Technology

Do It #SoLI Style: All Together Now

The legal industry must break down the walls between academia, practice, 'non-lawyers' (finally an embargoed term), and technologists.

By  
on

We are soloists no more. In March, I wrote here about the April 30th inaugural Vanderbilt Summit on Legal Innovation or SoLI for short. Co-organizer Larry Bridgesmith provided this definition of soli, the plural form of solo, as “a directive for the soloist to perform with an ensemble, as opposed to ‘solo’ where one member performs alone.” The call to action was for the legal industry to break down the walls between academia, practice, “non-lawyers” (finally an embargoed term), and technologists. In summary, the day was a success, but the proof is now over to participants to carry on past the talk from the day and collaboratively implement the projects identified in the design boot-camp.

I caught up with organizers, Larry Bridgesmith and Cat Moon after the conference. As an aside, just prior to SoLI, Cat was promoted to Director of Innovation Design at Vanderbilt Law School’s Program on Law & Innovation.

Mary:  Did the day meet your expectations?

Larry: My expectations were exceeded on every account. We hoped for 90 and 129 registered. The energy in the room was almost visual. The conversations have not stopped, and many discrete projects have been launched.

Cat: Yes! It exceeded my expectations. The level of engagement, from the pre-event planning with our speakers and panelists to the day-of with table talks and the design boot-camp, was off the charts. More than once, we had to work hard to pause the highly engaged and deep table conversations to continue with the day’s schedule. I was astounded at the energy level, even at the end of a very long day. And incredibly grateful. The participants and their engagement defined the day.

Mary: Can you share your top takeaways?

Cat: We created a safe space for people to dig into big ideas and share their experience, passion, and wisdom, and they will run with it.

Sponsored

Larry: Much is being done and much more remains to be done. A movement is underway to reshape the ways in which law can be delivered. The 80% will not be forgotten. .

Mary: Finally, What is up for SoLI19?

Cat: Check back! We’re engaging in some deep retrospection with SoLI colleagues and everyone who helped us produce the event to inform the design of SoLI2019. The only thing you can expect is that the format will differ from SoLI2018. Iteration and continuous improvement!

Larry: I would like to host an unconference in which participants design present and build the conference from the ground up on a general topic of interest to legal innovators. But, stay tuned and get involved with the global community of legal innovators.

My Top 10

Sponsored

Some of my favorite sound bites are below — remember that we are no longer soloists, therefore no need to attribute this to any individual speakers. We actually were the top trending hashtag in Tennessee on that day (check out the Twitter reporting play-by-play from Alma Asay and Patrick Palace).

  • Get away from lawyers and instead meet business people, technologists;
  • Act as a “germ” and insert practical into the doctrinal;
  • Think like an entrepreneur in law school;
  • Remember the non-Biglaw, non-corporate client of moderate means;
  • Many processes are fraught with collective decision-making;
  • Being tech savvy is a mindset, not only a skill set;
  • Make the law visual;
  • Client-centric plus legal wellness or checkups to assist with access to justice;
  • Don’t reinvent the wheel, build on private company progress: and
  • Listen intently, have empathy, and do not stop questioning the answers.

I knew we were in for a great day when the conference started with the remark that the law has been sold with “tremendous joy and enormous waste” but, the proof is in the actual next steps. All presenters were asked to come with a call to action and to finish the day, we all participated in a design workshop to create some real life projects. I will report more on the progress on those projects plus my personal plan in future posts. #onwards

Mary E. Juetten

Mary E. Juetten lives on the West Coast, holds a J.D., and is both an American and Canadian professional accountant. Mary is passionate about metrics that matter and access to justice. She founded Traklight and Evolve Law and consults as an Access Advocate for LegalShield. You can reach her by email at mejuetten@traklight.com or on Twitter: @maryjuetten.

CRM Banner

Topics

, , ,