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A Financial Reality Corporate Law Functions Don’t Talk About: Variable Costs Should be Managed Differently from Fixed Costs
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Another Lesson from the FisherBroyles Law Firm: Inexperience Has No Place on Your Company’s Legal Team
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Bruce MacEwen Writes: The Corporate Law Function Has “A Scal(ability) Problem”
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Automate Repetitive, Error-Prone Deal Tasks, or Continue to Pay Junior Lawyers Hundreds-Per-Hour to Do Them Manually?
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Law Firms to Pay $200,000 a Year to Law Grads Who Have Never Practiced — Inexperience Is Costly
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FisherBroyles: A Virtual Law Firm that Removes Two Key Items of Overhead from Its Fees
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Fixing a Costly Management Fail in Legal: High-Priced In-House Attorneys Squandered on Routine Work
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Adding People to Your Team Does Not Create Economies of Scale; But It’s Legal’s Primary, Go-To Move When Its Workload Increases
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AI-Powered Tech Now Available to Cut the Cost, Increase the Accuracy, of a Big, Recurring Corporate Legal Task
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My Qualifications: I Can Discern Fat-Vs-Muscle in Legal Spending because I’ve Worked on Both Sides of the Lawyer / Client Table
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I Help CFOs Cut Legal Spending by Removing Fat and Building Muscle
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Law Firms’ Recent Head Fake on Out-of-Control Legal Charges
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FREE COVID-19 LIABILITY PREVENTION WEB BRIEFING FOR MANAGEMENT JUNE 29 & 30
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Groundhog Day: “In-House Counsel Concerned They Are Spending Too Much on Outside Counsel”
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Why Can’t They Say “Yes” or “No”? Understanding How Lawyers Talk to Business People (Part 4 of 4)
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FREE COVID-19 LIABILITY PREVENTION WEB BRIEFING FOR MANAGEMENT JUNE 29 & 30
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Why Can’t They Say “Yes” or “No”? Understanding How Lawyers Talk to Business People (Part 3 of 4)
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Why Can’t They Say “Yes” or “No”? Understanding How Lawyers Talk to Business People (Part 2 of 4)
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Why Can’t They Say “Yes” or “No”? Understanding How Lawyers Talk to Business People (Part 1 of 4)
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How the Legal Profession’s Views of its “Ethics” Rules Effectively Protect its Markets: A February 2020 Development
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COVID-19’s Lesson for Managing Legal Risk: Tough Times Demand that You Cut to the Chase (Part 3 of 3)
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COVID-19’s Lesson for Managing Legal Risk: Tough Times Demand that You Cut to the Chase (Part 2 of 3)
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COVID-19’s Lesson for Managing Legal Risk: Tough Times Demand that You Cut to the Chase (Part 1 of 3)
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Patrick Lamb: Legal Services Delivery Needs to “Move from ‘Just Lawyers’ to Multi-Professional Teams”
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Companies Aren’t Helpless When Service Providers Ignore their Needs: What In-House Counsel Can Learn from Mark Cuban
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“Ethics” Rules Shape the Legal Services Market: To Protect Clients? Or Just to Protect Lawyers? — An Effective Barrier to Needed Innovation — Part 5 of 5
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“Ethics” Rules Shape the Legal Services Market: To Protect Clients? Or to Protect Lawyers from Unwanted Competition? — Lawyer-Client Matching Service is “Illegal” — Part 4 of 5
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“Ethics” Rules Shape the Legal Services Market: To Protect Clients? Or to Protect Lawyers from Unwanted Competition? — A Smartphone App that “Practices Law”? — Part 3 of 5
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“Ethics” Rules Shape the Legal Services Market: To Protect Clients? Or to Protect Lawyers from Unwanted Competition? — Big 4 Legal Practices — Part 2 of 5
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“Ethics” Rules Shape the Legal Services Market: To Protect Clients? Or to Protect Lawyers from Unwanted Competition? — Introduction — Part 1 of 5
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Empower Business People to Speed Up their Contract Negotiations via Technology — Avoid the Lawyer Logjam
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Sometimes I Am Shocked to be Reminded of How Un-Businesslike Lawyers’ Hourly Billing Model Really Is
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Finding the Specialist Lawyer Your Business Needs
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Artificial Intelligence Takes Another Step To Reduce Lawyers’ Hours Your Business Has to Pay For — If and When It’s Adopted
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Bet-the-Company vs. Just-Run-the Company: Legal Tasks Vary — And So Should Their Price
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Boeing’s January 9 Document Release to Congress — A Lesson on Preventing Legal Problems
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Protecting a Business from Legal Risks is a Management Role — With Lawyers as Supporting Cast, Not as the Director
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Artificial Intelligence Can Cut Clients’ Attorney Fees, While Offering More Accuracy: Salazar Law Firm & ROSS Intelligence
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Conventional Law Firms (& In-House Departments) Who Claim a “Customer Focus” But Ignore Client Companies’ Basic Operational Needs
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Don’t Let Your Lawyers Over-Work Simple Contract Issues — Higher Costs, No Better Risk Protection & Deals Delayed
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Why Do Client Companies Accept Cat-and-Mouse Games in their Law Firms’ Bills?
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“Full Transparency” & “Effective and Proactive Communication”: Risk Management Lessons from Boeing and GE
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Legal Tech Now Available that Too Few Lawyers Use: Contract Management Software
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“Artificial Intelligence is a Circus to Avoid the Need to Make Real Improvements in Legal Services”
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Access Elite Attorneys for Your Business’ Needs, But Avoid the Legal Profession’s Wasteful Add-On’s: Axiom Law
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Does Hourly Billing Defeat Tech Adoption in Legal? An AI Scientist & Biglaw Attorney Exchange Views
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To Cut Your Company’s Legal Spending and Prevent Legal Problems, Begin by Defining the Job Right
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Legal Profession’s Business Model Stifles Use of Accuracy-Enhancing & Labor-Saving Tech: Case in Point
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Amazon and (a Truly) Innovative Law Firm Join Forces
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The Legal Profession has Barely Changed in Years, Despite Hype about Innovation in its Services to Business
:
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I’m on vacation from April 3 to April 11.
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Defining the Value of Lawyers’ Work: Where to Get Reliable Numbers for Sound Management Choices (Part 3 of 3)
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Defining the Value of Lawyers’ Work: Where to Get Reliable Numbers for Sound Management Choices (Part 2 of 3)
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Defining the Value of Lawyers’ Work: Where to Get Reliable Numbers for Sound Management Choices (Part 1 of 3)
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Clients Need Legal Services But Not Necessarily Lawyers (Part 4 of 4)
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Clients Need Legal Services But Not Necessarily Lawyers (Part 3 of 4)
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The Billable Hour Remains the Legal Profession’s Pricing Standard — and Attorneys Use it to Establish Quotas
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Clients Need Legal Services But Not Necessarily Lawyers (Part 2 of 4)
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Clients Need Legal Services But Not Necessarily Lawyers (Part 1 of 4)
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Signs Big 4 Accounting Firms May Present Business Owners and Managers with Practical Alternatives to U.S. Law Firms (Part 3 of 3)
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Signs Big 4 Accounting Firms May Present Business Owners and Managers with Practical Alternatives to U.S. Law Firms (Part 2 of 3)
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Signs Big 4 Accounting Firms May Present Business Owners and Managers with Practical Alternatives to U.S. Law Firms (Part 1 of 3)
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Make Your Company’s Law Firms Compete on Terms of Service (Part 2 of 2)
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Make Your Company’s Law Firms Compete on Terms of Service (Part 1 of 2)
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Business Owners’ / Managers’ Playbook: No Such Thing as “Harmless” Legal Doc — Call Your Lawyer Before You Sign
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Law Profs, Some Students, and Handful of Companies Make a Big Move Toward Efficiencies in Business Law (Part 1 of 2)
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Software Engineer-Turned-Attorney Suggests Replacing Law Firm’s 6-Member Team with 1 Person — Here’s What Happened (Part 3 of 3)
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Software Engineer-Turned-Attorney Suggests Replacing Law Firm’s 6-Member Team with 1 Person — Here’s What Happened (Part 2 of 3)
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Software Engineer-Turned-Attorney Suggests Replacing Law Firm’s 6-Member Team with 1 Person — Here’s What Happened (Part 1 of 3)
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Best Wishes for a Joyous Holiday Season
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Judge Chips Away at Legal Profession’s Business Model: Criticizes A Lawyer’s Failure to Use Artificial Intelligence
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“Lawyers Can Make More Money from Vagueness and Unclear Instructions than Almost Anything Else” (Part 2 of 2)
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“Lawyers Can Make More Money from Vagueness and Unclear Instructions than Almost Anything Else” (Part 1 of 2)
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A lovely Thanksgiving weekend to you and yours.
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Can Artificial Intelligence Move Your Attorneys Toward the Results You Care About? (Part 3 of 3)
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Can Artificial Intelligence Move Your Attorneys Toward the Results You Care About? (Part 2 of 3)
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Can Artificial Intelligence Move Your Attorneys Toward the Results You Care About? (Part 1 of 3)
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“Who’s Your [Law] Firm’s Real Client?” (Part 2 of 2)
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“Who’s Your [Law] Firm’s Real Client?” (Part 1 of 2)
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Why Law Firms Don’t Change Strategy Despite Client Dissatisfaction: A Management Explanation (Part 2 of 2)
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Why Law Firms Don’t Change Strategy Despite Client Dissatisfaction: A Management Explanation (Part 1 of 2)
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Access to Legal Analytics Technology Expands Beyond Big Cities and Elite Law Firms to Main Street (Part 2 of 2)
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Access to Legal Analytics Technology Expands Beyond Big Cities and Elite Law Firms to Main Street (Part 1 of 2)
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Why Can’t They Say “Yes” or “No”? Understanding How Lawyers Talk to Business People (Part 4 of 4)
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Why Can’t They Say “Yes” or “No”? Understanding How Lawyers Talk to Business People (Part 3 of 4)
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Why Can’t They Say “Yes” or “No”? Understanding How Lawyers Talk to Business People (Part 2 of 4)
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NOT A PARODY: “As we enter the home stretch to make billable hour targets in advance of bonus season …”
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Why Can’t They Say “Yes” or “No”? Understanding How Lawyers Talk to Business People (Part 1 of 4)
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What Can Health Care Teach Business about Managing its Lawyers? Seeking Answers at the Mayo Clinic (Part 3 of 3)
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What Can Health Care Teach Business about Managing its Lawyers? Seeking Answers at the Mayo Clinic (Part 2 of 3)
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What Can Health Care Teach Business about Managing its Lawyers? Seeking Answers at the Mayo Clinic (Part 1 of 3)
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Perverse Incentives: Law Firm Bills by the Hour — Court Cuts Its $1.8 Million Fee Down to $670,000 (Part 3 of 3)
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Perverse Incentives: Law Firm Bills by the Hour — Court Cuts Its $1.8 Million Fee Down to $670,000 (Part 2 of 3)
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Perverse Incentives: Law Firm Bills by the Hour — Court Cuts Its $1.8 Million Fee Down to $670,000 (Part 1 of 3)
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Businesses May Have Alternatives to Status Quo in Legal Services — Recent Moves by The Big 4 in the U.S. (Part 4 of 4)
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Businesses May Have Alternatives to Status Quo In Legal Services — Recent Moves by The Big 4 (Part 3 of 4)
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Businesses May Have Alternatives to Status Quo In Legal Services — Recent Moves by The Big 4 (Part 2 of 4)
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Businesses May Have Alternatives to Status Quo In Legal Services — Recent Moves by The Big 4 in the U.S. (Part 1 of 4)
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I’m Back — Advising Business People on How to Take Charge of their Companies’ Legal Health
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A Company’s Legal Health Calls for Skills that Attorneys Lack — Ron Friedmann’s Take
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A Legal Veteran’s Recent Take on His Profession: “Too Many Awards — Too Little Legal Customer Satisfaction”
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Sometimes A Lawyer Gets it Right — Happy Fourth
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Profile: Nicole Auerbach & Patrick Lamb — Business Attorneys Transforming Pricing and Service Delivery
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Business Leaders Need to Drive Better Legal Pricing and Services Delivery Because Lawyers Won’t or Can’t
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On Issues of Right vs. Wrong Business Owners and Executives Should Listen to Lawyers — But Think for Themselves
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How Should A Business Pick its Law Firms? Brand Name Method Fails the Empirical Test
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Regulators Gone Wild — Is Relief Coming from the Courts?
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Brain Surgeon Rates for First Aid: How Law Firms Charge for Document Review
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A Company’s Legal Health Calls for Skills that Attorneys Lack
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“‘The Tone Deafness is Astounding’: Clients Unhappy about Milbank Associate Raise Announcement”
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A Legal Expert’s Most Recent Take on the Billable Hour
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About that Crack in the Wall Protecting U.S. Law Firms from Big Four — What Are the Big Four’s Competitive Advantages?
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The Wall Protecting U.S. Law Firms from Big Four Competition Cracked a Bit Last Year — And That Crack Just Expanded
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About My Post on the Company That Stopped Paying its Lawyers by the Hour: Any Size Business Can Benefit
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BASF Corporation’s General Counsel Tells How — and Why — He Stopped Paying Outside Counsel by the Hour
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If Law Firms Aren’t Innovating in Service Delivery is Anyone in the Legal Industry Doing It?
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Empirical Data Says Law Firms Aren’t Innovating in Service Delivery — So Say the Numbers in Two Recent Studies
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Controlling Corporate Legal Costs by Legal Document Automation: Brand New Application in Employment Law
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Controlling Corporate Legal Costs by Legal Document Automation: Another Real Estate Sector Example
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Using Artificial Intelligence to Control Corporate Legal Costs: A Case Study from the Real Estate Industry
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Buggy Whip Factory Doubles Down on Laser Technology
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Take Responsibility for Securing Your Company’s — and Your Own — Attorney-Client Privilege (Part V of V)
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Take Responsibility for Securing Your Company’s — and Your Own — Attorney-Client Privilege (Part IV of V)
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Take Responsibility for Securing Your Company’s — and Your Own — Attorney-Client Privilege (Part III of V)
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Take Responsibility for Securing Your Company’s — and Your Own — Attorney-Client Privilege (Part II of V)
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Take Responsibility for Securing Your Company’s — and Your Own — Attorney-Client Privilege (Part I of V)
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Most Lawyers Resist Even Modest Changes, But This Group Targets a 50% Cut in F500 Corp’s Legal Budget (Part III of III)
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Most Lawyers Resist Even Modest Changes, But This Group Targets a 50% Cut in F500 Corp’s Legal Budget (Part II of III)
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Most Lawyers Resist Even Modest Changes, But This Group Targets a 50% Cut in F500 Corp’s Legal Budget (Part I of III)
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The Billable Hour Prevails — Don’t Let Anyone Mislead You to the Contrary
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Sometimes Your Business Just Needs a Great Lawyer — Go Find that Lawyer
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“Too Much at Stake”?
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Judge Mukasey Explains the Attorney Client Privilege with Wisdom and Clarity
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On Vacation Until Wednesday April 4
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The Theranos Case: Example of a Tactic that Regulators Deploy Against the Companies They Target
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In Case It’s Not Obvious: What this Blog and My Law Practice are All About
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Your Business Can Prevent Liability and Achieve Cost Efficiency in its Legal and Regulatory Function — But General Management Has to Do Something
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State of the Legal Industry: A Leading Advocate for Innovation Calls It “Stagnation” — And Points to a Remedy
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Lawyers’ Blindspots Make them Bad Managers — They Need Supervision from (Non-Lawyer) Executives
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Artificial Intelligence vs. Human Lawyers: Artificial Intelligence — 94% Accurate, Humans — 85% Accurate
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Many Business Lawyers Have Excellent Schooling — But Early Hands-On Training is Often Hit-and-Miss (Part III of III)
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Many Business Lawyers Have Excellent Schooling — But Early Hands-On Training is Often Hit-and-Miss (Part II of III)
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Many Business Lawyers Have Excellent Schooling — But Early Hands-On Training is Often Hit-and-Miss (Part I of III)
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Applying Six Sigma, Toyota “Lean” to Legal and Regulatory Work: It’s About Incentives — Or Lack of Them (Part II of II)
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Applying Six Sigma, Toyota “Lean” to Legal and Regulatory Work: It’s About Incentives — Or Lack of Them (Part I of II)
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Managing Your Business to the Law’s Demands: Even If a Text is Clear — Courts, Agencies Often Just Ignore It (Part II of II)
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Managing Your Business to the Law’s Demands: Even If a Text is Clear — Courts, Agencies Often Just Ignore It (Part I of II)
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In Legal as in Other Business Functions: Match the People You Assign to the Task at Hand (Part III of III)
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In Legal as in Other Business Functions: Match the People You Assign to the Task at Hand (Part II of III)
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In Legal as in Other Business Functions: Match the People You Assign to the Task at Hand (Part I of III)
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Understanding Artificial Intelligence in Business Law: Three Take-Aways for Company Owners and Executives (Part III of III)
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Understanding Artificial Intelligence in Law: Three Take-Aways for Company Owners and Executives (Part II of III)
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Understanding Artificial Intelligence in Legal: Three Take-Aways for Company Owners and Executives (Part I of III)
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A Proven Aviation Safety Protocol Could Prevent Business Catastrophes — And Your Lawyers Should Lead the Way (Part II of II)
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A Proven Aviation Safety Protocol Could Prevent Business Catastrophes — And Your Lawyers Should Lead the Way (Part I of II)
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Lawyers Are Indispensable to Some Tasks — Not So Good at Others — So Management Needs to Know Which is Which When Assigning Duties
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You Need Lawyers to Draft Dox or Go to Court — But Prevention of Legal and Regulatory Trouble Requires Systems and Cost Disciplines (Part II)
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You Need Lawyers to Draft Dox or Go to Court — But Prevention of Legal and Regulatory Trouble Requires Systems and Cost Disciplines (Part I)
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Another Reason Business People Need to Manage their Attorneys: The Legal Industry’s Definition of “Productivity” Drives Unnecessary Work
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Lawyers Don’t Answer to Anyone But Other Lawyers in Staffing, Paying for, and Organizing their Work – So You Must Make Them Accountable
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Business Lawyers Resist Labor-Saving Technology Because they Sell Hours — Not Results — A New App from Silicon Valley Makes the Point
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“Leverage” (Part II): How One Lawyer’s View of His Clients’ Needs Led Him to Reject Pursuit of Leverage — and What He Did about It
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“Leverage” (Part I): How the Legal Industry’s Pursuit of Leverage Pits the Client’s Interests Against Those of The Law Firm
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Business Lawyers Resist Labor-Saving Technology Because they Sell Hours – Not Results — And Efficiencies Reduce Lawyers’ Hours Sold
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By Better Management Heart Surgeons Cut Costs & Improved Results – Is Corporate Legal Too Life-and-Death to Do The Same?
Managing Legal