What some of the best minds in legal services are saying, 1

For some months The Dialogue – my blog on Remaking Law Firms – has been privileged to re-publish posts and articles reflecting what some of the best minds in legal services are saying. So far 25 authors from the US, UK, Canada and Australia have been featured.

To maximise the readership of these significant observations and opinions, I have been encouraged to re-publish highlights as an occasional series on LinkedIn. Today's post is Part 1 of What some of the best minds in legal services are saying. As always, I warmly thank the contributors. Without their generous permission and willingness to keep the company of others, this service would not be available. First up, here's a potpourri of American and Canadian contributions. Other posts like this will follow. Your feedback will make sure readers like you (and the authors) receive maximum value.

> I was particularly intrigued by this opening statement “Watson….will give lawyers permission to think innovatively…” Read why for yourself in One Ring to Rule Them All? Will IBM’s Watson Transform Contract Review and Law Practice? by Noah Waisberg, CEO of Kira Systems. Noah's post first appeared on June 24, 2015 on the Kira Systems blog. 

> Back in July this year (at the pace things are evolving it seems like a lot more than just a few months ago) Jason Moyse and Aron Solomon penned Remaking the law firm ecosystem. They started... "As much as talk in legal and broader commerce overall these days centres on David v. Goliath or even the clash of the titans (think BigLaw), there’s a very faulty set of assumptions around this type of thinking. Taking the view that it’s us versus them unduly limits the possibilities not just for better delivery of current services but also the creation of new forms of value in the best interests of the ultimate client. An ecosystem approach with some level of coordination among many contributors provides the best and most interesting outcomes. It’s also a key driver of innovation."    

> ‘BigLaw will remain and flourish‘ by Joshua Kubicki was first published in the Ontario Bar Association’s JUST. ‘Debatable’ column on June 17, 2016. It is a rejoinder to Mitch Kowalski’s ‘The Jenga Don’t Lie: BigLaw Relies on the Whole of its Parts‘ published in JUST on the previous day. This debate between two of north America's respected provocateurs in legal services focuses all of us on the challenges of seeing what the middle-distance future holds.

> Ron Friedmann, one of the most prolific and respected commentators on legal services in the US, has authored Prism Legal the Strategic Legal Technology Blog since 2003, making him a pioneer and pathfinder in legal services. In Legal IT Today #14, June 2016 Ron wrote: "Growing demand for large law firm services from the 1980s until the economic crash of 2009 allowed firms to develop many bad habits. We now operate in an era of permanent austerity. So these habits must be broken. To thrive, law firms will need to reduce costs and work more efficiently." Read why Ron's statement in The coming changes in how lawyers practice has profound implications for the way lawyers practise.

> In his recent post, A Challenge For The Gatekeepers on Above-The-Law, David Perla, President of Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg BNA’s Legal division, wrote: “I have a message for the gatekeepers of the legal industry: Change is coming — with or without you”. In my opinion, David knows a thing or two about the challenges that BigLaw firms face – and are largely still ignoring.