5/9/22, 1:24 PM Law Firm Innovation - The Newest BS Phrase | 3 Geeks and a Law Blog
Law Firm Innovation – The Newest BS Phrase
By Toby Brown on November 18, 2018
Having recently attended a conference on law firm innovation, I came to the realization that
Blockchain has lost its pre-eminent place in the legal BS stratosphere. This is a sad day.
Blockchain had a good life and provided tons of opportunities for people to opine on how
‘everything’ will change because of it. I recall one especially insightful article on emerging
crypto-toilet paper offerings. Too bad we will never know the warm comfort of crypto-paper
making a pass around the seventh planet.
Moving right along – we now will enjoy six to nine months of “innovation” articles, seminars,
conferences, white papers, case studies and booze-induced discussions.
Oh sweet pessimism.
Admittedly, I did hear some interesting stories about some firms’ efforts to innovate. There are
innovation labs, innovation roles, innovation committees and innovation spin-offs. On one
level, we should all praise the efforts to actually do something, versus talk about it (ala
blockchain). However, IMHO most of these programs fall into the classic “solution in search of a
problem” bucket. Truth be told, some of these projects do solve a problem, since they are back-
office based. But my point here is that we are yet again flirting with the magic button so many
of our lawyers yearn to push.
The lure of a magic button will pull lawyers away from the work that really needs to be done. To
illustrate this, I will use a non-neutral, non-technology example. I still (just this week) have
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lawyers call me about the magic task codes and how they want to start using them so they can
figure out how to build budgets for pricing, etc and to identify “inefficiencies.” I respond with
my now ten-year old answer, that task codes were not designed for that and what they should
really do is take the time to develop a scope-based budget template and then use that as a
benchmark for building matter-specific budgets and to measure against to learn where they
might be inefficient. Of course, that will take some (non-billable) time which tends to derail the
discussion.
The main point of this example is you should start innovation with process, not technology. Too
much of the innovation I hear about is far more focused on the technology. And even when
process does come into the picture, the other missing thing is ‘The Problem.”
A telling aspect of the innovation conference was when during each session someone would
ask the ‘Who Farted’ question: How is adoption of technology X across the entire firm coming
along? This question usually was followed by a pause, or in some cases enthusiasm about how
they expected lawyers to start using it once they saw how awesome it was. One presenter was
brave enough to suggest behavioral science will do the trick. This nice article on his
presentation (sadly behind a pay wall) goes on to note: a) “Innovative isn’t innovative if no one
is using it,” and b) “Unfortunately for law firm leaders interested in driving change, Painter has
concluded that not much can be done by a law firm to affect a lawyer’s motivation.” Regardless,
I hope his efforts bear some fruit, but am skeptical based on my expereinces.
I have had some success with innovation, but not by parading around AI, blockchain, and other
technologies. Instead, the effort starts with clearly identifying a specific client need, then
moving forward with a simple solution (usually a process that leads to relatively simple
technology) that the client finds compelling. Too often I have seen this second point ignored
since “Of course clients will find smart contracts compelling.” Maybe some of them will. But you
will be way better off confirming with them that an idea will meet their needs, be acceptable to
them and is something they can sell internally before you move forward with it. And in the very
best case, you will find more than one client that agrees.
This last point brings up an entirely new can of worms. My other observation from the
conference was that all of these great innovation ideas were dependent on one big
assumption: Lawyers Will Sell This. Quoting Doctor Evil – Riiiiight.
One final thought – I’m adding “Innovation” to my job title. This is one BS bus I can’t afford to
miss.
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