As I’ve taught classes on cybersecurity, it has struck me how difficult it is for small law firms, and small businesses in general, to protect themselves against cybersecurity threats. It’s difficult to find resources, help, and tools. Doing it right feels like it would be expensive, if you were able to find someone you could trust.

Decorative cybersecurity graphic

At the same time, small organizations might be losing business opportunities because they can’t represent or confirm that they are taking adequate cybersecurity protection measures.

It seems like a perfect place for outsourcing.

A friend of mine heard me commenting about this and introduced me to the team at Aadya Security (https://www.aadyasecurity.com).

They have exactly what I was hoping to find in this space – an outsourced suite of protection tools, managed by them, with reports to customers. They’ve even given the tool a human name – Judy. I love that Judy is on the job, working in the background to protect me, and Judy updates me from time to time about what she is protecting. I also love that I can now tell potential clients that, unlike most solos and smalls, I have this level of security protection. To me, that’s a game changer in itself.

It didn’t take much to convince me. It’s very affordable. I was willing to pay full price by the end of the introductory call, but they gave me an account to try for free. I liked it so much that we’ve set up a referral code for me to have people use – R3DK. Yes, I’ll earn something when you use the code, but take a look at the offerings, compare them to what you are doing now, and make your own decision.

Check it out, tell them I sent you, and use the code – R3DK. Aadya. Get Judy on the job for you.


[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

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I wanted to ask my readers to keep the entire Michigan State University community in mind after February 13 shootings. I’ve found the aftermath to be difficult and challenging.

As part of my coping process, I have intentionally chosen not to write about these matters, and I expect to continue to adopt that approach.

While I plan to return to regular posting on other matters, it’s not because I considering the process of dealing with this event over.

However, I will say that I have enormous respect for how students are handling this tragedy.


[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

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Cover photo of Successful Innovation Outcomes in LawI’ve decided that I want as many people as possible to read my book, Successful Innovation Outcomes in Law: A Practical Guide for Law Firms, Law Departments and Other Legal Organizations, so I’m now making it available as a FREE PDF download –  Successful Innovation Outcomes in Law – 2023 PDF Version. If you like the book and PDF is not the best format for you (or you want to support the author), you can still buy the book in paperback and Kindle formats on Amazon.

I thought that giving this version of the book away was a great way to celebrate the 20th blogiversary of DennisKennedy.Blog and promote my new Law Department Innovation Library.

Enjoy the free book and let everyone you know who might be interested in it (or need it) that it is now available in this Successful Innovation Outcomes in Law – 2023 PDF Version.


[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

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One of the big challenges about publishing a blog on focused topics is that external events can intrude and make your posts seem like they don’t live in the real world.

Twenty years ago today, I published my first post on this blog. Over the years, I liked to mark each blogiversary (or blawgiversary) with some kind of a clever post. For this one, which is kind of a big deal, I had a few clever ideas.

Then, on Monday, the mass shootings happened at Michigan State University. As most of you know, I’m now the Director of the Michigan State University Center for Law, Technology & Innovation and teach several classes at the MSU College of Law. I taught two classes on Monday and left for home about two hours before the terrible events happened. I want to acknowledge the tragedy that happened and the difficulties and challenges that it has created. MSU has canceled classes for the rest of this week as the community tries to deal with the aftermath.

I’ll save something clever or whatever about a blogiversary for another day.

People occasionally ask me if I would have ever expected to still be posting to this blog twenty years later when I started it. I kind of did. It’s been a great outlet, helped me find my voice, and led to so many things, including friendships with the pioneer lawyer bloggers in the photo. It’s almost impossible for me to imagine ever shutting it down.

Thank you all for reading, whether as a longtime reader or a first-time reader. To happier times.


[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

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Tom Mighell and I have an annual tradition at The Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast of publicly announcing and discussing our technology resolutions for the upcoming year. We also talk about how well or not so well we did with our resolutions from the last year.

The 2023 edition of the podcast is now out to launch the new year with a purposive start in episode 331 of the podcast called “Dennis and Tom’s 2023 Technology Resolutions.”

We also talk about some of our strategies for setting achievable goals and share some of the approaches and tips we’ve learned over the years. We also share our resolutions for the podcast in 2023. Spoiler: our goals for the podcast are more ambitious than they’ve been in earlier years. Stay tuned.

Here’s the show description:

With 2023 underway, the guys take a minute to see how they did on last year’s tech resolutions and talk through goals for the new year. Tune in for their approach to crafting resolutions with small steps and measurable victories. And, bottom line, don’t feel bad about giving up on a resolution that just isn’t bringing value to your life.

I share my three-part approach to tech resolutions:

First, is there a specific technology pain point that I’d like to alleviate or remove? Second, is there a new technology, a new skill, or a more advanced use of a technology that I’d like to learn? Third, is there something I can do to advance my career, accomplish more with technology, improve processes, or enhance client service?

My resolutions, you might be wondering? Here’s a short summary:

  1. Continue to build out my Second Brain project in Notion and completing the next phase (or two) of what I want to accomplish with that.
  2. Experiment with practical (emphasis on practical and small) applications of generative AI.
  3. Define and refine what I want to do in a “post-Twitter” world –  Become more intentional news and social media consumption; use Mighty Networks and other community tools as alternatives for smaller audiences; determine what I will actually use Twitter for

I also have a small resolution to focus on hardware that I have but want to learn to use more often and in better ways. Examples include the Apple Pencil 2 and the Elgato Stream Deck.

Tom also has great ideas, but . . . you’ll have to listen to the episode.

Let us know what you think about our resolutions and whether you find our approach helpful. We think resolutions podcasts and articles are way, way better than the flood of “predictions” articles we see this time of year.

You’ll find the episode here.



[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

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For many years, I’ve enjoyed reading the posts of several bloggers who are trying to read 52 books in 52 weeks. I’ve also wanted to find a good way for me to keep track of the books I’ve read. And it gives me a good reading target to shoot for.

Last year, I read 80 books, exceeding my goal by quite a bit. Or, more accurately, I listed 80 books that I read. I don’t list books that might reveal certain things I might (or might not) be working on.

In the previous year, the total number was 68.

I again found that I was starting and abandoning quite a few books. And I’m reading more audiobooks than ever before

You will also notice that I’ve been attempting to read the entire catalog of books of certain authors of detective stories. If you forced me to pick my top books for 2022 (in alphabetical order) that I’d recommend, I’d probably list:

Advice for Future Corpses , Sallie Tisdale

Arriving Today, Christopher Mims

Butler to the World, Oliver Bullough

Hiding in Plain Sight, Sarah Kendzior

Origin, Jennifer Raff

Pretty Good House, Dan Kolbert

River of Gods, Candice Millard

Termination Shock, Neal Stephenson

The Genesis Machine, Amy Webb

The March of Folly, Barbara Tuchman

The Wizard and the Prophet, Charles C. Mann

Work Clean, Dan Charnas

I’m doing the same thing in 2023. My approach is the same as in previous years – I’ll simply update this post from time to time from time to time throughout the year as I finish books.

I’ve enjoyed doing this challenge every year and hope you find the list useful. And I encourage you to take the challenge yourself.

I welcome your recommendations of good books I might read this year.

As Bill Taylor says, “Are you learning as fast as the world is changing?”

Challenging yourself to read 52 books is probably a good way to start to answer that question.

December

November

October

September

67. Ann Cleeves, THe Raging Storm
66. The Longmire Defense, Craig Johnson
65. The Last Politician, Franklin Foer
64. Football Done Right, Michael Lombardi
63. The President’s Wife, Tracey Emerson Wood
62. Gambler, Billy Walters
61. The Life We Chose, Matt Birkbeck

August

60. Like, Literally, Dude, Valerie Fridland
59. The Collector, Daniel Silva
58. The Measure of Our Age, M.T. Connolly
57. Spider Woman’s Daughter, Anne Hillerman
56. Kings of Their Own Ocean, Karen Pinchin
55. The Detective Up Late, Adrian McKinty
54. Travelers to Unimaginable Lands, Dasha Kiper
53. Getting Things Done, David Allen
52. Under the Eye of Power, Colin Dickey

July

51. The Bitter Past, Bruce Brogos
50. Fancy Bear Goes Phishing, Scott Shapiro
49. Learnings from the Long View, Peter Schwartz
48. The RIght Call, Sally Jenkins
47. Birchers, Matthew Dallek
46. The Paris Agent, Kelly Rimmer
45. The Smart Mission, Edward Hoffman, et al
44. How Data Happened, Chris Wiggins and Matthew Jones
43. The Big Break, Ben Terris
42. Mastery, George Leonard
41. A Lifetime Reading Plan, Clifton Fadiman
40. Prepared, Mike Glover
39. The Death of Expertise, Tom Nichols
38. When the Heavens Went on sale, Ashlee Vance

June

37. What an Owl Knows, Jennifer Ackerman
36. A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Burton Malkiel
35. My Father’s Brain, Sandeep Jauhar
34. Saving Time, Jenny Odell
33. The Magistrate, Brian Klingborg
32. Excellent Advice for Living, Kevin Kelly

May

31. Pathogenesis, Jonathan Kennedy
30. Titanium Noir, Nick Harkaway
29. The Great Displacement, Jake Bittle
28. Standing in the Shadows, Peter Robinson
27. The Earth Transformed, Peter Frankopan

April

26. Culture, Martin Puchner
25. Trust the Plan, Will Sommer
24. Off the Edge, Kelly Weill
23. Empress of the Nile, Lynne Olson
22. Range, David Epstein
21. The Declassification Engine, Matthew Connelly
20. Last Call at the Hotel Imperial, Deborah Cohen

March

19. Empireland, Stahnam Sanghera
18. A Hacker’s Mind, Bruce Schneier
17. Figuring It Out, Charles D. Ellis
16. Mind Your Mindset, Michael Hyatt and Megan Hyatt Miller
15. The Devil’s Element, Dan Egan
14. Mark Reese, Moshe Feldenkrais: A Life in Movement
13. Black Ball, Theresa Runstedtler
12. Untold Power, Rebecca Boggs Roberts
11. Notes of a Native Son, James Baldwin
10. Keep It Moving, Twyla Tharp
9. Deceptions, Anna Porter
8. Tracers in the Dark, Andy Greenberg

February

7. The Terraformers, Annalee Newitz
6. My Darkest Prayer, S.A. Cosby

January

5. The Thin Man, Dashiell Hammett
4. Artificial Intelligence, Melanie Mitchell
3. Louise Penny, A World of Curiosities
2. American Midnight, Adam Hochschild
1. The Wolf Age, Tore Skeie


[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

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I got the chance to do a guest spot on Terrell Turner’s Law Firms and Finance podcast and the episode was just released. It seemed like a great topic for my first blog post of the new year.Microphone photo

The episode is called “How to Figure Out Legal Technology” and you can listen to and watch it here

What technology is the best fit for your law firm?

Terrell and I had a lot of fun recording the show, as you will probably notice, and I tried to share as much practical advice about legal technology as I could fit into the show. We started with the question “What technology is the best fit for your firm?” and let it roll from there. Hope you find it helpful.

Terrell has done a lot of great episodes and I encourage you to check out his podcast.

I really like the way Terrell highlights the mantra, “Be a lifetime learner.”

And we are off to another year on DennisKennedy.Blog, where we will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the launch of the blog in February.

 


[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

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Tom Mighell and I invited our friend Debbie Foster to continue our annual podcast tradition of reflecting on the past year in legal technology in the style of ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption show. We tried to hit as many topics and highlights as we could in this fast-paced episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast on the Legal Talk Network.

Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast logo

Here’s the show description for “Pardon the Interruption: 2022 Edition“:

If you know you know… will there be another Tom-a-riffic victory? Debbie Foster is back for Dennis and Tom’s legal technology year-in-review. The trio use their traditional “Pardon the Interruption”-inspired format to review legal tech developments in 2022. Tune in for their thoughts on the most important tech for lawyers, workflows and automation, favorite collaboration tools, the archaic tech you need to leave behind, and much, much more!

Have a technology question for Dennis and Tom? Call their Tech Question Hotline at 720-441-6820 for answers to your most burning tech questions.

Debbie Foster is the managing partner for Affinity Consulting, and is a nationally recognized thought leader on efficiency and innovation in professional legal organizations.

Special thanks to our sponsors Clio, Embroker, and Posh.

We hope you enjoy our take on legaltech in 2022 and wish you the best for 2023.

As always, we love to hear your feedback on the show.


[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

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Graphic generated by DALLE of law department innovation in the style of Jackson PollockI’m excited to announce the debut of my new column on law department innovation for LegalTech Hub. It’s called “How to Solve the Biggest Disconnect in Law Department Innovation.”

As I say in the column:

“I routinely hear outside counsel say they wish their in-house counsel talked to them more about what they need so they could collaborate better. At the same time, I hear in-house counsel say that they wished their outside counsel talked to them more about what new things they could bring to the table to help them so they could collaborate better.”

What can you do, today, to bridge the biggest disconnect in law department innovation?

I’ve been thinking about writing a new column for a while. I wanted to write something about law department innovation in connection with my new Law Department Innovation Library.

Nikki Shaver and I talked about writing a column on the amazing LegalTech Hub website and I could not say yes fast enough.

I’m looking forward to a long collaboration and a regular outlet for my thinking on law department innovation.

Let me know what you think of the first column.

Note: Image of “law department innovation in style of Jackson Pollock” generated by DALLE 2


[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

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Woman with ipad celebrating successLawyers are trained to think in ways that can be the opposite of good innovation practices. We spot issues and potential problems, with an emphasis on problems. We identify and manage risks, with an emphasis on the risks of doing new things. We focus, sometimes agonizingly, on process, procedure, and precedent. Saying that something “has always been done this way” is seen as high praise. Law has long been characterized as a “conservative” profession.

At the same time, legal work often is creative, innovative, and forward-thinking – on legal matters, but much less so on the actual practice of law, new business models, and big ideas about the practice itself.

As a result, implementation of change, technology, and big, bold, new ideas too often either doesn’t happen or happens at a glacial pace. However, the combination of these two aspects of lawyers – conservative practice approaches and creative legal approaches – holds the key to identifying and smashing through barriers to breakthroughs in the practice, especially in law department settings.

In this article, I will map out twelve common barriers to legal innovation I see regularly. Simply naming and identifying them will help you examine and challenge them. Do they really have to be barriers? Or can they be turned into opportunities? And I’ll suggest some ways for you to start smashing through these barriers and move forward.

Let’s see how many of the following barriers are familiar to you.

1. Too Busy. How many long conversations have you had with lawyers in which they tell you in painstaking detail how over-busy they are and have no time for anything – except, seemingly, to tell you at length how busy they are. Sadly, the worship of “busyness” has become the religion of the legal profession. Michael Gerber, author of the book, The E-Myth Attorney, says that we should spend as much time working on our practices as we do in our practices. The move to massive minimum billable hours requirements has had a corrosive effect on the practice, especially in reducing the amount of time available to rethink and make changes to how lawyers work. Even if time is not recorded in law departments, many in-house counsel feel great pressure to work more hours and “do more with less,” especially since March 2020. Are there really not enough hours in your day for you to do anything other than heads-down legal work?

2. Legal Exceptionalism. Many lawyers believe that everything they do is unique and cannot be standardized. Sometimes this belief is summed up by saying that law is a profession, not a business. There is a tendency to see every aspect of legal work as custom and unique. From fussing with fonts and margins on invoices to a wide variety of arcane procedures, many lawyers insist on long-standing personalized approaches appreciated only by them rather than moving to more efficient and standard processes that can be delegated to others. Is everything you do in your practice actually a “legal” process? Is it really necessary that you have to try to prove that you are the “smartest person in the room”?

3. No One Else is Doing This. Lawyers sometimes need to feel the comfort of knowing that they are not the first to try something and that other lawyers are doing the same things, especially in technology. There is an interesting pattern in legal technology where certain software tools become prevalent in certain cities. The fact that others are doing something helps lawyers get comfortable that a change is not too radical. This approach tends to make many lawyers followers, rather than leaders. Are you making sure someone else you know has implemented a new idea before you decide to look into it for yourself?

4. Someone Else is Already Doing This, So We Can’t. The interplay of this barrier and the previous one, which sometimes can occur in the same conversation, is fascinating. If a competitor is working on a new approach or technology, some lawyers will say that they don’t want to copy. They might also say that if X is doing it, it must be a bad idea because X isn’t so smart. This reaction might not be a bad thing if it pushes you to act and explore different options but it, too often, it shuts down the change process. Is the “not invented here” mindset slowing you down?

5. Not Asking the Client. In-house counsel, as clients,  are on record as saying that they want their outside counsel to bring them new ideas and innovations.  The clients of in-house counsel – business leaders – will say the same thing. Truth be told, many lawyers do not like to have direct conversations about their work with their clients, let alone suggest new approaches and changes to the existing relationship. The key to innovation is getting the client involved and solving the client’s real problems, not assuming that you know what the client wants. On at least an annual basis, are you sitting down with key clients to discuss improvements to the relationship and work process?

6. Catastrophizing. I once had a law partner who asked his estate planning clients about the “atomic bomb dropped on the family reunion” scenario to get them to focus on the final, final disposition of their estate to contingent beneficiaries. Lawyers are really good at finding worst-case scenarios and playing devil’s advocate. It’s a key part of risk assessment. When it seeps into looking at new practice ideas, however, it can become a significant barrier, especially if done reflexively and automatically. “If we try this new technology, everything else will break, we won’t be able to do any work and we will have no revenue for six months.” “If we suggest flat fees on certain matters to a client, they will fire us on the spot.” Risks fall within a set of ranges. Are you too often going to the worst-case scenario when considering a big new idea?

7. Thinking in Isolation – Compared to What? There’s a famous philosophy problem about whether it’s best to push one person into the path of a train to save five people on the track or to save the one person and have the train hit the five people on the track. It often gets raised in the context of self-driving cars – how can the programming of the car resolve this dilemma? Our attention focuses on the rarity rather than the reality of 40,000-plus highway deaths a year in the United States. It can be difficult to step back and look at your practice and your systems in a critical way. It is much easier to look at a new system and compare it to a mythical ideal. Context is important in making big idea decisions. If you were to start over, would you implement your existing system or the new one that you are considering?

8. Discomfort with Standard Innovation Techniques. I was recently at a continuing legal education seminar and there was a session on improvisation for lawyers. The room all but emptied before the session began. I’ve heard lawyers and other legal professionals complain about and dismiss every innovation and design thinking technique in common use elsewhere – from brainstorming to whiteboards to, particularly vehemently, post-it notes for capturing ideas. It is important to, as they say, think different. Are you refusing to try standard techniques? Is your reluctance to use crayons or brightly-colored markers a system of a deeper-seated issue?

9. Quality Over Quantity. The statistics vary, but it looks like you can expect 90% of startups and new initiatives to fail. Many other efforts change drastically. Companies often “pivot” to new business models based on customer feedback. Twitter, originally a podcasting company, is one classic example. In brainstorming exercises, the goal is quantity of ideas – getting lots of ideas expressed and captured. In brainstorming, a primary goal is not to criticize ideas as they get generated. Lawyers tend to want to highlight “quality” ideas and experience stress over quantity. Given the 90% failure rate, the odds of identifying “quality” at an early stage is low. There are better frameworks than “quality.” Are you uncomfortable with generating lots of ideas before judging their quality?

10. Moving too Quickly from Why and What to How. This barrier is similar to the previous one. The evidence indicates that if you can focus on the actual problems of clients, the job they need to get done, and what reduces their pain and increases their gain, the likelihood of great results is enhanced. Lawyers tend to move too quickly to the “how” to accomplish something. Lawyers like processes and procedures. There is great value in remaining patient and the “why” and “what” stages before moving to the “how” stage. Are you moving to solutions before you fully understand the underlying problem to be solved and what approach addresses that specific problem?

11. Not Looking at Other Businesses and Professions. I’ve noticed recently that doctors have done a great job with online portals. I can make and change appointments, look at test results, and get other medical information easily and conveniently online. I dread calling into voicemail systems for doctors and always prefer to use the portals. They benefit both the doctors and the patients. There are many innovations happening in professions and businesses similar to law, and also in those not similar to law – online portals, productization of services, use of video, self-service of all sorts, and much more. Sometimes a fresh perspective is required. How often do you look at the changes in your other customer experiences and wonder how you might try them in your practice?

12. Not Killing Bad Ideas. There are many reasons not to recommend being in meetings with lawyers. Looking back on my legal career, I recall the many times – in hiring decisions, technology decisions, motions for action, nominations of officers, and more – where it’s clear that there are several excellent options and several that aren’t at the same level, have no support, and can be dismissed. Far too often, there will be lawyers who want to give the options that don’t make sense a thorough discussion so that “we are sure we are right about them.” The end result is exactly what you would expect and valuable time that could be spent on the best options is wasted. Are you able to move forward and decide on options ruthlessly and without sentimentality?

I suspect that you can add a few items of your own to the list and that you have your own examples from the above categories. It’s quite an obstacle course of barriers. Can you smash through these barriers?

Here are a few recommendations of ways to break through barriers to big ideas.

1. Surface Your Biases. We all lapse into several of the biases mentioned in this article. We also tend to have a bias toward the status quo and inaction. Identifying and diagnosing your biases will help you move past them. When considering a new idea, use a framework that helps you test your reactions to an idea or proposal against these barriers. Are you analyzing smartly and critically or are you simply falling back on biases and old methods? A simple checklist or grid might be all you need.

2. Involve Your Clients. It is so easy to assume that we know what our clients want without talking to them. The best innovations come out of a thorough understanding of client problems. Identify your clients who are likely to be most interested in new approaches and schedule time to talk to at least two or three of them.

3. Find Some Standard Techniques You Like. There are lots of standard design and innovation practices. Some you will hate, but some you will like. That’s a good thing. One I’ve found quite valuable recently is the Value Proposition Canvas, which lets you map out in a simple way the job your client needs to get done, the client’s pains and hoped-for gains, and then how your service fits that job, reduces the pains and creates the gains. Check it out.

4. Look at What Works Elsewhere. Start to pay attention to your customer experience in other settings. Your doctor’s online portal might be an eye-opener. What frustrates you? What do you like? Can you try something like that in your practice?

5. Diversity to the Diversity Power. Look around the room. Do most of the people look like you? Do most of the people think like you do? Do they represent only one perspective on the problem to be solved? It is so easy to fall into groupthink. Look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself if your statements about “diversity meaning diversity of thought too” is masking a bigger problem. The research on how diversity improves outcomes is quite clear. What are you afraid of?

6. Take a Portfolio Approach. I’m a big fan of the modern portfolio theory of investment, which says that it is prudent not to invest just in cautious and “safe” investments, but to diversify and spread your investments across asset classes and risk categories, all in accordance with your own risk tolerance. In simplest terms, this approach means that it is both necessary and wise to mix in some higher-risk, higher-potential-return investments in your portfolio. The same reasoning applies in innovation and change. Are you creating more risk for yourself by playing it too safe? A simple chart mapping out your innovation “investments” and where they fit in terms of risk is a great approach to thinking about innovation as a portfolio.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when hearing about big new ideas, transformation, and “change or die” predictions. Lawyers have a lot of barriers, some psychological and some self-imposed. Often the answers to questions comes in opposites. How do I work on big ideas and smash through barriers? With small steps, many experiments to test hypotheses, and the resilience that comes from using results as data for future experiments. You can (and should) do that too.

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[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

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