The big Law Practice Management companies are getting this backwards.I’m watching a joint CLE right now presented by three of the big LPM vendors.I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by their “technology-first” approach, but the method they’re suggesting for researching, evaluating, selecting, and implementing new software is — shall we say — suboptimal. 👎They’re falling into the classic top-down, hierarchical model of practice leadership. “The Boss” decides what software to buy, then pushes it down to the team — complete with a “change management” plan to get team members to buy in after the fact.I used to work in change management. And let me tell you, it’s a bear; especially in ... (Keep reading)
The Agile Attorney Blog
Note: This is a re-post of the January 2021 edition of Jess Birken's Hack Your Practice newsletter. I'm republishing it with Jess's permission in June 2024 to coincide with Jess's appearance, along with her wing-woman Meghan Heitkamp, on Episode 20 of the Agile Attorney Podcast. Enjoy!Hi there, lawyer friends. Happy New Year!'Tis the season for goal setting. Even if you're not into the whole new year's resolution thing (I'm not), I'm guessing you've been reflecting on 2020 and gearing up for the year ahead. This year feels sliiiiightly hard to plan for, but it sure feels good to set good intentions, right?I know for me (and a lot of lawyers) ... (Keep reading)
I join Jim and Tyson on the Maximum Lawyer Podcast and we talk about implementing the Kanban methodology in legal practices.I provide some insight on what the Kanban methodology is and why it is such a great thing to add to law firms. Kanban boards are meant to allow users to see workflows and identify areas where there is a roadblock. It can be customized to the likeness of any team!I also share some of the templates I have created that can help law firms succeed. One is a litigation workflow, which can be used to help outline a case. There is a column for intake and research, one for ... (Keep reading)
I sat down with Chad Main of legal technology company Percipient for his Technically Legal Podcast. Chad was a great interviewer because he uses Agile practices in his own work, and he got me to break down some of the basics of Agile and Kanban for lawyers who may be new to the concepts. We give a high-level overview of Agile overall, and then dive into the core practices of the Kanban method, including:Making work visible with kanban boards; The value of a daily standup meeting (and other tools for effective team communication); The importance of WIP Limits (work in process limits); andWhy lawyers should invest more of their efforts on ... (Keep reading)
Anyone who has been around the Access to Justice space for more than a few months has likely run into one or more efforts to help people with criminal records expungement. And with good reason — even a decades-old criminal conviction on a person's record can create substantial barriers to finding housing, employment, and a range of other services and privileges.Here in Oregon, we're fortunate that a host of factors has combined to make records expungement easier than ever. I won't get the order of events quite right, but they include:Then-new lawyer Michael Zhang (himself a software coder) combined forces with Code for PDX's Jordan Whitte, Kent Shikama, and a ... (Keep reading)
A few weeks ago I had a great interview with Mountain Goat Software's Brian Milner for his Agile Mentors Podcast, and I'm happy to announce that our episode is live. Most of the podcast interviews I do are from folks who are catering to lawyers and the legal operations crowd, so it was a fun change to talk with someone who is primarily focused on Agile in the technology space. Brian was especially interested in why I think Kanban is a better solution than Scrum for most situations in the legal space, especially as a tool for reducing overwhelm in an overburdened law practice.A few other points we cover:How a kanban ... (Keep reading)
Several months ago a legaltech friend asked me to read through their in-progress e-book on the role of generative artificial intelligence in in-house legal workflows. The first several chapters were a useful background on AI and its potential uses for general counsels and their teams, but I physically recoiled when I got to the first sentence of the chapter on "How to Implement AI." "Because generative AI is such a revolutionary technology, implementing it correctly requires special considerations and a new approach." I highlighted the sentence in the Google Doc and at-mentioned the author with a one-word comment, "Why?" This led to a substantial re-write of that and several other ... (Keep reading)
A couple of months ago I had a fanboy moment. Jonathan Stark is someone I’ve been listening to (and reading) for nearly a decade. He’s the prolific host of the Ditching Hourly and Business of Authority podcasts, author of the excellent book Hourly Billing is Nuts, and a proponent of sending daily emails to your list. (Those of you who have followed me for awhile know that I tried and failed at the daily email thing). In any event, Jonathan reached out to ME with an invitation to chat on his Ditching Hourly podcast, so of course I said yes. And it was not a bash session on the billable hour. Jonathan and I more or less agreed that there ... (Keep reading)
Ernie founded the 80/20 Principle podcast where he discusses law firm practice management and how to create better systems in law firms. I joined him to discuss the Kanban method for visualizing workflows, the concept of Kaizen for continuous incremental improvement, and practical strategies for optimizing law firm operations. In our discussion, we dissected the concept of bottlenecks in your workflow and demonstrated how fixing the worst offender can drastically improve your entire system. Delve into systems theory, feedback loops, and the Goldilocks zone, where information is just right. We also identified the three high-level systems of a law practice and reveal how improving just one of these systems can ... (Keep reading)
One of my coaching clients, Ben Hudson, and I joined Melissa Shanahan on her Law Owners Podcast and had a great conversation. Read what Melissa says about the episode here: Do you ever wonder what kind of impact having an expert by your side can have on your practice? What are the similarities between the processes Melissa teaches in Velocity Work and other experts in the field? Can you apply different approaches and see results in your firm? This week, you’re hearing Melissa’s conversation with Mastery Group member Ben Hudson of Hudson Law and John Grant of Agile Attorney Consulting who you recently heard on the podcast. Ben has worked with ... (Keep reading)
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