Law21 Twitter Updates- Absolutely delighted to welcome Pam Woldow (@pwoldow) to Edge International! http://bit.ly/bUHvP1
- Legacy industry in decline: RT @The_AV_Club Sick of losing to cable, networks want Emmys split into 2 shows next year: http://bit.ly/c5nkSi
- @idealawg Thanks very much for the reference to my article in your blog post!
Category Archives: Purpose
The trusted advisor
My collection of prized possessions is extremely small — the feature item is probably a ticket stub from Game 6 of the 1993 World Series (Joe Carter’s home run off Mitch Williams). Among that narrow collection, you’ll find a personally inscribed copy of David Maister’s last book, Strategy and the Fat Smoker, and if your [...]
All good things…
My newest column is up and running at Slaw, where I’m always honoured it has a place. You can also find it directly below:
============================================
“Eighty percent of the poor in the United States are unable to afford a lawyer or find pro bono help for their civil legal problems, according to the American Bar Association.” That [...]
Also posted in Clients 2 Comments
Spend wisely
One of the reasons — maybe the main reason — why lawyers are so risk-averse is that averting risk is kind of the whole point of having lawyers. People hire us for two reasons: (a) to fix a problem that’s already occurred, or (b) to arrange things so as to minimize or eliminate the risk [...]
The legacy of work-life balance
I think we’ll soon be closing the book on one of the legal profession’s most-used and least-understood phrases of the last decade: “work-life balance.” It was still all the rage just a couple of years ago — new lawyers invoked it as a mantra, talent recruiters bandied it about, and many legal publications (including those [...]
Also posted in Big Firms, Billing, New Lawyers, Satisfaction, Talent 12 Comments
Lawyers as a public good
Thanks to San Diego lawyer and blogger Joseph Dang, I belatedly caught up with an article in California Lawyer magazine about the University of California at Irvine’s intention to launch a new law school this fall. If you’re not familiar with this plan, UC Irvine ambiti0usly aims to debut in the Top 20 rank of [...]
Also posted in Law School 3 Comments
A few thoughts about Wall Street
Ottawa is a long way, literally and figuratively, from the financial core of the United States, and my wife is the economics major in the family. So I’m not going to pretend to have any insights to offer on the sucking chest wounds opening up on Wall Street these days. If you’re looking for good [...]
Posted in Purpose Leave a comment
The day after tomorrow
As Patrick J. Lamb of Valorem Law Firm reminds us, change is inevitable once a marketplace has decided to do things differently. In a week in which the American Bar Association not only gave offshoring a passing grade but positively embraced it (Ron Friedmann and Russell Smith contribute their thoughts), and in which the prospect [...]
Could clients drive firms to do more pro bono?
Australia, the legal profession’s innovation laboratory, is busy delivering another dose of fresh thinking. The state of Victoria is requiring all law firms that take on legal work for the government to perform pro bono work as a condition of the retainer — specifically, to the tune of 5% to 15% of the total value [...]
Also posted in Clients Leave a comment
Restoring the culture of trust
Seth Godin served one up on the legal profession last week, and he wasn’t even trying. He was writing about marketers and their responsibility to serve a greater interest than the narrow, short-term goal of increasing a client’s sales. He identified two points at opposite ends of an aspirational spectrum — statesmen and lawyers — [...]
Posted in Purpose 5 Comments
Frugal innovation and the law