To paraphrase an old quote, the wheels of change grind slowly at biglaw. But some recent initiatives suggest that big firms are tentatively dipping a toe into the innovation pool. For example,last year global law firm ReedSmith launched an innovation hours program, where lawyers can earn up to fifty billable hours for time
Many rural communities continue to face a legal services crisis. Some communities simply don’t have enough lawyers. Alternatively, there are enough lawyers, but their fees exceed the amount that clients can or wish to pay. But now, according to this story, one innovative firm, The Law Shop located in Van Meter Iowa has
Updated September 20, 2022
To paraphrase Mark Twain, the death of the solo and small firm practitioner has been greatly exaggerated. At least that’s the case if one is to believe the Attorney Compensation Report released by Martindale-Hubbell today which found that solo and small firm lawyers take home an average of $198,000 in annual
Remember the bot that sues Equifax for data breaches that made headlines last fall? Although celebrated by most of the #altlaw crowd, surprisingly, the bot wasn’t as well received by many of the solo and small firm lawyers on one of my listserves.
Many of these lawyers expressed concerns about the ethical implications of the
As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. Likewise, law schools can offer up all kinds of innovative, forward-looking programs on law and technology, or clinics that offer low bono services. But they can’t force students intent on finding a job at big law to take
Last week, I returned from a trip to China with a new accessory in tow: a fake Coach bag. Though I’m aware of arguments that purchases of counterfeit luxury items harm the brand, other studies have found no discernible effect . In any event, because I can’t fathom ever paying a few hundred dollars on
This evening, I’ll join my family for the first Seder of Passover. With nine cousins ranging in age from 4-21, we’ll zip through the Haggadah, the reader that contains not only the story of Passover, but rabbinical commentary, upbeat songs and parables like The Four Sons – that I wrote about here .
For those
When we talk about innovation, technology is only one piece of the puzzle. Many times, it’s also necessary to innovate underlying business models to enable the technology to gain traction.
I learned this lesson in my “day job,” representing alternative energy developers. Back in 2005, wind power was all the rage. Meanwhile solar remained mired
Almost a decade ago, Richard Susskind’s book. The End of Lawyers predicted that many traditional lawyers, particularly solos and smalls would soon be rendered obsolete. And while Susskind wasn’t wrong — jobs in the legal sector decline steadily every year, with a loss of 100,000 jobs predicted by November 2017 – the glass is also
Note: Post substantially revised at 3 pm 12/4/2017 to include additional explanation of proposed legislation
This week, businesses of all sizes – from behemoths like Google and Amazon to tiny mom & pops will have their eyes on tax reform, particularly the provisions on tax rates levied corporations and pass-through income from LLCs. Most solo