We can’t believe it is nearly a month since we hosted the first Legal Geek Webinar with Richard Susskind and Mark Cohen. These webinars form a series on four monthly events which each cover two different topics.
The next Webinar (Thurs 28th May at 3.00PM UK time) will cover: “What clients want and need” and “Alternative legal suppliers – hope or hype?” Signup free
ICYMI here are some of the key points
Mark Cohen’s top five comments:
Lawyers look to precedent, so they will look to past crises. COVID-19 is different.
In a matter of weeks, the Coronavirus has created remote legal workforces and distance learning. This has cast a light on latent technologies that enable things to be done differently.
The greatest impediment to legal industry change is entrenched professional stakeholders and their business models. This includes law schools, the traditional law firm partnership model, and the justice system.
General Counsel are law’s bellwethers. They are on the front lines of C-Suite demand for the reimagination of the legal function and delivery of legal services.” That means all lawyers must be proactive enterprise defenders, rapid responders, and collaborate with business to drive business impact.
Consumers, not lawyers, are driving industry change. Customer-centric business models are essential in the after-Corona world. Providers that do not deliver consistent, quantifiable, and impactful results will cede market share to those that do.
Richard Susskind’s top five comments:
We are living through a massive pilot – as we run our firms and courts remotely, it’s important to capture as much data as possible about what’s working and what’s not.
One common attitude is that an entirely new way of working in law is possible. Others hope that working life will ‘return to normal’.
It’s not too early for law firms to take control of the future but that hasn’t happened yet. We have only seen coping mechanisms.
This period is also a test of the values at law firms – are the words emblazoned on their walls being followed?
Top audience questions asked
- “What would you recommend (as far as reading, courses, internships) for a student who is interested in working on developing legal technology and helping to drive its implementation?”
- “How do we get the judges to continue to use remote technology after the pandemic?”
- “Will this crisis drive more innovation and legal tech budget on the in-house and law firm side?”
- “You mentioned that consumers would be able to choose legal services providers based on metrics. How do you envision these metrics becoming available? Private marketplaces a la billing services? Consortiums? Associations? Providers themselves?”
Best of the internet
REMINDER: Richard Susskind and Mark Cohen debate the future of the legal industry with @wearelegalgeek on April 30th – More Info: https://t.co/w2beIocvTJ pic.twitter.com/fvxchX5Cis
— African Law & Tech Network (@ALT_LegalTech) April 28, 2020
Well done @wearelegalgeek for putting together this event! Lively Q&A + liking the real-time polling. @richardsusskind and @legalmosaic seem to be broadly in agreement so far… #UncertainDecade https://t.co/QV6SBHSiMO
— Ivy Wong (@operationivy_) April 30, 2020
Useful resources
We have collated some useful resources related to the first event on “Legal life after COVID-19 – a very new normal” and “When courts close, what will half the world’s lawyers do?”
COVID-19 resource center
Thomson Reuters have created a large number of free resources to assist you as you prepare and respond to issues created by COVID-19.
Forbes: Why COVID-19 will turbocharge change
Read this Forbes article from UnitedLex to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic will accelerate change in the legal profession
Stay Productive While Working Remotely
iManage has identified steps you can take that are readily available, easy to implement, to enable your organization to work more effectively and securely from home.
