{"id":7759,"date":"2019-04-01T09:58:32","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T13:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/?p=536057"},"modified":"2019-04-01T09:58:32","modified_gmt":"2019-04-01T13:58:32","slug":"on-law-firms-and-changing-at-scale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2019\/04\/01\/on-law-firms-and-changing-at-scale\/","title":{"rendered":"On Law Firms And \u2018Changing At Scale\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

(Image via Getty)<\/p><\/div>\n

What do you hear at a small law firm?<\/p>\n

“We’ll land a new case, and the case will make us rich!”<\/p>\n

What do you hear at a large law firm?<\/p>\n

“We’ll hire a magic lateral.\u00a0 That person will bring in a ton of new business, and we’ll be rich!”<\/p>\n

Or:\u00a0 “Blaine<\/a>\u00a0leads our capital markets practice, and he’s just hitting his stride.\u00a0 He’ll soon have business coming out of his ears, and we’ll be rich!”<\/p>\n

What do you hear at large corporations?<\/p>\n

“The only thing that affects the financial results of this firm is a new idea that can be implemented at scale.\u00a0 We really don’t need ideas that rely on one person laboring in a field, or one person working with a mule or a horse.\u00a0 We’re looking for the spacecraft that hasn’t yet been invented.\u00a0 Think of something that doesn’t involve people at all, just technology.\u00a0 And then create the technology.\u00a0 If you’re going to move the needle, you must innovate at scale.”<\/p>\n

And corporations assign groups of people to do nothing but think about — and create — the future.<\/p>\n

I realize, of course, that big corporations are much bigger than big law firms.<\/p>\n

But a law firm with 2,000 lawyers (which means 4,000 total staff) is a fairly big institution, and its financial results won’t be significantly affected by hiring a magic lateral.\u00a0 Or even a magic lateral practice group.<\/p>\n

If you really want to have a financial effect at a large law firm, then you’ll have to come up with an idea that doesn’t involve one person laboring in a field — or billing by that person’s hour.\u00a0\u00a0 You’ll have to gin up an idea that’s new and that innovates at scale.<\/p>\n

Folks are thinking about this in the eDiscovery space.\u00a0 But big firms seem to be ceding that space to the newcomers.<\/p>\n

Folks are thinking about this in the contract management space.\u00a0 But that’s viewed as commodity work, not suitable to soil the hands of big-firm lawyers.<\/p>\n

Unless corporations are wrong (and, on this point, they’re not), the big firm that innovates at scale will soon lead its peers.<\/p>\n

I don’t know what that clever new idea is.\u00a0 (If I did, would I really be typing away for Above the Law in my spare time?)\u00a0 But that clever idea exists.\u00a0 Perhaps it involves using artificial intelligence to process routine cases efficiently, or to improve the defense of mass torts, or to aid in the defense of complex cases.\u00a0 Or perhaps it’s something else entirely.<\/p>\n

But it’s odd that you don’t see folks at large law firms aggressively trying to create their future.\u00a0 Why aren’t firms asking small groups of lawyers to develop ideas that will improve the practice of law?\u00a0 I know that work isn\u2019t billable, but it\u2019s essential; won\u2019t that suffice?\u00a0 Why aren’t people trying to come up with the idea that will cause them to win the race?<\/p>\n

Perhaps life is too comfortable, and the law hasn’t yet seen creative destruction at work.<\/p>\n

\n

Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and is now deputy general counsel at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon\u2019s Guide to Practicing Law<\/a> and Inside Straight: Advice About Lawyering, In-House And Out, That Only The Internet Could Provide<\/a> (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at inhouse@abovethelaw.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why aren’t firms asking small groups of lawyers to develop ideas that will improve the practice of law?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":536071,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[279,114],"tags":[102,493,204,112],"class_list":["post-7759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biglaw","category-small-law-firms","tag-biglaw","tag-innovation","tag-mark-herrmann","tag-small-law-firms"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOn Law Firms And \u2018Changing At Scale\u2019 - 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\/2019\/04\/01\/on-law-firms-and-changing-at-scale\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On Law Firms And \u2018Changing At Scale\u2019 - 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