Future of Legal Services

This post is scripted from an IBA webinar today, most ably moderated by Stephen Revell, which I was privileged to co-present with Elizabeth Cooper, Maria-Pia Hope, Steve Martin and Segun Osuntokun. At the time I was physically located on a remote hilltop in the Isles of Scilly, 25 miles into the Atlantic off the south-west tip of Cornwall, illustrating rather well one of the key points that I made. That is: it’s already easy today (and will in the near future be far easier) to work and collaborate effectively from even quite remote locations.
Continue Reading The work spaces of the future

Gold is apparently trading this morning at $1780 per ounce. Assuming no religious or ethical obstacles, would you bet more money than you could afford to lose (against reasonable odds, of course) that the price will be within 10% more or less than that …. tomorrow? Say, between $1,600 and $2,000 per ounce?

Would you take that same bet with the timeframe set at one week hence? Six months hence? Three to five years hence? My guess is that: (a) most readers would stop betting between one week and six months and (b) there would be no takers at all for three to five years hence.
Continue Reading Values and beliefs, strategy and timeframes

Earlier today, on a webinar about future legal skills, I was asked to mention a thing that I wish I’d learned far earlier in my career. I did and I’ll blog about that later, but this post I’m going to devote instead to something else that I also mentioned on the webinar, that I am glad that I learned early on. Project management.
Continue Reading Something I’m glad I learned early in my career

A survey by the International Bar Association and Cambridge Strategy Group in October 2019, testing perceptions on the digitalisation of legal services, revealed several findings that are surprising, even counterintuitive in some cases. The survey was sent to members of the Law Firm Management Committee and of the six Regional Fora. 685 responses were received from a total of 100 countries. Initial findings were presented at the IBA ‘Building the law firm of the future’ conference in London on 22 November, the deck for which is attached here. A more comprehensive report is currently being prepared.
Continue Reading What do lawyers really think about digitalisation?