Technology

Today's Tech: A Lawyer, A Path Less Traveled, And An IPO

How has technology affected your career path in the law?

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In this column, I usually focus on other lawyers’ use of technology in their practices. And my end goal is always to encourage attorneys to use technology in their practices by example. That’s why I do my best to delve into the different types of technology lawyers use and how they use it.

But today, I’m taking a break and focusing inward — and I might even offer some advice. In other words, there’s going to be navel gazing, dear readers. Brace yourselves.

It’s time to talk about how technology has affected my career path. And rest assured, the impact has been substantial. It’s been a circuitous and somewhat surprising journey and has led to places I’d never envisioned would be possible when I entered law school as a 1L in the fall of 1992.

For example: I never expected to be standing on the floor of NASDAQ in New York City in June celebrating the IPO of AppFolio, the parent company of MyCase, the law practice management software company for which I’ve been employed for over three years.

Now I don’t know about you, but when I started practicing law, participating in an IPO simply wasn’t part of my roadmap. And as I stood there while our CTO John Walker rang the NASDAQ closing bell, I was struck by the role technology had played in getting me to that unlikely place.

It all started in 2005 when I hung my virtual contract attorney shingle and created my first legal blog, Sui Generis (you can read about my legal career prior to that point here.) I took a leap of faith and started posting into the Internet abyss, figuring that someone might read my meanderings on New York law and civil rights issues. At first, hardly anyone did. But over time, I developed a small, but loyal, following and slowly began to connect with other legal bloggers.

The emergence of social media a few years later helped me to amplify my reach and expand my network. As each platform emerged, I was part of the first wave of lawyers to use it and found that worked to my benefit, allowing me to make a name for myself. Because of the body of work on my blog and my rapidly expanding online network, opportunities came my way in rapid succession. I became of counsel to a local law firm, was offered the opportunity to write a weekly column for the local legal newspaper, and was even asked to speak about blogging for lawyers on a few occasions.

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Over time, I became fascinated with the potential that Internet-based technologies offered lawyers and began to focus my writings, both online and off, on the intersection of law and technology. First I wrote about social media, then moved on to cloud computing and other types of technology. Before I knew it, I was the published author of three different books, Social Media for Lawyers (ABA 2010), Cloud Computing for Lawyers (ABA 2012), and Criminal Law in New York (Thomson West), and my speaking and writing opportunities increased as a result.

Then, in 2012, I met the founders of MyCase at a legal technology conference. A month later, they offered me a job and then six months later, MyCase was acquired by AppFolio, which then went public in June. Which brings me back to where I started: inexplicably standing on the floor of NASDAQ in New York City holding a glass of champagne, with the sardonic words of Jerry Garcia running through my head: “What a long, strange trip it’s been.”

So now you’re probably thinking: okay, that’s great, Niki. Enough of the navel gazing. What’s this have to do with me?

Great question, my friend. And thanks for asking. This is where I move on to the “advice” part of this post that I promised you.

I worked hard to get where I am today and I’m good at what I do, but I make no bones about it — without the Internet, my career path over the last decade simply would not have been possible. The Internet gave me a voice, and my ability to foresee and understand technology trends allowed me to position myself so that I could take advantage of them to my benefit.

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In order to succeed in today’s rapidly changing legal landscape, you must do the same thing. You need to pay attention to what’s going on around you. Be aware of trends and shifts in the legal marketplace. Take steps to understand how technology is changing our society and the practice of law. Be open to new possibilities and emerging opportunities.

And I’m not simply talking about technology. I’m referring to societal trends, many of which are affected by technology. But not all are.

My advice applies regardless of whether you plan to stay on a traditional legal career path or have ambitions to use your law degree and experience in some other way. By observing the world around you, you will find windows of opportunity.

Don’t believe me? Here are a few examples.

I recently interviewed an attorney in the Gulf Coast region with a thriving civil litigation practice where more than 50% of his cases involved BP oil spill litigation. He advised me that his practice had grown exponentially after the oil spill. This is someone who saw an opportunity and pivoted his practice ever-so-slightly to reap the benefits. He also informed me that he never would have been able to grow at that rate without cloud-based software to track and manage the influx of cases. So his technology savvy also played a part in his success.

Another lawyer I interviewed used her personal struggles with infertility to identify a gap in the legal marketplace. She now devotes a portion of her practice to representing clients facing a variety of reproductive law issues, ranging from surrogacy to assisted reproductive technology.

Finally, there’s the career path of my good friend, Scott Malouf, an attorney based in Rochester, New York. After working as a litigator for over a decade, he transitioned his focus to incorporate his litigation background with his interest in technology and social media. He now helps other lawyers navigate the increasingly complex social media landscape so that they can ethically locate and use social media and electronic evidence in their client’s cases.

The moral of the story? The world is changing at an unprecedented rate and much of that change is driven by technological advances. Your task is to take notice of the changes. See the big picture. Pay attention to what’s happening where you live. Notice trends in the marketplace. Use your personal experiences to identify a need. And then seize the day! Create your own path.

Why? Because one day, you might just find yourself somewhere you never expected to be, looking around in wonderment and humming “Truckin.'” And on that day, you’ll know that, because of your efforts, you’re right where you’re supposed to be.

Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and the Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase, web-based law practice management software. She’s been blogging since 2005, has written a weekly column for the Daily Record since 2007, is the author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York. She’s easily distracted by the potential of bright and shiny tech gadgets, along with good food and wine. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikiblack and she can be reached atniki.black@mycase.com.

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