Legal Rebels

Do Lawyers Pursue ‘Debating Points’ or Business Solutions?

Consider the same point from two different angles. I am an NFL football fan, da Bears to be specific. I have been following the NFL’s legal battles with interest since they represent the intersection of my vocation and my avocation. The other day, I was reading a story on ESPN.com…

Jun 20, 2011 3:28 PM CDT

The Lure of Precise Numbers and the ‘Truthiness’ of Timesheets

Political satirist Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report, coined the term “truthiness,” meaning “a ‘truth’ that a person claims to know intuitively ‘from the gut’ without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts.” In his book, Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, Richard Hofstadter wrote: “The American mind seems extremely…

Jun 9, 2011 1:31 PM CDT

A Professional Renewal: Why Great Lawyers of the New Age May Be ‘System Designers’

Can we preserve the best values of the legal profession in the face of the commercial and technological change that constitutes the “New Normal”? As our world grows more interconnected and complex, and as law grows more pervasive, law is evolving from an activity that is an occasional part of…

Jun 8, 2011 7:43 PM CDT

Are You Building a Firm to Survive the Ages?

I read Jay Shepherd’s blog post announcing that he was shutting down Shepherd Law Group after 13 years of operation in order to pursue a consulting business he had created to help lawyers and others price their work. Jay, as almost everyone knows, is a committed value pricer. He has…

Jun 2, 2011 4:03 PM CDT

Should a Firm Keep Its ‘Crown Jewels’ in the Vault, or Share Them with Clients?

I was in London last week for KM Legal 2011, a conference on Knowledge Management. It had been a good day, so I was walking back to my hotel with a little spring in my step. On a quiet street, a disheveled man came out of an alley and asked…

May 23, 2011 1:40 PM CDT

More Legal Jobs. But Will They Last? What Is Your Plan Beyond Holding on to Your Job?

Monday’s ABAJournal.com contains this upbeat headline: “A Promising Spring: Legal Industry Adds 1,500 Jobs, Demand for Legal Services Increases.” The reason for this growth appears to “increased demand” which has caused firms to “selectively [add] more attorneys.” This is good news, clearly better than the months of stories on layoffs,…

May 10, 2011 1:30 PM CDT

A Primer on Starting Your Own Law Firm in the New Normal

I read three articles today about lawyers leaving their firms with a few colleagues from the same firm to start new law firms. Having started a new law firm some three-and-a-half years ago (wow, time flies!), I understand some of the things that motivate this move, and I wouldn’t trade…

May 9, 2011 1:30 PM CDT

Always Take the ‘Consequentialist’ Or Principled Road; Not the Path of Least Resistance

It’s been quite an interesting week to look at examples of lawyers and leadership. On the one hand, we have President Barack Obama, a lawyer, who successfully prosecuted the “dead or alive” pursuit of Osama Bin Laden. Once the CIA thought it had located Bin Laden’s hideout, Obama had a…

May 6, 2011 5:13 PM CDT

Legal Rebels Nominations Open: Who in BigLaw Is Re-inventing, Re-imagining the Practice of Law?

Nominations are now open for the 2011 Legal Rebels project. This year, the ABA Journal is looking for lawyers and senior staffers who are remaking their corner of the profession at trend-setting Top 250 law firms. In the past two years the Legal Rebels project has featured 60 of the…

May 4, 2011 7:48 PM CDT

Who Sees ‘The New Normal’ Most Clearly? Law Firms, Law Departments or Clients?

One of the many benefits of writing about the New Normal is that I get involved in lots of interesting conversations about New Normalcy. I’ve noticed a distinct law firm viewpoint, legal department viewpoint, client viewpoint and popular viewpoint. The law firm conversations start in one of three ways: •…

Apr 27, 2011 1:30 PM CDT

Resist the Mumbo Jumbo of Change: Don’t Fall Into the Label Trap

I was listening to the radio the other day and heard a commercial for The Private Bank. This is from the body of the commercial: “Let’s touch base to arrange a little face time so we can appear fully engaged. Let’s be proactive, synergistic and leverage this thing. Better yet,…

Apr 26, 2011 3:35 PM CDT

There’s Reason to Worry, Change in the Industry Can Be Profound

A lot has been written about change in the legal profession. Paul and I have contributed (well, added) to that body of work. I wanted to bring someone else’s work to your attention. Danielle Sacks recently wrote: They are each staring down at a blank poster-size sheet of paper, contemplating…

Apr 14, 2011 1:30 PM CDT

Toward Understanding Value: Clients Set the Standard

The term “value” has taken on special currency in the law in the last few years. Headline after headline reflects that clients are now demanding greater value. Most people view value in monetary terms, as in the idea of getting more with less. But that doesn’t always hold true, because…

Apr 11, 2011 2:11 PM CDT

Keeping Score: 6 Ways to Know if Change Is Really Happening

I attended an excellent meeting at Georgetown University Law Center last week, “Trends in the Delivery of Corporate Legal Services.” The theme was “is change really happening?” We can point to conflicting signs: Some firms are thriving, some are failing, many clients are touting “alternative” fee structures, others are hesitant…

Mar 21, 2011 1:53 PM CDT

What Does the Future of Law Hold? Three Predictions

I have learned so much from my friend, adviser and fellow New Normal blogger, Paul Lippe. Paul is as an astute observer of the legal profession as there is, something especially important to people who are trying to understand the changes occurring in the profession and reshape their practices, firms…

Mar 15, 2011 1:21 PM CDT