Filter: Legal education

US-based Ron Friedmann has spent over two decades improving law practice and legal business operations with technology, knowledge management, and alternative resourcing. Today he is one of the world’s leading experts and bloggers on legal tech. Meeting Carsten in Nürnberg, Ron shares his views on the legal marketplace, current trends and opportunities for the next generation of lawyers.

Dr Zev J. Eigen is a data scientist focused on cutting edge applications in HR, labor and employment law, and legal services. A former professor at Northwestern, and visiting professor at Yale and NYU, Dr Eigen was honored as one of "40 Under 40 Rising Legal Stars" by the National Law Journal, and is frequently quoted in the media as an expert on big data and predictive analytics. He is a nationally recognized expert in these fields appearing in the media frequently (Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Forbes, NPR, Bloomberg News, Reuters, Chicago Tribune, NBC, CBS, FOX, etc.). Zev is a frequent speaker on matters pertaining to workplace data analytics. Lawyers on Fire met him after his speech at the Legal Tech West Coast in San Francisco.If you want to learn more about Dr Eigen and his work, please have a look at his webpage.

Lawyers on Fire spoke with Terri Motterhead, the Executive Director for the Centre of Legal Innovation (Australia, New Zealand and Asia) at The College of Law in Brisbane, Australia. Terri has been a thought leader in people centred legal practice innovation for more than 25 years. She works internationally with leaders and managers of law firms, legaltech entrepreneurs, law schools, business schools, business professionals and lawyers. These are the key topics we discussed:1.  You made a career change turning from a practicing lawyer to a legal educator. Why?2. In 2016 you founded the newly created Centre for Legal Innovation at the College of Law. What does the Centre do?3. You hosted a big legal innovation conference in August this year. Can you tell us a bit about its format and how it went?4. What major developments do you see in the legal market today and what will this mean for future lawyers?5. What skills do you find most important for the next generation of lawyers?6. What does this mean for legal education? What is essential for the design of good legal education today?7. You are our first guest from Australia where we've seen a lot of innovative start-ups. Can you give us two or three examples of promising start-ups in areas you see as highly exiting?8. People and technology - lawyers and machines. How will these go together in the coming years?9. If you were to start your career over, what would you change?

Michele DeStefano is a professor of law at the University of Miami, Guest Faculty in Harvard Law School, Executive Education, and the founder of LawWithoutWalls, an international think-tank aimed at honing new skillsets and mindsets and creating innovations at the intersection of law, business, and technology. As a professor of law, DeStefano researches and writes about the growing intersections between law, business, and legal innovation. Her book Legal Upheaval: A Guide to Creativity, Collaboration, and Innovation in Law leverages over 100 interviews of general counsels of large international corporations and heads of innovation at law firms.Lawyers on Fire spoke with Michele about her new book, her advice to students and young professionals and her view on today’s and tomorrow’s legal world. Listen and get inspired:Why? What was your motivation to write this book?What’s happening? You describe technology, shifts in socio-economics and globalization as the main forces impacting the law market today. What do these trends mean for future lawyers?Most wanted persona? Your book takes into account more than hundred interviews you conducted with partners of law firms, GC and other legal professionals. If you summarize their expectations, what would be the ideal persona of a lawyer they would like to hire?And what is the reality? You talk about the Lawyer Skills Delta…Why innovate? Many lawyers, particularly in BigLaw, don't see any reason to change or innovate. Business is going well, changing working system is risky and innovation may even jeopardize the status quo. Yet you argue that there is a need for change because of a New Value Equation in law. What is this new equation about?After the whys let's talk about the how. Your advice is to create a culture of creativity, collaboration and innovation by having an open mind, an open heart and an open door. This reminds me to a concept of leadership I once learnt at university: a good leader has a cool head, busy hands and a warm heart. What are these three rules of engagement? Do you want to give examples?Finally, you identified three groups you believe will be the front runners leading the change and shaping the future legal marketplace. Who are they and what can they do?

Professor Dr. Ralph Alexander Lorz, LL.M. (Harvard) is Minister in Hesse, now holding the portfolio of public schools and church-state relations for the State Government formed by the Christian Democratic Union and the Green Party. He is also professor of  German and Foreign Public Law, European Law and Public International Law at Heinrich Heine University of Duesseldorf. Professor Lorz delivered the keynote “Who Owns the Legal Future?” at the legal ® evolution conference in Frankfurt. Lawyers on Fire spoke with him about legal tech and the future of the legal market.