My post two days ago cited an American Bar Association ABA Journal article published just this week about what lawyers want to sell to business: Billable hours. It described the latest and most advanced software for, “ensuring that you capture — and charge for — all of your billable time.”…
Managing Legal
The Billable Hour Prevails — Don’t Let Anyone Mislead You to the Contrary
Just yesterday the American Bar Association’s ABA Journal posted — under the category “Legal Technology” — an article that described and evaluated some of the latest and most advanced software for the following task performed by attorneys: “These mobile time-tracking tools make it possible to track your time and enter it…
Sometimes Your Business Just Needs a Great Lawyer — Go Find that Lawyer
Opening scene: It was a nightmare for my friend Mary. Over the past decade – she and her business partner had created a thriving real estate development firm. With what had been until recently a great working relationship. Now her business partner was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Across…
“Too Much at Stake”?
The legal industry has been slow to embrace artificial intelligence (AI)*. But other industries and professions are not waiting to deliver AI’s enhanced precision and cost efficiencies. How high do the stakes have to be before law begins to catch up with medicine? … On April 11, 2018 the U.S.…
Judge Mukasey Explains the Attorney Client Privilege with Wisdom and Clarity
With all the references to the attorney-client privilege in recent news, I had been meaning to post an article on this important legal protection. Today’s Wall Street Journal contains an op-ed by former U.S. Attorney General and former federal judge Michael B. Mukasey that surpasses — in practical wisdom and…
On Vacation Until Wednesday April 4
The Theranos Case: Example of a Tactic that Regulators Deploy Against the Companies They Target
To protect itself, a company needs regulatory advice from a lawyer who knows how a government agency would view its activities. Like a pro football team, regulators who bring an enforcement action against your company are rarely playing the first game of their careers. So there should be little, if…
In Case It’s Not Obvious: What this Blog and My Law Practice are All About
In this blog I describe how to use effective management and liability prevention to control corporate legal costs. This calls for a certain amount of detail. But in providing that detail I want to be sure not to lose sight of what this blog and my law practice are all…
Your Business Can Prevent Liability and Achieve Cost Efficiency in its Legal and Regulatory Function — But General Management Has to Do Something
Half a decade ago Harvard Law School’s Professor David Wilkins announced that the legal industry had entered “the Global Age of More for Less” (see this speech, and this journal article). The response from all but a few attorneys: Crickets. Seen in the light of their cost-plus business model, “more…
State of the Legal Industry: A Leading Advocate for Innovation Calls It “Stagnation” — And Points to a Remedy
Company owners and executives need to take charge of legal and regulatory affairs in order to control legal costs, prevent liability, and otherwise cope with the legal and regulatory system’s increasing demands upon business. Because their lawyers won’t do it for them. … Consider last week’s diagnosis (here and here)…