Comments on: Momentum

By: The apprenticeship marketplace

The apprenticeship marketplace — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:21:17 +0000

[...] written about these programs before — Frost Brown Todd, Strasberger and Price, and Ford Harrison have followed suit [...]

By: Pushing Change | NIMONIK

Pushing Change | NIMONIK — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:33:32 +0000

[...] recent article from our friend Jordan Furlong at Law21 outlines the dramatic changes happening in the legal profession and how lawyers are and [...]

By: Blawg Review #218 |

Blawg Review #218 | — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:18:38 +0000

[...] want to keep practicing law? It will take quite a bit more endurance with Rio Tinto sending over $100 million in legal work to India. The days of high associate pay, and higher partner profits may soon be gone completely with [...]

By: Tim

Tim — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:30:30 +0000

The real change agent is NOT the law firm, but the clients. Rio Tinto has done what most legal departments would shy away from because lawyers, whether in house or at a law firm, do not want to be on the cutting edge of changes in the models with which we are familiar. But change is the only constant in life.

By: Law Firm Views of Legal Outsourcing — A Survey and Report - The Posse List

Law Firm Views of Legal Outsourcing — A Survey and Report - The Posse List — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:41:07 +0000

[...] tie-up (for insightful analysis on this subject from Rees Morrison click here and Jordon Furlong click here). In Part 1 we reported on several recent studies including a very detailed ValueNotes study [...]

By: Martha

Martha — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:29:24 +0000

Love this post, Jordan. Although, as a contract researcher and writer, I have a bit of a conflict with the offshoring practice, I am truly excited to see how innovative our bright legal minds will become when their feet are put to the fire. Molding the old model to conform to modern economics is long overdue in our profession. While change can be painful, positive change in this regard ultimately will benefit everyone, lawyers and clients alike. Jackie’s point is well taken: legal practitioners at all levels need to consider their highest value and how they can best provide and represent that value in word and deed – true change will come when this ideal is adopted wholesale.

By: Jackie Huttter

Jackie Huttter — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:31:00 +0000

Great post, Jordan, and I hope you are right that momentum is being seen. I would add that while I agree that associate salaries got out of hand in the last 10 or so years, I believe that change cannot happen until law firm partners accept that they are not necessarily entitled to salaries and amenities that are wholely divorced from the actual value that they bring to their clients. Note that this does not mean that they will have to take pay cuts to stay in business. Rather, I believe that a critical mass of influential law firm partners must begin to communicate to their clients in economic terms about the value their work brings to their business. This will allow clients to not just shop on price, but also to consider the value a lawyer or law firm provides. Yes, this is “selling the unknown” but consultants do this all the time.

By: Vickie Pynchon

Vickie Pynchon — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:59:12 +0000

“This is associate-level legal work like document review” . . . . This is paralegal work, of course (and I hated it when I was a paralegal in Manhattan in the mid-70s). Off-shoring it will benefit thousands of young attorneys who can begin to learn their TRADE instead of earning inflated salaries for mind-numbing work that will turn them away from the joys and challenges of the practice of law. Yes?