Law | Technology | Business Strategy
[This article was originally posted on Slaw.ca] I recently completed Harvard’s CS50: Introduction to Computer Science, offered online though edX. Given my role as a Legal Tech and Innovation Specialist, I work with a lot of technology. Gaining a deeper understanding of computer science seemed like an enjoyable side-project. I was partially correct. (Sample code … Continue reading What I Learned About Innovation From Learning How to Code
[This article previously appeared on Slaw.ca] It is pretty clear that, in the past, lawyers did a great job disrupting themselves. The term “disruption” comes from Clayton Christensen’s observation that the ability of a company to make a higher and higher performing product always outstrips the ability of customers to make use of these performance improvements. … Continue reading Are Law Firms as Profitable as They Could Be?
[This article originally appeared on Slaw.com and subsequently in ILTA's Peer to Peer magazine] Managing a law firm in this era of rapid change is a massive challenge. It’s hard to know the right thing to do. It feels like the ground is constantly shifting. Your firm’s lawyers are giving conflicting reports on the state … Continue reading What Are the Key Attributes of an Innovative Law Firm and How Much Do They Matter?
[This article originally appeared on Slaw.ca] The legal profession could be improved a bit. Ok, it could be improved a lot. One might say it could use more "innovation." Yet it seems like the harder one pushes for innovation, the harder others push back. Despite acknowledgement that the nature of legal services will take time … Continue reading Is “Innovation” a Bad Word in Law Firms?
A recent Altman Weil study found that the #1 reason law firms weren’t doing more to change the way they deliver legal services is because clients weren’t asking them to do so. To not aim at improving client services is poor business strategy; but that is pretty rare. The problem of how to improve the … Continue reading Law firms need all the help they can get
[This article also appears in Legal Business World] In this essay I want to explore what I think is perhaps the most influential factor changing the legal market: the number of lawyers in the marketplace. When a market supply increases faster than its demand, the market value of a product or service decreases. The supply … Continue reading An overlooked factor in the changing legal market
[Note: this article appeared in Legal Business World (pg 25)] Whenever I tell my friends that I work on bringing law into the present day, they all say “well, it can’t be as bad as {my profession}”. I know this is purely anecdotal, but they all say it. It doesn’t matter the industry: the latest … Continue reading Dear Legal Innovators: This is Normal
Note: this article has since appeared on Slaw.com and in Legal Business World There appears to be a sentiment pervasive in the legal blogosphere that lawyers are “behind”: “The pace of change in legal services is not slowing down while lawyers’ day-to-day practice of law continues to lag far behind” (Remaking Law Firms) “Law Is Lagging … Continue reading How to stop being “behind”
James J. Cote 