When I left the practice of law to accept a corporate client’s invitation to run a division, what I had to un-learn as a (then former) lawyer was even more important than the new skills I acquired as a general manager. … None of this is meant to criticize the legal…
LawGeex — an Israel-based tech company whose artificial intelligence (AI)-based document review software automates the process of identifying risky provisions in contracts — has announced the results of a peer-reviewed study that compared artificial intelligence to human lawyers in the review of standard business contracts called non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). The…
[Publication 3/16/2018]
One practical consequence of the big gap between attorneys’ excellent formal schooling and the skills they need to do excellent work for clients: Attorneys who graduated from law school 4 years ago or less typically lack the skills they need to serve the client independently — i.e., without “supervision”. ……
There’s not much in the way of practical how-to instruction for new attorneys. So there’s a big gap between their excellent formal schooling and the skills needed to do excellent work for clients. This gap poses two practical consequences: Attorneys who graduated from law school less than 4 years ago…
In Part I of this two-part series I contended that the vast majority of law firms and in-house departments haven’t adopted Six Sigma, Toyota “Lean” protocols, or other process improvement standards because the legal industry’s cost-plus business model undercuts any incentive for operational efficiency. Undercuts how? Law firms and in-house…
The vast majority of law firms and in-house departments haven’t adopted Six Sigma, Toyota’s “Lean” protocols, or other process improvement standards. Why? Because the legal industry’s cost-plus business model undercuts any incentive for operational efficiency. The legal industry doesn’t structure its work into activities sequenced in a specific order…
As I said in Part I, too many individual judges and bureaucrats indulge their own preconceived, subjective legal and regulatory views in ways that create bad surprises. Your best protection? The sound judgment of a lawyer who’s immersed in the views of those who call the legal and regulatory shots…
Despite our nation’s sacred aspiration to have a government “of laws, not men”, businesses often find themselves governed by the preconceived, subjective opinion of some judge or bureaucrat. Even when that preconceived, subjective opinion conflicts with the plain meaning of a statute’s or regulation’s actual words. … The Dodd-Frank Act…
Part III For routine, repetitive, or high-volume legal or regulatory compliance tasks, ask yourself which service provider brings the the right business processes — and perhaps the right technology — to the need presented. … Some of your company’s legal and regulatory needs call for a team and a process.…