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/)]

Want to schedule a Zoom call to talk with me about Legal Innovation as a Service, Speaking, or other services? Schedule a Zoom with Dennis via Calendly.

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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.

++++++++

Check out my new Law Department Innovation Library!

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio via Pexels.com

 


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

Want to schedule a Zoom call to talk with me about Legal Innovation as a Service, Speaking, or other services? Schedule a Zoom with Dennis via Calendly.

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My new project and #LawDepartmentInnovation resource. Law Department Innovation Libraryhttps://www.ldilibrary.com

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Text logo for Law Department Innovation LibraryOne of the best things about the Internet is that if you can’t find the resource you want or need, you can create it yourself. As I began to focus my work on law department innovation, I noticed that there wasn’t a “one-stop shop” where I could find a great collection of resources on this topic. Now there is.

I’m announcing the launch of the Law Department Innovation Library. It will reside at www.ldilibrary.com. The most likely acronym will be LDI Library or LDIL.

As an experiment (because all innovation efforts are experiments), I’ve built it with a Notion backend for ease of adding and updating resources. I’ve used Super.so for a simple way to do the design. And, yes, I recommend that approach for a site like this. I’m likely to do some other ones like this for supplemental resources for the law school classes I teach and other projects.

A big thank you to Tom Mighell for helping me talk through the database structure, Cat Moon for encouraging me to launch the project, and Nikki Shaver for her positive comments on a prototype.

If you have feedback, suggestions for other resources, or other ideas, please let me know. I can’t wait to see this evolve. The site has reached the “perfect is the enemy of the good” stage and I decided that it’s time to launch.

To answer an obvious question, yes, I am planning to create a Law Department Innovation Library Membership Community later in 2022. Resources will get us started, but a community will make outcomes happen.

Visit the Law Department Innovation Library now.


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

Want to schedule a Zoom call to talk with me about Legal Innovation as a Service, Speaking, or other services? Schedule a Zoom with Dennis via Calendly.

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book cover (front) of The lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies#Collaboration is the hottest topic in #legaltech today! We all must find smart ways to work together.

And, just in time, Tom Mighell and I are pleased to announce the publication of the new edition of our classic book on collaboration tools and technologies: The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies, Work from Home Edition.

This book is a must-have, especially for law firm and law department technology committees, law firm managing partners and CIOs, general counsel, heads of legal operations, and law libraries. If you are a forward-looking legal professional concerned about meeting the growing collaboration expectations of your clients and colleagues (and who isn’t), this practical guide will help you ask the right questions, chart your path to the future, and give you the concrete action steps you need to make it easy for others to work with you now and to keep on working with you into the future.

Back cover with quotes of The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and TechnologiesComments on the book:

Lawyering today is all about collaboration. As we face the new normal that includes working from home, thank you to Dennis and Tom for writing the new definitive guide for collaboration tools.
—Linda Klein, Senior Manager Shareholder, Baker Donelson, and Past President of American Bar Association

Kennedy and Mighell provide everyone working in a law office with a detailed look at the big picture of understanding and utilizing collaboration tools. From working on shared documents to transferring knowledge—and understanding the best tools to use in a variety of settings including online meetings, calendaring, mind mapping and project planning—this book explains the tools and processes that can help you run a more successful practice.
—Patrick J. McKenna, internationally recognized lecturer, strategist, seasoned advisor to law firm leaders and co-author of First Among Equals

“While lawyers have come to recognize the many benefits of collaborating in the cloud, many are overwhelmed by the sheer number of collaboration tools available to them. That’s where this book comes in. In it, you’ll find a roadmap and the tools you’ll need to choose the right software for your law firm and clients. If you’re ready to raise the bar on your law firm’s online collaboration, look no further.
—Niki Black, Lawyer and Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase

The pandemic marked a turning point in lawyer collaboration, accelerating and intensifying the growth of collaborative legal work and rendering visible and commonplace the tools and techniques with which lawyers, forced to work from home, could still work together with others to serve clients. In this up-to-the-minute new edition of their authoritative classic, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell give the legal profession an accessible, detailed, step-by-step guide to learning and then mastering the art of collaboration.
—Jordan Furlong, Principal, Law21

Collaboration is a superpower and foundational for thriving in the 21st century practice of law. And this book is the single most valuable resource on the topic available for legal professions: Dennis and Tom have done all the research and heavy lifting so we all can get to collaborating!” —Cat Moon, Director of Innovation Design, Vanderbilt Law School

You can order the book today from the ABA Bookstore, where you can also see the table of contents, introduction, and a sample chapter.

Among other things, you’ll learn:

Best practices for working from home
The distinction between collaborating within vs. outside your firm
Collaborating on documents online and off
Practical ways to manage cases and transactions
Simple collaboration tools to use with clients, colleagues, and others
Commonly used collaboration platforms
Developing a collaboration strategy for your firm
Practical issues, tips, and techniques
The future of collaboration in the practice of law

Order the book today from the ABA Bookstore

Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast logoTom and I are also doing a series of episodes on The Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast about collaboration topics.

Already released:

The Latest in Collaboration Tools & Technologies

Collaborating in Hybrid Work Environments


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

Want to schedule a Zoom call to talk with me about Legal Innovation as a Service, Speaking, or other services? Schedule a Zoom with Dennis via Calendly.

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Welcome to my occasional series of posts of excerpts from my book, Successful Innovation Outcomes in Law: A Practical Guide for Law Firms, Law Departments and Other Legal Organizations. The book is available in paperback and on Kindle on Amazon.

In this chapter, I focus on the importance of coaching and mentoring and highlight some of my learnings from my work with coaches at various points in my careers. Money spent on good coaching can bring an enormous return on investment.

The takeaway lesson from this chapter is a strong one:

Consider building the requirement for coaching for yourself into your job.

Coaching and Mentoring

At some point, probably sooner rather than later, you will realize that creating and running an innovation program is a very big job. It will also be one that increasingly pulls you away from what you like best (innovating and creating) and fills your time with activities you didn’t expect (meetings, sales efforts, political infighting, sorting mixed priorities, scheduling, hiring, replacing key team members who leave for other opportunities, approving expense reports, even more meetings, and so much more).

In the last chapter, I talked about getting help. In this chapter, I want to focus on two related, but different, forms of help: mentoring and coaching.

Mentoring

Mentoring can mean many things, but to me, mentoring is finding the wise guide (your Yoda) who helps you, listens to your questions, makes subtle suggestions, asks you hard questions, points you gently in the right direction, and always sees the bigger picture that you cannot. Many mentor relationships last a lifetime.

Unfortunately, you can’t just run out to the mentor store and buy a mentor off a shelf. Typically, a mentor relationship is something that you recognize rather than go out and find. And, often, it is the mentor who finds you. I love the quote, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”

In other words, you probably should not request a mentor in the list that you make before you accept the role. However, if you push hard for an executive sponsor, you greatly enhance the chances that that person will become a mentor for you, or introduce you to someone who becomes a mentor. But there is no guarantee.

More than likely, you will find mentors in the larger innovation community, in the people in your organization with whom you do great work, or in the clients you work with. That’s why it’s so important to participant in innovation organizations, attend conferences, and, yes, participate in social media. One of the great things today is that you might find a mentor anywhere in the world.

Coaching

Coaching should be thought of a limited period of targeted assistance for which you pay for the service. Coaching is different from mentoring, but you might get similar results in some areas.
There are coaches of every kind these days, from life coaches to personal trainers, but I haven’t yet seen the rise of innovation coaches. Yet. In some cases, coaches have certification organizations or standard approaches and techniques.

Coaches tend to address specific needs or weaknesses. For example, if you are not experienced or comfortable speaking in public, you might get a speaking or presentation coach to help you reach a desired level of competence. This is another instance where it makes sense to build coaching into your budget request.

How do you find the right coach? I’ve personally had great success with two different coaches. I found each of them in a different way. Nothing about those finding processes is helping me find a new coach. It’s largely going to be a case of defining what you want, finding someone who matches that description, and determining whether there is a “fit.”

That said, it would be unfair of me to end there. Here are some of my suggestions.

  1. Look for executive or business coaches as opposed to career coaches (who excel in helping you find a job that fits you) or life coaches.
  2. Look for someone who works with entrepreneurs, startup executives, or creative professionals as the majority of their clientele.
  3. Look for someone who has experience working with lawyers and others in the legal industry.
  4. Look for someone who gives you “homework” and holds you responsible for completing it.

PRO TIP: If you’ve ever worked with a coach, you already understand how helpful they can be. Consider building the requirement for coaching for yourself into your job.

If you like this sample chapter, you will love the book.

If you make or are involved in leadership decisions for law department innovation, check out my Legal Innovation as a Service officerings – pre-scoped, flat-fee just-in-time, just-enough assistance for law department innovation leaders.


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

Want to schedule a Zoom call to talk with me about Legal Innovation as a Service, Speaking, or other services? Schedule a Zoom with Dennis via Calendly.

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I had a conversation with a friend last night who had been asked to speak for free (with no travel reimbursement either) at an in-person conference. It can take a surprising amount of time and effort to decide whether to turn these kinds of “for free” or “discounted” requests down or even how to respond, especially if you know the person making the request and they are asking for a “favor.”

I shared my approach with my friend last night and decided that it might make a good blog post.

Before I jump in to the “I have a rule” method, let me note that if someone actually uses the word “favor,” I respond with the classic Godfather quote: “Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this justice as a gift.”

Unfortunately, I have forgotten where I got the “I have a rule” method so I can’t give appropriate attribution, which I’d love to do. I also combine “I have a rule” with the social science learning that if you say “because” and give ANY reason, people will generally go along with your request. The classic example in offices is: “Can I jump in front of you to use the copier because I have to make a copy?” Works in most cases.

I Have a Rule

The first part of my response is “I have a rule.” The idea is that I am merely following a rule. It’s nothing personal. I really don’t have a choice. The source or validity of the rule doesn’t matter. We see this all the time in the rest of our lives. “The rule is that you have to use blue ink.”

You simply state the rule clearly and confidently, perhaps with a tinge of regret.

Because

To level up the power of your rule, you add a “because” reason. The beauty of this is that literally any reason will work, but I use a reason that makes sense in light of the request.

Compare:

1. I have a rule that I don’t discount my fees.

OR

2. I have a rule that I don’t discount my fees because discounts indicate that I have not communicated the value the buyer will receive very well.

My List

I keep a list of my rules tacked up in my office so it’s easy for me to see them. Here’s what’s on my current list:

I have a rule that I don’t speak for free anymore because I have limited time in my schedule and prefer to open up those speaking slots to new and diverse speakers.

I have a rule that I’m not taking on any new volunteer opportunities this year because I made a decision on those I could do at the beginning of the year.

I have a rule that I don’t make buying decisions of more than $200 without waiting at least three weeks because that’s what my wife and I have agreed on.

I have a rule that I don’t discount my fees because discounts indicate that I have not communicated the value the buyer will receive very well.

I have a rule that I don’t give money to people because, unfortunately, I’ve had some unhappy experiences with that and those people have ruined it for others.

I have a rule that I don’t make any new donations this year because my wife and I decided on our donations for this year in January.

I have a rule that I will not take any new projects until I run them through my new project screening tool because otherwise I will get myself overbooked.

We have a rule that I can only take speaking gigs where I get my full fee if I get my wife to approve it, in advance.

I have a rule that I won’t speak for free because we decided to dedicate the money I make from speaking this year to a [big vacation trip for our wedding anniversary OR big purchase].

Your Mileage May Vary

I have a rule that I make no guarantees that anything on this list will work for you because I really can’t make those kinds of guarantees.

However, I’m happy to share this list with you in the hope that it might help you. People often put themselves through the wringer trying to figure out a way to do something that makes no sense for them or to do something that actually costs them money out of pocket.

Try them out yourself. See how they work.

If you hear me use one on you, don’t be concerned because I have a rule and I have to follow it.

I also have a rule that now is a great time to support this blog by buying one of my books or courses, engaging me to speak, or checking out my Legal Innovation as a Service for Law Departments Only offerings because you liked this post and got actionable value from it.


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

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Cover photo of Successful Innovation Outcomes in LawSummer is here and the time is right for innovating in the law.

From today until June 13, the Kindle version (only) of my book, Successful Innovation Outcomes in Law: A Practical Guide for Law Firms, Law Departments and Other Legal Organizations is on sale on amazon for the too-low-to-resist price of US$4.99.

This summer, I’m focusing on corporate law department innovation and getting ready for next year at Michigan State University Center for Law, Technology & Innovation.

It struck me that, at the halfway point of yet another tumultuous year, it was a great time for law department innovation leaders and other innovators in law to have easy and inexpensive access to my ideas, insights and practical approaches to achieve successful innovation outcomes.

Hence, the special Kindle sale price until July 13. Or you can buy the paperback at the regular price. Or buy both. Or buy them for your whole team. You get the idea.

No time like the present. Sale ends July 12.

Get your copy here.


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

Want to schedule a Zoom call to talk with me about Legal Innovation as a Service, Speaking, or other services? Schedule a Zoom with Dennis via Calendly.

Like this post? Buy me a coffeeBuy me a coffee

DennisKennedy.Blog is now part of the LexBlog network.

Legal Innovation as a Service LogoNeed a little help with your legal innovation efforts? Check out my Legal Innovation as a Service offerings.

Kennedy Idea Propulsion Laboratory logoJoin the Kennedy Idea Propulsion Laboratory Community today!

Follow my microblog on Twitter – @dkennedyblog. Follow me – @denniskennedy

Download my FREE “57 Tips for Successful Innovation Outcomes in Law” (PDF).

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast logoIt seemed like a good time to share a batch of recent episodes of The Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast. The spring semester is over, grades are in, I’m focusing on Legal Innovation as a Service for the summer, and I’m enjoying the summertime.

And summertime is the perfect time to get caught up on podcast listening.

Here’s a list of what Tom and I have been discussing on the show over the past few months. Lots of good stuff. We invite you to jump in and listen. Even better, subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcast app so you don’t miss any episodes. We have some cool topics on the upcoming schedule.

  • Metavisting the Metaverse – Dennis and Tom plunge into the metaverse—its trends, current tech, and possibilities for the future.
  • The Wild World of NFTs – Dennis and Tom dive into these unique digital objects (art, video, and much more) and outline the issues surrounding their current hype and value in the real world.
  • No, This Podcast Could Not Have Been an Email – Dennis and Tom help you understand the nuances of both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration modalities.
  • Second Brain Project: Updates and Branching Brainwaves – Dennis and Tom have found that—just like real brains—their Second Brain projects are unique! Listen in for updates on the latest iterations of their diverging strategies and the tech tools bringing their Brains to life.
  • Seeing the Forest Through Decision Trees – Dennis and Tom talk through the concept of “decision trees” and explain a variety of methods for modeling out choices and outcomes to help you make better decisions.
  • Are We Approaching the Great Social Media Resignation? – Dennis and Tom give their two cents on the possible Twitter takeover, hashing out the changes Musk might bring to the platform and whether users might just call it quits en masse.
  • Improve Your At-Home Sound Quality – Dennis and Tom welcome David Tewksbury of Harman to talk through the steps of creating an effective workspace that meets your audio needs.
  • How to Approach Your Home Office Upgrade – Post-Covid, the work-from-home lifestyle has become a lot more permanent than many of us thought it would. With this shift, many are realizing their home office setup might need some tweaks to become an effective workspace. So, where to begin? Dennis and Tom talk about their own experiences, lay out ideas for approaching your upgrades, and recommend products for lighting, desks, chairs, monitors, sound equipment, and more.

As always, let us know what you think about the shows and potential topics for future shows. And support our sponsors!


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

Want to schedule a Zoom call to talk with me about Legal Innovation as a Service, Speaking, or other services? Schedule a Zoom call with Dennis via Calendly.

Like this post? Buy me a coffeeBuy me a coffee

DennisKennedy.Blog is now part of the LexBlog network.

Legal Innovation as a Service LogoNeed a little help with your legal innovation efforts? Check out my Legal Innovation as a Service offerings.

Kennedy Idea Propulsion Laboratory logoJoin the Kennedy Idea Propulsion Laboratory Community today!

Follow my microblog on Twitter – @dkennedyblog. Follow me – @denniskennedy

Download my FREE “57 Tips for Successful Innovation Outcomes in Law” (PDF).

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Book cover of Successful Innovation Outcomes in Law: A Practical Guide for Law Firms, Law Departments and Other Legal OrganizationsAn often underestimated part of the innovation process, especially within law departments, is the messaging, presentation, and selling of innovation projects, programs, and portfolios to general counsel and other decisionmakers in law departments. I wrote about this topic in my book, Successful Innovation Outcomes in Law: A Practical Guide for Law Firms, Law Departments and Other Legal Organizations (available on Amazon).

The topic is so important that I’m including messaging points for innovation leaders a key part of my deliverables for my Legal Innovation as a Service offerings for law departments only.

And it’s also important enough that I’ve decided to share a version of Chapter 41 of my book for free in this blog post. You can easily adapt the principles if you are a law firm innovation leader.

Selling to GCs and Other Decisionmakers

It’s worth repeating that several years ago, a survey of general counsels asked what innovation their outside counsel had brought to them. The top answer was “none.”

In one sense, the threshold for law department innovation efforts (internal or external) is quite low and the opportunity to differentiate from other law departments is there for the taking. In another sense, however, the answer illustrates the desire of in-house counsel to see their outside law firms take the lead in innovation and technology initiatives and their disappointment with the perceived lack of leadership. In no small part, these factors are driving the “early adopter” law departments to move innovation inside their departments and not leave it to outside law firms who have failed to produce.

For in-house counsel, there is a sharp disconnect between what what they request and what outside law firms seem to hear. In-house counsel often tell me about asking for simple email newsletters from outside counsel that, rather than summarize new cases or laws, offer a firms’s perspectives and insights and suggest practical action steps. Then they say, “And we never got them.”

A legal technology “solution” that outside counsel like to advocate is “contract lifecycle management.” Yes, there is a need, but those projects are not at the top of the in-house priority list, are nightmarishly complex to implement, and involve many moving parts in the entire corporation.

If, instead, the innovation process produced a pilot project of one of the three simple ideas I suggested in Chapter 42 (i.e., a dashboard of highly relevant data, an expertise locator, or a list of places where routine legal review could be eliminated), you would have delighted in-house counsel and their business clients. Each of these addresses pain points, solves business problems, and are easy experiments. Each of these also illustrates how well you have listened and suggested some options that have worked elsewhere, not just tried to sell a pre-conceived innovation “solution.” And they provide value to the business client and help them get their jobs done.

Many lawyers hate to “sell.” Most in-house counsel hate to be “sold to.” THe good news is that pitching innovation efforts should not involve selling in the classic sense. It should consist of many of your best lawyering skills: asking good questions, active listening, investigating, getting to the core problem, looking at options, and patience. You want to understand what the client wants before you jump in with a solution.

In the innovation process, there are three steps, as I have mentioned: why, what, and how. The sequence is to start with why, move to what, and, only at the very end, look at the how. Resisting the urge to move too quickly to the how stage plays a key role in success.

While there are many definitions of innovation, most of them emphasize “customer-focused” or “customer-centered” problem solving. My focus is always on customer outcomes. Your client has the problem to solve. Your goal, and your role, are to help your client solve their problem and eliminate their pains and achieve their gains.

The client does not want you to swoop in and save the day. You can do that when handling important legal work. Instead, clients want to be the heroes of their own innovation stories. They want a guide with a plan to help them win the prize while avoiding disaster. Think Yoda, not Superman.

With that in mind, what approaches work best when discussing innovation projects or processes with general counsel and other decisionmakers?

1. Bring it Up First. Since outside firms are known for NOT bringing innovation ideas to corporate counsel, simply initiating the conversation might be a differentiator for you. The same approach applies to in-house innovation leaders. You were delegating the innovation portfolio because your general counsel whats you to take the initiative and bring your ideas to them. If you put innovation in the context of improving the relationship with your business owners and executive team, controlling or cutting legal costs, or a new benefit for key teams, you will have a winning combination.

2. Talk to the Real Decisionmakers. General counsel often lead and drive department innovation and select the winning projects to carry forward. However, they typically delegate the details to the innovation team or, increasingly, their chief of staff. To move specific efforts forward you will need to identify and engage with the right people in leadership. We see more law departments with roles like Chief Innovation Officer than ever before.

3. Use the Value Proposition Canvas. A great, simple tool to use is something called the Value Proposition Canvas, described in more detail in Chapter 36. It gives you a quick, visual way to map out the client’s problem, the pains the clients hope to alleviate or eliminate, and the gains they want to achieve. You can then match those items with the project or approach you suggest. For example, a client’s problem might be that they don’t know who the subject matter experts in the law department are for certain issues. Their pains might include not knowing there was someone who could answer their question off the top of her head or mismatching people to projects. The hoped-for gains might be getting the right work to the right people or creating subject matter teams. After making the diagnosis, you can match the proposed solution (expert locator app) or process (design and prototyping sprint) and its pains solved and gains achieved 􏰋with the desired result and make a compelling case to move forward.

4. Pitch Pilots, Not Products. Upwards of 90% of innovation projects fail or drastically change from the initial concept. That’s a good thing. It’s part of the innovation and start-up process. The more pilots, the better. Pilots give you and the client prototypes to test, examples of possible projects to share with others, and quick wins that build momentum.

5. Understand Internal Goals and Objectives. In-house counsel and law departments have annual objectives and goals. Understand what those are and make the part of the equation. Visible achievement of annual goals will always be a desired gain for any decisionmaker.

6. Bring the Whole Team. Get the right teams talking, especially in panel convergence presentations. If a law firm has a Chief Innovation Officer or innovation leader, they will want to meet and talk with their counterparts in law departments. Your decisionmaker will want you to be able to answer expected questions or bring the people who can to the meeting with you.

7. Get in Some Reps.It will take some time and practice to learn the best pitches, find the appropriate language, and build relationships. You will not be perfect at it from the start, nor should you expect to be. Like exercise, you need to get in some reps to get better.

Innovation initiatives from within law departments are moving quickly from nice-to-have to must-have. General counsel want help to show innovation results and meet corporate and department goals and objectives. General counsel will be looking for guides who give them plans to achieve what they need and still remain the heroes of their own stories. If you can provide that, in their language and in the language of business, you will cement long-term relationships and get the approvals you want for your best projects and initiatives

PRO TIP: Persuading a general counsel on innovation efforts requires special approaches and language, but these can be learned.

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LIaaS Process Chart

If you like this excerpt, I encourage you to buy the book on Amazon and to check out my Legal Innovation as a Service offering (for law departments only).

 


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

Like this post? Buy me a coffeeBuy me a coffee

DennisKennedy.Blog is now part of the LexBlog network.

Legal Innovation as a Service LogoNeed a little help with your legal innovation efforts? Check out my Legal Innovation as a Service offerings.

Kennedy Idea Propulsion Laboratory logoJoin the Kennedy Idea Propulsion Laboratory Community today!

Follow my microblog on Twitter – @dkennedyblog. Follow me – @denniskennedy

Download my FREE “57 Tips for Successful Innovation Outcomes in Law” (PDF).

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.