{"id":30711,"date":"2024-06-25T14:45:42","date_gmt":"2024-06-25T18:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/?p=1070568"},"modified":"2024-06-25T14:45:42","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T18:45:42","slug":"the-huge-shift-coming-to-biglaw-attorney-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2024\/06\/25\/the-huge-shift-coming-to-biglaw-attorney-development\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u2018Huge Shift\u2019 Coming To Biglaw Attorney Development"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Blue<\/p>\n

Smaller events have been getting some prominence<\/a> lately <\/span>in Above the Law, as their promoters note an important role as a complement to large industry conferences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Organizers of smaller events<\/span><\/a> point to benefits like non-overlapping panels, deep, niche discussions, high attendee-to-vendor ratios, and networking breaks that are more lunchtime catch-up than elevator pitch.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the type of dynamic the organizers of Future Lawyer USA are looking to cultivate in their North American legal technology conferences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Future Lawyer USA \u2014 whose fourth installment was recently held at the Ropes & Gray offices in Boston \u2014 is a smaller cousin of Future Lawyer UK. (Both are organized by the event producer Cosmonauts.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the first day of the Boston conference on May 30, attendees gathered around a law office bagel buffet during networking breaks, and panelists had several back-and-forth exchanges with members of the audience of about 200.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are select takeaways from the discussions that day, which was focused on technology adoption for private practice lawyers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A ‘Huge Shift\u2019 Looms\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Law students looking to enter the Biglaw firm of the future might be wise to add a Dale Carnegie class and a broad business focus to their training.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a panel exploring \u201chiring strategies and skills for private practice firms,\u201d the discussion focused in part on how the use of generative AI tools could affect the traits of a successful young lawyer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Steve Gluckman, the CEO of the lawyer training company Skillburst Interactive, says emerging technology has the potential to change the current apprenticeship model and increase the importance of \u201cthe people skills, what some people call \u2018the soft skills,\u2019\u201d for junior lawyers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Increasingly, for example, junior associates could become involved in client service and other client-facing activities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something they learn by trial by fire and by watching others who are more senior,\u201d he said, \u201cand now we\u2019re going to have to address that differently.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Amy Tenney Curren, attorney development director at Morrison & Foerster, went further, saying increased client interaction by junior attorneys \u201cis going to be a huge shift in what we expect of lawyering.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if the apprenticeship model could be replicated through training, she said, the professional skills will become extremely important as knowledge of litigation processes or the ability to draft a compelling document become less of a focus.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not just about, well, I understand what a complaint is or an answer, or I understand how the path of a litigation may work,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut it’s more: How does this work for the business? What’s the risk management piece here? What will the client tolerate? And historically that’s not what junior lawyers have been able to really think through.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Precedent Is AI\u2019s Friend<\/b><\/p>\n

Many creative professionals have derided GAI\u2019s use in their industry as a <\/span>\u201cplagiarism machine.\u201d<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For consistency- and precedent-focused transactional lawyers, though, the direct reuse of source material can be a measurable good.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In an AI-focused panel exploring \u201cPractical Insights Beyond the Hype,\u201d James Ding, the co-founder and CEO of Draftwise, noted how a contractual setting is one in which generating entirely new content can be the opposite of helpful.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rephrasing the same message with different language creates additional costs and uncertainty, while repurposing prior language brings the consistency clients want, he noted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that what a lot of people get wrong initially with the generation use case is forgetting that a lot of the work is precedent-based,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd what we’re seeing, at least what we’re doing is we’re ensuring that whenever we generate contract text, it is precedent-based.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt mimics the way a human would approach the same problem, and therefore the results are then acceptable by a human.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Generative AI isn\u2019t the whole picture, either.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Predictive AI is quite good at what it does \u2014 just ask anyone puzzled by the social media ads that seem to read your mind, noted Dan Rabinowitz, the CEO of Pre-Dicta.<\/span><\/p>\n

His company uses the technology to predict judicial behavior, which he described as a unique use case for predictive AI in the legal industry. (He also says gen AI may impact his company as well.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs we move into new technologies, it’s important not to lose sight of the others, whether they’re fully developed or fully actualized,\u201d he said, \u201cbut to understand that there still might be value there, whether in combination with the latest and greatest or independently of that.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The AI Fatigue Is Real<\/b><\/p>\n

In a fireside chat titled \u201cEnhancing Litigation With Generative AI,\u201d Maribel Rivera of the eDiscovery professionals association ACEDS made a similar point.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To widespread laughter, she detailed a familiar experience for many in the audience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Namely, she sees gen AI everywhere she goes. She encounters it in the legal media, in her discussions, in how everyone seems to want to be a subject matter expert in it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am gen AI\u2019d out,\u201d she said, adding later, \u201cIt\u2019s overtaken everything, and we\u2019re losing sight of some other things.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She noted, for example, a lack of effective training \u2014 for law school graduates who lack the tech skills required to be successful in a law firm, or for lawyers who struggled to use basic technology after legal assistants were laid off during the pandemic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re not looking at the larger picture of: \u2018Yes, let’s talk about gen AI, let’s talk about AI, but how are we using this within the practice of everything else we have to do?\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Innovation\u2019 Doesn\u2019t Always Mean \u2018Tech\u2019\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

In her keynote address, ILTA President Joy Heath Rush noted that precedent-focused law firms can find themselves in a \u201crace to be second\u201d when it comes to innovation \u2014 and even the firm finishing 10th runs the risk of becoming a \u201clemming.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Which raises a broader question: What is innovation itself?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rush says that innovation doesn\u2019t have to involve \u201cthe new application that turns the world on its head.\u201d Innovation just needs to create a better process that increases efficiency.<\/span><\/p>\n

She mentioned a law firm that brought on workflow automation, finding all sorts of tedious internal processes that could be streamlined.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rush asked the audience for suggestions of their own internal processes ripe for innovation \u2014 billing review and lateral onboarding were two examples that quickly came up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not something that your biggest client is going to see directly,\u201d she said, \u201cbut it’s something that’s going to make everything in your world that much more efficient.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Tech Is Changing ADR\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

The conference also <\/span>broke some big legal tech news<\/span><\/a>, with the announcement of the American Arbitration Association\u2019s acquisition of the online dispute resolution company ODR.com and its parent, Resourceful Internet Solutions.<\/span><\/p>\n

The announcement came from AAA President and CEO Bridget McCormack \u2014 also the former Michigan chief justice \u2014 who was joined by Colin Rule, the CEO of ODR, and event chair Zach Abramowitz during a live recording of the <\/span>AAAi podcast<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rule noted that whenever an industry displays red tape or inefficiency, this will be Silicon Valley\u2019s focus for disruption.<\/span><\/p>\n

He detailed his own efforts consulting with companies to streamline dispute resolution, noting that, \u201cif you put the dispute resolution goggles on, there are disputes everywhere.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA tiny, tiny percentage of those ever make it to a court or to AAA, and we need to radically lower the bar,\u201d he added later. \u201cWe need to be resolving millions, millions more disputes, and the only way to do that is if we can leverage the efficiencies of technology.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

McCormack said there\u2019s \u201cno playbook\u201d for technology adoption for a legacy legal organization, so she\u2019s engaging in a continued dialogue with law firms, in-house counsel, and other legal audiences to help guide innovation at the AAA.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think together we can manage what I think is finally going to be the moment when technology finally comes for legal,\u201d she said, adding that the industry has effectively resisted centuries of technology innovation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think it’s a wrap on that, right? So it’s time that we figure it out and adapt.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Jeremy Barker is the director of content marketing for Breaking Media. Feel free to\u00a0email him<\/a>\u00a0with questions or comments and to\u00a0connect on LinkedIn<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Observations from the Future Lawyer USA conference.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136517,"featured_media":1070589,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[279,96,11],"tags":[102,11580,22,7],"class_list":["post-30711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biglaw","category-in-house-counsel","category-technology","tag-biglaw","tag-future-lawyer-usa","tag-in-house-counsel","tag-technology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe \u2018Huge Shift\u2019 Coming To Biglaw Attorney Development - Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2024\/06\/25\/the-huge-shift-coming-to-biglaw-attorney-development\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The \u2018Huge Shift\u2019 Coming To Biglaw Attorney Development - 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