly more work…

Mar 31, 2016 8:30 AM CDT

Law firm failure—the good kind

Everything is obvious once you know the answer. Humans excel at recognizing after-the-fact inevitability. We reconstruct a logical chain of causation that seems to suggest the outcome was predictable. Yet, we are terrible at actual prediction because even when we can successfully separate the signal from the noise—no small feat—we…

Mar 24, 2016 8:30 AM CDT

When will lawyers rise (like elevators) to the occasion?

It took 50 years from the advent of the driverless elevator for the public to become comfortable enough to use them. Even then, it was only because the elevator operators’ union went on strike and Big Elevator finally went the Mad Men route of advertisements showing children gleefully pressing the…

Mar 17, 2016 8:30 AM CDT

Job-killing legal technologies? They only look that way

It is stunning how quickly technological advances become a ‘natural’ part of our landscape. In the mid 1990s, Richard Susskind was being labeled “dangerous” and “possibly insane.” His heresy? Susskind suggested that email would become the principal means of communication between lawyers and clients. His detractors asserted that he understood…

Mar 10, 2016 8:30 AM CST

The End of Lawyers, Period.

The law does not exist for the purpose of keeping lawyers employed. I cribbed that line—and many others—from Richard Susskind back in the days when there was still a question mark punctuating The End of Lawyers? I think it is fair to say that Susskind has gotten past the interrogative.…

Mar 3, 2016 8:30 AM CST

Sorry, partner, your capital cash is gone—but where?

Recent disturbances in The Force of law firm economics (see

Feb 22, 2016 8:30 AM CST