Why do so many of today’s problems remain unsolved? Often, we have no shortage of viable solutions. Additionally, in many cases we have a critical mass of people committed to solving the problem. Yet despite abundant ideas, energy, and action, the problems persist.
How can we improve? Start by making scientific thinking a habit and
Legal industry leaders and analysts seem to suggest that United Kingdom law firms are out in front when it comes to legal innovation and technology adoption. The data my research team and I have assembled for the Legal Services Innovation Index lend some support to this.
Having just launched this project, I wanted to share
I’m thrilled to launch the Legal Services Innovation Index, Phase 1, Version 1.0:
My student research team and I are looking forward to input and discussion, receiving submissions of law firm innovations, and working to improve this resource.
So far, we’ve received a great response:
This is fantastic. It's maybe the best resource I've ever seen emerge in the legal innovation space. Huge kudos to @DanLinna and @LegalRnD. https://t.co/v7IrEiF58k
— Jordan Furlong (@jordan_law21) August 22, 2017
Impressive new project from @DanLinna, who understands value of feedback. Measure, assess, learn, change. Repeat. Congrats on smart start. https://t.co/Q9j3mQmv3M
— Janet K. Welch (@SBMExecDirector) August 22, 2017
Congrats @DanLinna on launch of this new project! Puts the spotlight on law firm innovation rather than revenues & profits per partner https://t.co/06av8PPyh1
— Katrina Lee (@katrinajunelee) August 22, 2017
"we should rank…law firms on their use of technology" Bravo @DanLinna! https://t.co/NoKt8HHdkq
— Steve Embry (@stephenembryjd) August 22, 2017
This is an excellent addition to the legal innovation mix! https://t.co/bR3dlWPj4b
— David Curle (@davidcurle) August 22, 2017
If your firm isn't here and you think it should be, contact these folks. Note: the bar for admission is high. Implementation, not just idea. https://t.co/DocIqDEkNX
— Jordan Furlong (@jordan_law21) August 22, 2017
Find out how lawyers are seizing chances to better serve clients via @DanLinna's Legal Services Innovation Index https://t.co/4i7aZe02zC
— Gillian Hadfield (@ghadfield) August 23, 2017
Game changer from @DanLinna and @LegalRnD "The Legal Services Innovation Index (021)" https://t.co/D03DskNI3c Great work Dan and crew! pic.twitter.com/YX1jzEXXoy
— Bill Henderson (@wihender) August 24, 2017
https://twitter.com/ronfriedmann/status/901436137645932548
In his May 2016 keynote at FutureLaw 2016 at Stanford Law School, Jim Sandman, Legal Services Corporation president, suggested that we rank and assess law firms on their use of technology. He argued that this could accelerate the adoption of technology in law firms and might stimulate investment in the development of new technology
“It’s simple. Nice user interface. I like the questionnaire style.”
Comments like these, you assume, refer to an Apple iPhone, Google Search, or some other product hailed for its superior user experience. When is the last time you heard a client make comments like these when discussing a law firm’s legal services?
Okay, maybe you’ve never heard a law firm client make comments like these, particularly when talking about legal services of any complexity. But that is what I heard from a potential client who had just seen a demo of the Akerman Data Law Center, a client-facing expert system that provides data privacy and security advice.
Continue Reading Collaborative Disaggregation: Law Firms Can Delight Clients with the Right Technology
Just as other academic units across universities collaborate with industry partners on research and development projects, law schools can do the same. The timing has never been better. Many lawyers have accepted that they need to engage in innovation projects to improve legal-service delivery. At the same time, law schools continue to add experiential courses as required by the ABA and a few have launched legal innovation and technology programs. These developments have produced many opportunities for law schools, practitioners, and experts from other disciplines to work together to improve legal services.
Conducting research and development that leads to legal-service delivery innovations is one of our foundational goals at MSU Law’s LegalRnD. This goal fits well with our other foundational goals: training 21st Century, T-shaped lawyers and engaging with industry partners to identify needs and problems, work toward solutions, and test, improve, and implement solutions.
Continue Reading Law Schools as Labs for Legal-Services Innovation and Research & Development: Examples at LegalRnD
When the State Bar of Michigan invited me to write an article about legal technology, I aimed to make it a call to action with a framework and roadmap for legal-services innovation. Many lawyers and legal-services organizations now grasp that they must engage in innovation to improve legal services. But where and how should they
The Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC) recently posted a Legal Operations Career Skills Toolkit on its “Industry Guidelines” page. The toolkit’s stated purpose is to help “individuals and legal departments evaluate and develop legal operations skills.” Law students, lawyers, and other professionals will find it to be an excellent resource for assessing and building their legal-service delivery skills. While the toolkit serves as an excellent roadmap for a legal operations career, it also offers tremendous insight into the legal-service delivery skills that clients value.
Traditional lawyers and law students should take a close look at the CLOC toolkit.
Continue Reading CLOC Legal Operations Career Skills Toolkit: Lawyers, Your Clients Value Legal-Service Delivery Skills
The ABA Center for Innovation shared its mission and launched its website last evening at the Chicago Legal Innovation meetup at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP. “We must try new things,” said Geoffrey Burkhart, the Center’s Deputy Director.
The access to justice “crisis” has been known for decades; it is no longer news, Burkhart said. It is well known that public defenders are stretched very thin and far too many lack access to civil legal services. Burkhart voiced concern that we’ve become numb to the word “crisis.” He urged lawyers to take action and “try new things.” On the present course, Burkhart said, “lawyers are squandering a gift.”
Continue Reading ABA Innovation Center Urges Lawyers to Try New Things, Identifies Innovative Law Schools
Too much of today’s legal innovation and technology talk focuses on disruption, artificial intelligence, and whether robots can practice law. Interesting topics, yes. But this discussion threatens to distract us from discussing fundamental changes that can be implemented immediately to significantly improve legal-service delivery across the industry.
Discussions about artificial intelligence and the like can make legal innovation and technology feel inaccessible and overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be that way. Lawyers, law students, and legal-services professionals can learn fundamental disciplines and begin applying them today to modernize their practices and increase their personal value in the marketplace. Engaging and empowering all legal-services professionals is important for improving legal-service delivery and thereby improving access to legal services for everyone.
Learning is not compulsory[.] . . . But to survive, we must learn.”
―W. Edwards Deming
What fundamental disciplines should be leveraged to deliver legal services in the twenty-first century? While this list could include several additional items, the following five deserve your focus now:
Continue Reading 21st Century Legal Services? Lawyers and Law Students, You Can Learn These Skills