The members of the Delta Model working group imagine a world, not too far off, where law schools, legal employers and clients all share a common touchstone for lawyer development. For the last two years, we’ve been working on such a touchstone, which we call the Delta Model. Our current version is expressed in the graphic above.
Continue Reading
Let’s start with the basics. My name is Tim Mohan. I am the Chief Executive Partner of Chapman and Cutler LLP, an AmLaw 200 firm with six offices and approximately 240 lawyers. We were founded in
In 2014, I was invited to lunch with Joe Andrew, the chairman of Dentons, in his DC office. The invitation came from John Fernandez, an Indiana Law alum who joined Dentons a couple of years earlier after two decades in government. Joe and John came up through the ranks together in Indiana Democratic politics, with Andrew eventually becoming Chairman of the Indiana Democratic Party (from 1995-1999) and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee (1999-2001).
Continue Reading
This pattern fits me and many lawyers I know: We applied to law school
“Legal operations” was popularized by CLOC, ACC, and a hundred vendors capitalizing on selling to newly energized corporate legal departments. It became shorthand for running legal departments as a business. Then a
Media attention shifts rapidly from law firm profitability to gender bias and from technology to new lateral partners. Yet, if we pull back to conduct a deeper analysis, what we observe is a law firm sector grappling with three interrelated threats that are seldom the focus of sustained attention: insufficient leadership, attorneys’ lack of meaning and purpose in their work, and client service. As shown in the above graphic, these three domains are the linchpins of law firm performance and sustainability.
Continue Reading
The legal industry is full of opinions – and so it is full of noise. In 2019, 🤦♂️ facepalming and 🙄 eyerolling at innovation hype is still very much in vogue, and so a lot of the noise is 😒 negative 😠 in tone.
Amidst all the noise, though, I see very clear signals of meaningful change.
Continue Reading
When you’re closing in on the end of your second decade doing something, as I am in the legal technology field, you’re going to experience many transformations. And I think it’s safe to say that, in the field of technology, the pace of change is not dissimilar to the springtime waters of the Copper River in Alaska when salmon swim into the rushing rapids — a lot of effort to travel a short distance to achieve a critically important goal.
Continue Reading
In this post, I tell an old Michael Lewis story that bears on the law. Remarkably, most of the insights come from a 15-year-old boy named Marcus Arnold, pictured above with Lewis circa 2001. I then review the U.K.’s journey to market liberalization, including the repeal of the British version of Model Rule 5.4.
Continue Reading
Innovation is taking place in many parts of the legal ecosystem these days. Yet, as relates to legal operations inside corporate legal departments, a refreshing community of practice is starting to unfold. The camaraderie and fellowship among practitioners,