I’m a strategic consultant to legal organizations in Canada and the United States, a forecaster and analyst of trends and developments in the global legal market, and an author, speaker, commentator, and expert in the field of legal services evolution.

I’ve spent the past 20 years studying critical new developments and discerning emerging patterns in the legal services ecosystem. I use these insights to advise legal organizations on how to plan their strategies and achieve their goals.

Here’s a brief overview of my experience.

• In 1990, I enrolled at Queen’s University Faculty of Law in Kingston, Ontario, graduating in 1993. I completed my articles at Blake, Cassels & Graydon in Toronto in 1994, and I was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1995. I practised law just long enough to conclude that I was cut out for a different line of work — but I was committed to staying within the legal sector.
• In 1996, I began a lengthy career as a legal journalist. After two-and-a-half years as a writer and editor with The Lawyers Weekly newspaper, I was appointed editor of National, the Canadian Bar Association’s magazine, in 1999. During my decade at the helm of National, the magazine won several national awards and consistently earned the highest satisfaction and relevance ratings from CBA members. During this time, I also helped start the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association’s own magazine.
• In 2007, I launched my own blog, Law21: Dispatches From a Legal Profession On The Brink, which eventually transformed into this website. I also write a weekly Substack newsletter under my own name, and I author a regular column about the legal services world at Slaw, Canada’s leading legal sector website.
• Since 2010, I have worked as an independent consultant, author, and speaker specializing in the changing market for legal services and the evolution of law firm culture and business models, both on my own and as a principal with Edge International Consulting. I have delivered keynote addresses to thousands of legal professionals on four different continents advising lawyers and legal organizations about how to adapt to a rapidly evolving legal world.
• In 2017, I wrote Law Is a Buyer’s Market: Building a Client-First Law Firm, a critically acclaimed book about changing the law firm business model which is available to be downloaded free. Earlier in the decade, I was named a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management in recognition for my contributions to the advancement of legal services evolution.

My volunteer work throughout this time has included advisory work for the ABA’s Center for Legal Innovation, the Law Without Walls program at the University of Miami Law School, and the access-to-justice advocacy group Responsive Law. I have delivered many presentations to law schools, legal startup conferences, and other non-profit or public-interest groups at no charge.

I’m Canadian. I was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and I live in Ottawa, Ontario, with my wife, two kids, and a regal cat. My Catholic faith is a central and sustaining part of my life. I’ve hung in there with the Toronto Blue Jays for nearly 40 years, and I re-read The Lord of the Rings every six months or so, because I like to be regularly reminded that the good guys are supposed to win in the end.

For more information or a discussion about any of the foregoing topics, please email me at jordan@law21.ca or call me at 613.729.7171. You can also follow me on Twitter at @jordan_law21.