And you still can hear me singing
To the people who don’t listen
To the things that I am saying
Praying someone’s gonna hear
And I guess I’ll die explaining how
The things that they complain about
Are things they could be changing
Hoping someone’s gonna care
Kris Kristofferson, To Beat the Devil
Is the legal world really changing, or are we all still just talking about change?
Last week, for the first time in a couple of years, I attended the ABA TechShow in Chicago. It’s one of my favorite legal tech shows. Since its geared more toward smaller firms and solo lawyers, there is less high-power selling like, say at LegalWeek. This creates space for more substantive discussions and learning from vendors. That was certainly the case this year. The show featured multiple substantive tracks, over 2000 attendees, countless exhibitors, a start-up competition, and even a silent disco.
The keynote this year was given by Mary Shen O’Carroll. O’Carroll is the Director of Legal Operations at Google and President of the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC). A legal ops evangelist, O’Carroll is one of the more astute observers of the legal marketplace, particularly at the larger firm level. Because of her dual role, she sees firsthand happening at law firms and in-house legal departments. So, when she talks, most of us listen.
O’Carroll believes the legal marketplace is or is on the cusp of fundamental change. In her Keynote she presented the case that the legal innovation glass is indeed half full and getting fuller all the time. To those of us in the space, we desperately want to believe this.
O’Carroll claimed in her Keynote there are three trends that evidence fundamental change.
First, she noted a fundamental change in the culture