Years ago a friend took me to Venice Beach to watch, in her words, “the curious freak show of men and women power lifting and flexing by the Pacific.” It was a strange scene and made me wonder, “Why are they doing this and who are they doing it for?”... read more →
May
26
May
18
“Collaboration” as applied to lawyers is like “student athlete” to big-time college football and basketball players: more feel-good myth than reality. Because lawyers–like elite athletes–have been taught that competition yields winners and losers; theirs is a zero sum game. Yes, there are teams/firms, and one is encouraged to be a... read more →
May
04
The cultural values the US has adopted from the UK are many and deep. That includes, of course, our legal system. What law student does not remember “The Rule in Shelley’s Case” and other precedent derived from English Common Law? (What was the holding in Shelley’s Case, anyway, and was... read more →
Apr
27
Walter Cronkite, a legendary reporter turned news anchor at a time when that meant something substantially more than simply reading stories written by others, was asked why so much news was bad. He responded there were so many positive things that occurred every day that they simply did not elevate... read more →
Apr
19
Horace Greeley, the American author, famously counseled pioneers to “Go West, young man” to advance the nation’s manifest destiny by expanding to the other coast. Law firms, of course, have figuratively heeded Greeley’s expansionist rhetoric for many years. Initially, they forged what would become national firms and, later, established outposts... read more →
Apr
13
Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, begins with its protagonist waking up to find himself transformed into a hideous insect. The novella chronicles his attempt to cope with this vexing transformation, especially as it relates to those close and familiar to him. Could this be the fate of law firms? The scope... read more →
Apr
06
Richard Susskind gave palpations to thousands of lawyers back in 2008 when “The End of Lawyers?” was published. The author’s track record as a legal soothsayer, coupled with the convulsions affecting the global economy to which law was far from immune, ruffled many stiff feathers. Of course, the provocative title... read more →
Mar
31
I saw a television ad the other night plugging nurse practitioners. The message was clear: why see a doctor for routine health issues when a competent, less expensive option exists? I wondered: how long before similar ads touting “lawyer practitioners” would be popping up? After all, the State of Washington... read more →
Mar
24
Snapshot: Project Managers in the U.S. versus the UK According to the Altman Weil Flash Survey “Law Firms in Transition 2014,” 41.3% of the law firms surveyed (including 42% of the 350 largest US law firms) reported that training in Project Management (“PM”) is key to increased efficiency in legal... read more →
Mar
16
“Simple” versus “Simplistic” Why can’t lawyers make things simpler? After all, if they were to apply a “relevancy” test (think: The Rules of Evidence) to each of the matters and tasks they perform, wouldn’t the product be delivered faster, cheaper and unambiguously with no compromise of quality? Who is served... read more →