Comments on: Where are the Lawyers at Legal Technology Seminars These Days?

By: Gregory Miller

Gregory Miller — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 19:29:38 +0000

Two points, Dennis. First, I believe the reason you are seeing a desertion of lawyers from technology related conferences and seminars is due to [a] ever increasing pressure on billable time and unless there is a clear, crisp, compelling CLE benefit, billables win; [b] the perception that technology has become very complicated and complex and while it needs to be addrressed, its best handled by those technically competent to do so, and [c] the fact that all but the smallest law firms are now staffed with, or have turned to contracting with IT professionals who are tasked with all things technical. Second, on the point you make elsewhere about litigation tools, the segment of e-discovery, litigation support and case management has overwhelmed the legal technology market because vendors understand that litigation tools are what sell. These costs are covered by litigation fees and expenses, and passed through to the parties to the litigation. With the race to the revenue, e-discovery tools have advanced considerably bringing in complexities and differentiation that nearly require a trained technologist to appreciate and evaluate. The sales point is clear: an e-discovery tool is morphine for litigation pain, whereas a document assembly tool is a vitamin for practice health. And when it comes to discerning technology pain killers from nutritional supplements, this is increasingly being left to the trained “techies.” Afterall, so goes the old saw, “lawyers went to law school because they were interested liberal arts, not sciences.” Of course, that is a maligned POV, but the real point to overcome. Cheers GAM|out

By: Mazyar M Hedayat

Mazyar M Hedayat — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 17:59:33 +0000

Dennis:
As the head of a small law office, long-time attendee of the ABA Tech Show and Tech Show NYC, former ABA Tech Show exhibitor, invited speaker, etc., I can attest that at least one reason more lawyers don’t go to such events is they either don’t have the time or don’t see the benefit (at least not directly enough to justify the day off work and cost in dollar terms). Put another way, investments of time or money in legal technology may or may not yield practical benefits, but they are guaranteed to extract a cost. Other than the dollar cost (including opportunity cost for not being in the office), the only other certainty I’ve experienced in my 6+ years of going to the show is that the trip is always enjoyable but only occasionally useful (which I suppose is why my office manager refers to the Tech Show as my annual vacation). Any first year business school student or Vegas veteran will tell you that this is the very definition of a bad bet. That’s why I’m not going to let it happen again. I’m putting my foot down and refusing to gamble with my firm’s future anymore. In other words, I’ll see you at the Tech Show.

By: Jeff Carr

Jeff Carr — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 16:53:05 +0000

Dennis — I couldn”t agree with you more. I’m so tired of vendors trying to sell me something we don’t need and law firm lawyers telling me I’ve got a “massive e-discovery problem” but then have no creative solutions to address it. We need practical, real world solutions to help us deliver appropriate, cost effective solutions to help our mutual business clients succeed in their strategies. Remember, other than for law firms, being good at litigation is seldom an objective or core value for most companies. This means avoiding litigation (as opposed to prevailing in it), leveraging knowledge and work product (as opposed to paying to answer the same question twice), and stopping the insane upward spiral of salaries for associates that we pay to train (as opposed to paying for services we actually need). Unfortunately, this flies directly in the face of the standard law firm business model. If law firms don’t want to be treated like vendors, their answer lies in focusing on the profit margin instead of the revenue line — finding efficiencies to deliver the service we need at lower costs. In other words, to leverage technology instead of hours. As such, more lawyers need to not just use technology but to help the vendors build it to satisfy the real, underlying needs instead of the episodic focus on crisis management. As always Dennis, you’ve hit the nail on the head.