Legal Rebels

After all these years, many law firms are only giving lip service to alternative fees

As we approach the fifth anniversary of the filing of the Lehman bankruptcy, also known as “the great reset,” it seems a good time to look at side-by-side photos of then and now to see whether there are noticeable changes. Richard Susskind, the noted legal futurist, provided a useful prism…

Aug 29, 2013 3:20 PM CDT

Best way to boost access to justice? Change ethics rules, ‘13 Legal Rebel Renee Knake says

Making New Lawyers

Aug 28, 2013 5:00 PM CDT

Tech skills are the key to law students’ future employment, says ‘13 Legal Rebel Dan Katz

Facing Law's Future

Aug 28, 2013 2:30 PM CDT

Feeling stuck? Give your creativity a boost with one of these Box-Breaking strategies

Each year the ABA Journal honors the most creative, forward-looking legal practitioners as Legal Rebels–those lawyers who are actively remaking the profession for the 21st century. These leaders are marked by the kind of creative thinking that highlights new approaches and novel ways of solving old problems. One of the…

Aug 26, 2013 8:08 PM CDT

All is well for BigLaw? Not if you talk to clients and really crunch the numbers

I spent the last 10 days on vacation. I returned to these stories: • “Don’t bury Big Law just yet” (The American Lawyer) • “GCs unhappy with high firm rates, seeking AFAs” (Hildebrandt Institute) • “The last days of Big Law—You can’t imagine the terror when the money dries up”…

Aug 1, 2013 1:30 PM CDT

ABA Journal takes home hardware in journalism contest

The ABA Journal congratulates its staff and contributors for several awards in the national and regional business-to-business journalism contest sponsored by the American Society of Business Publication Editors. Winning a national award for best blog was the ABA Journal’s business of law blog, The New Normal, authored by Paul Lippe,…

Jul 30, 2013 2:27 PM CDT

Could you pass this in-house counsel’s tech test? If the answer is no, you may be losing business

Editor’s Note: In the ABA Journal’s Law News Now blog, there was a summary of Casey Flaherty’s audit program. After discussion in the comments, Flaherty was invited to more thoroughly discuss his program and respond to criticism. I am corporate counsel at Kia Motors America, Inc. I have developed a…

Jul 17, 2013 1:30 PM CDT

Fastcase announces 50 legal innovators to watch

With a record number of nominations, online legal research company Fastcase chose its latest class of 50 legal innovators and visionaries to honor in 2013. They include legal technologists and law professors, from start-ups to the establishment, who are inventing, adopting and advocating for new models of delivering legal services.…

Jul 15, 2013 5:12 PM CDT

‘Legal rebels’ or just weavers of the new normal legal fabric?

We got the happy news the other day that the New Normal “blog” has been nominated for a digital “Azbee” award. We also saw Weil Gotshal (an “old normal” firm if there ever were one) refer to a “New Normal” in the legal market in announcing a firmwide restructuring. I…

Jun 26, 2013 2:18 PM CDT

‘I want to push the limit,’ says ‘09 Legal Rebel

Photo of Richard Granat by Tom Salyer. RICHARD GRANAT REBEL YEAR: 2009 HOME: Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. WHAT HE’S BEEN UP TO: The legal profession moves too slowly for Richard Granat, a 72-year-old grandfather who takes pride in reinventing his career multiple times. That includes being a founding team member…

Jun 24, 2013 7:17 PM CDT

Value edges out cost-cutting in survey of in-house counsel priorities

Every year, BTI Consulting surveys corporate counsel to determine their top priorities. For the past six years (2006-2012), the top goal was to control legal costs. In the lawyer lexicon, “control” is a synonym for “decrease.” That finding is certainly understandable, because much of that period covers the years of…

Jun 12, 2013 4:35 PM CDT

Why cling to well-intentioned rules and practices that don’t actually work?

Before law school, I worked for Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan. Moynihan had been a social science professor at Harvard and, in the best progressive reform tradition, was intensely interested in whether government programs really worked as intended. The popular term for that is “the law of unintended consequences,” that government…

Jun 6, 2013 6:28 PM CDT

What’s driving change in legal education and why you should care

Change is coming to a law school near you. Economics will drive the change, but the exact configuration will depend on choices made by law schools, state supreme courts, the ABA, and Congress over the next few years. Without intervention, market forces are likely to segment law schools. Are schools…

May 30, 2013 2:01 PM CDT

Simplify contracts with software, says Legal Rebel

Photo of Kingsley Martin by Wayne Slezak Legal Rebel Kingsley Martin Rebel Year: 2012 Home: Beverly Shores, Ind. What he’s been up to: Recent inspiration comes from iBooks. Martin, a former tax lawyer who designs his own software, envisions something where lawyers click or swipe a contract subject link, which…

May 28, 2013 8:16 PM CDT

Do you know a legal innovator? Nominations due June 14 for 2013 Legal Rebels project

With advancements in technology offering new tools for lawyers and the public to access legal services, has come an explosion of ideas to re-tool and even re-invent how law is practiced. Lawyers and legal service providers are often at the forefront of these efforts. These are people who are: •…

May 28, 2013 1:42 PM CDT