WHY DON'T LAW FIRMS INNOVATE?
There's a post by Ron Friedmann at Prism Legal on the lack of innovation in U.S. law firms.   Ron links to this post by David Maister that offers some explanation about why lawyers themselves deter change:

"In a room full of lawyers, any idea, no matter how brilliant, will be instantly attacked . most ideas, no matter who initiates them, will be destroyed, dismissed, or postponed for future examination . law firms have a remarkable propensity for half measure, launching poorly specified programs with minimal chance of success ..

"Lawyers also have a strange view of the concept of risk. In any other business, an idea that was likely to work much of the time would be eagerly explored. [But lawyers will look for a hypothetical where the idea will fail.] There is no greater condemnation in legal discourse than to describe something as risky."

Doesn't sound as if there's much hope.

Posted by Carolyn Elefant on April 9, 2006 at 05:40 PM | Permalink

TRIALS ONLINE?
Future Lawyer has this post on the possibility of trials by blog in Korea.  According to the article:

"The Seoul Administration Court recently designated one of its court units, which rules on labor-management relations and industrial accidents, to develop a prototype model for Internet-based trial models by the end of this month.

Although the court has not yet decided on a detailed framework, it plans to allow the parties in lawsuits to submit their list of evidence, legal documents and other data on Weblogs or Internet message boards to be operated by the court. The court decisions will also be announced online.

The court also plans to allow people to buy court documents and other requirements in preparing for their lawsuits through the Internet by credit card or mobile-phone payments. "

Future Lawyer says that he'd love to be able to try cases by blog.  That's probably one development that would get more lawyers blogging, for sure.

Posted by Carolyn Elefant on April 9, 2006 at 05:36 PM | Permalink