The Apple iPad: Six Lessons for Lawyers
January 28, 2010 | Filed Under Law 2.0, Technology, New Services
Apple announced yesterday its new tablet Internet device, the iPad, creating a new category between a laptop and a smartphone.
Since I haven’t touched it, and it won’t be on sale for 60 days, here are a few early lessons for lawyers from 30,000 feet:
1. Fast is the new currency. From those who have used the iPad, its first and most enduring impression is quickly it works for the user. Once people see this, they will never want to go back to old and slow.
====>Lawyers will need speed as alternative billing gains traction.
2. You must control your strategic strengths. Apple designs (and wraps tightly into IP) everything that makes products different and better for the user. They may let others manufacture, but only a few trusted vendors to ensure quality (and competition).
====>Outsourcing and convergence are tactics, not strategies.
3. Focus on a few key things and hit them hard. As Apple’s COO Tim Cook said last year “We believe in the simple, not the complex. We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products we make, and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution.”
====>Does “full service firm” sound distinctive or average?
4. You must present well. Steve Jobs and crew were in great form (full event here; you can get the essence by watching the first 10 mintues and then skipping ahead to the 1:29:00 mark, where there’s about 5 minutes left). One can only imagine how many hours of prep went into 90 minutes of presenting.
====>We are practicing law in a multimedia age.
5. Price matters. Mr. Jobs summed up the iPad: the “Most advanced technology, in a magical and revolutionary device, at an unbelievable price.” He isn’t just driving value from the features, his index also has cost at its core (and an iPad base price of $499).
====>Do you charge less than an iPad?
6. Liberal Arts was worth it. What caught my eye at the end of the presentation was the second-to-last-slide (below), accompanied by these words: “We’ve always tried to be at the intersection of technology and liberal arts. To be able to get the best of both, to make extremely advanced products from a technology point of view, but also have them be intuitive, easy to use, fun to use… It’s the combination of these two things…that let us make great products like the iPad.”
====>Lawyers might just be due for a Renaissance.
The Apple Tablet and the Law
January 27, 2010 | Filed Under Content, Law 2.0, Technology
Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs will likely announce a new device in about an hour, something between a MacBook and an iPhone.
What is less clear, but probably more interesting, is what comes with this new tech tool. The press invite was suitably cryptic, with the graphic below and the phrase, “Come see our latest creation…” If iTunes and the App Store was what made the iPod and iPhone unique, what new media platform will accompany the iPad or iSlate (or whatever it’s called…)? You know Apple will deliver a great piece of technology.
If there’s something new on the content creation side, something that makes text, audio and video easier to make, modify and market, it could be worth a second look for lawyers.
But not for just for getting noticed by clients; it might be something very timely for the brave new alternative billing world. More tomorrow…
(Update: It’s the iPad!)
(Photo: NY Times)
Lawyers Not Thanking the Ranking
November 30, 2009 | Filed Under Legal Ratings, Law 2.0
The Association of Corporate Counsel is continuing its Value Challenge initiative by asking members to confidentially rank law firms.
Three things have followed:
1. Some law firms don’t like it, and have retained a former ACC board chairman to carry their water. One main public concern is what “disgruntled former law firm associates” might be saying.
2. Predictably, some early information about the rankings has slipped out. This is unfortunately to be expected these days and only fuels some of the concern mentioned in 1., above.
3. Informed commentators are starting to examine closely the concerns of the law firms. One of the first is Paul Lippe, who provides a very nuanced view of where we are and where things are going. It’s required reading from someone who’s leading a team at Legal OnRamp that’s doing something about these things.
But today, fresh off a lot of good food and hopefully a bit of thankful reflection, a few observations about legal ratings from the inside out perspective:
1. Law firms should worry about “disgruntled associates.” But they should not worry that they are now in-house counsel and exacting revenge on their former employers. The news flash is that GCs don’t usually hire disgruntled associates, since they won’t fit in and are rather easy to spot.
2. The second reality law firms should understand is that nearly all better companies rate and rank their employees, including in-house counsel. It is anonymous and it’s taken seriously. It’s also part of the culture, and vital to lawyer development.
3. If law firms don’t like these basic big-picture ratings now, just wait. Everything is rated and ranked, online and elsewhere. It’s part of the information age we are in, where customers are able to get more data and use it faster to make better business decisions. Retaining law firms and selecting lawyers are big business decisions.
Many law firms are understandably nostalgic for the time-honored selection process, which started with a referral that went something like this:
“Good firm; smart lawyers.”
There was a time when that wasn’t a bad starting point. Except that there are a few thousand good firms and tens of thousands of smart lawyers, all charging clients many billions of dollars. The GC can’t reply to the CEO, CFO or the board about outside counsel selection and management using the quote above.
The ACC ratings are a small step, and they are just the beginning. They will undoubtedly be refined and improved over time, and others will enter the picture as well.
And law firms can either (a) fight the trend, or (b) try to get better. We call (a) “nice work if you can get it” and (b) “looking in the mirror honestly every morning.”
Social Networking and Academics
April 14, 2009 | Filed Under Law 2.0, Technology
So all you parents who think your children are wasting their time online, you may be right.
Researchers at “The” Ohio State University took a look at a potential link between Facebook use and academic performance:
Typically, Facebook users in the study had GPAs between 3.0 and 3.5, while non-users had GPAs between 3.5 and 4.0.
The study authors raise the obligatory note of caution:
“We can’t say that use of Facebook leads to lower grades and less studying – but we did find a relationship there,” said Aryn Karpinski, co-author of the study and a doctoral student in education at Ohio State University.
I am sure Facebook and other denizens of Web 2.0 will take a closer look at these results and raise some logical or structural flaws with this study. It could be something unique to Buckeyes as well.
Maybe the students using Facebook as undergrads will get lower grades, and therefore pass on law school. And then they will be forced to go out in the world and make something, of themselves or otherwise.
And then they will become clients, get huge bills, and scrutinize them for any sign that esteemed counsel is using social networking sites on their dime.
Of course, I went to law school long before Facebook; even before computers. Most “social networking” was conducted face-to-face, not face-to-computer.
Law Firm Marketing and Web 2.0 - Jay Jaffe Interview
August 15, 2008 | Filed Under Law Firm Marketing, Law 2.0, Unplugged - Audio
After Wednesday’s preview, today an interview with Jay Jaffe of Jaffe Associates as the Wired GC goes:
Jay Jaffe
CEO, Jaffe Associates
Just press on the far left arrow to listen:
Time: 14:59
The white paper referred to in the interview is here.
I enjoyed Jay’s short course on trends in legal marketing and his unvarnished views on the roadblocks and opportunities. I will offer a few thoughts on Web 2.0 and the modern law firm later this month.
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