Legal practice
Never mind the quantity
My latest post on the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers. Image: By Eric Fischer on Flickr.
The Uberisation of law
My latest article in the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers gives some perspectives on the sharing economy and how it affects lawyers. Image: Taxi clown by John Fisher on Flickr.
Do lawyers need to be digitally competent?
Reblogged from Legal Web Watch November 2014. I ask this because I have been looking into the future for CPD in the two professions. Both are moving away from measuring CPD hours towards systems based on self-certified continuing competence. The SRA is more advanced and has issued a Draft Competence Statement for consultation with a […]
Reinventing law – the Twitter story
Reblogged from Legal Web Watch June 2014. Reinvent Law London 2014, a conference featuring presentations on “law + technology + innovation + entrepreneurship” was held on 20 June 2014 at the University of Westminster Law School in London. I missed last year’s event, which was well received (covered by Michael Scutt for the Newsletter), so […]
A new Legal Web ebook with CPD for solicitors
Thanks to Tessa Shepperson for reviewing favourably Delia Venables and my latest Legal Web ebook with CPD for solicitors called Modern Practice Topics for Solicitors. Are you feeling ignorant about the internet. Worried about wikis? Bothered by blogs? Or intimidated by twitter? You need a bit of professional training and guidance. Allow me to introduce […]
Is the law a can of beans? (reprise)
Way back in 1999 I wrote a piece on the commoditisation of legal services which still resonates today. Some lawyers are still arguing that there are so many potential pitfalls in using commoditised online services that the customer should always seek legal advice. For example, Angela Davis of Nottingham law firm Berryman warns that DIY […]
The end of BigLawyers – does the rest of society care?
Having just penned my previous post on BigLaw, I browsed the latest issue of Legal Information Management and was riveted not by my own article therein :=), nor by any of the many other worthy articles, but by the Book Review at the end in which solicitor Gillian Bull rather comprehensively disses Susskind’s The End […]
Reformation
Deep thought (as ever) from Jordan Furlong at Law21 on the future of lawyers a la Susskind. He concludes: If we take another meaning of “end” – an outcome worked toward or an objective for which effort is expended, rather than the more popular meaning of “disappearance” – then we could say that this is […]
What are lawyers worth?
I’m following with interest the prolific debate on alternative billing. Read three in particular: Jordan Furlong’s Billing thread on Law21 Toby Brown’s Alternative Billing thread on 3 Geeks and a Law Blog Ron Baker’s Value Billing thread on the VeraSage Institute Blog Moving to value billing from the comfort of the billable hour may not […]
The future of lawyers
First published in the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers, January 2009. In The End of Lawyers? (Oxford University Press) Richard Susskind challenges the legal profession to ask what elements of their current work could be undertaken more quickly, more cheaply, more efficiently or to a higher quality using new methods. He makes his case firstly by […]
2009
I usually leave it until the last minute to frame my “binary law” predictions for the year ahead. After all, a lot can happen in a month and it’s of course helpful to have the benefit of everyone else’s predictions first! In the SCL IT & law predictions for 2009 (batch 1, batch 2, batch […]
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing
I recently commented far too favourably on the the new Law Society Gazette site. There is no way to browse the archives which is frustrating. But to give the site some juice, the opinion sections in particular should be inviting our comments. I’d have liked, for example, to respond to Clive Wismayer, Solicitor, Great Bookham, […]
What about clients?
In a series of recent posts, Jordan Furlong gives his slant on the arguments at the heart of Richard Susskind’s thesis: Decoupling price from cost in legal services: In order to turn a profit, firms will be forced to streamline their costs of production, whatever they might be. The market doesn’t care clients don’t care […]
The future of lawyers
I have not yet found on the public access web anything approaching a review of Richard Susskind’s The End of Lawyers? (Oxford University Press). So I must conclude I’m one of the few who have actually read it from cover to cover. To say I’ve read it is a bit of an exaggeration; I confess […]
Hard times?
A personal opinion from a “usually tetchy but recently quite chipper old buzzard” on how the recession is affecting the legal world: Personal Injury – times have never been better Housing Law – good times! Divorce – quiet time of year, but come January, credit crunch or no, its open season Wills and Probate – […]
