Comments on: Get ready for the process era

By: Measuring lawyer productivity

Measuring lawyer productivity — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:18:58 +0000

[...] perfectly ordinary aspect of running a business that lawyers have shied away from, but just as there’s a process revolution coming to the law, a productivity revolution is now also well underway. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments [...]

By: Jeff Carr

Jeff Carr — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:58:21 +0000

Jason — outstanding! Pat — thanks for including me in the same sentence as Richard, that’s lofty company indeed! You are both oh so right — but the law is a jealous mistress and in this case, one laden with flotsam and jetsam of inefficiency and self-delusion. Machiavelli writes that the advocate of change faces the most arduous of challenges as he can expect only lukewarm support at best and passive if not active resistence from those that benefit from the status quo. But in that challenge lies the secret of ultimate success for the law firms of the future and the successful lawyers for that future are those that have the gumption to seize the opportunity for change now and provide customers with the opportunity for better value – -and that means achieveing results effectively and efficiently. Those that structure their engagements to reward that success and share that risk will ultimately prevail. Diogenes is no longer alone!

By: Patrick Lamb

Patrick Lamb — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:46:31 +0000

Outstanding post, Jordan. This post joins Susskind’s book and presentations by Jeff Carr as “must read/must know/must practice” statements. Jeff Carr’s view is that the work of lawyers divides into four buckets–process, content, counseling and advocacy. He is willing to pay high fees for the latter two–the destination, but not for the process and content–the journey. We’ve shaped Valorem to focus on the destination and work with others as needed and at a cost approved by the client (and generally decreasing) on the process and content. Every place I hear clients talk about the practice, I hear demands for greater project management skills, cost analysis and the like, just so the “fat” can be excised from a lawyer’s work. Your view of the future, like Susskind’s, is closer to today’s reality than most lawyers realize.

By: Simon Brownlie

Simon Brownlie — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:11:43 +0000

Couldn’t agree more Jordan. I’ve been a business lawyer for 20-odd years in the US and Africa, and I’m struggling to get my ahead around this; and I’m at least thinking about it! Once concept I keep coming back to is the intriguing possibility of becoming a lawyer who advises on whether you need a lawyer, that is, a sort of portal that dissects the tasks and directs clients to the right places, be they automated document assembly, CPA’s, attorneys or nowhere at all.