The New Normal

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

‘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

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

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