The Geek In Review

Most of us learned that if you set goals, those goals should be measurable. Sameena Kluck, Vice President of Business Development at Paladin, PBC, sits down with us this week to discuss how Pro Bono goals should also be measurable. While Pro Bono work is primarily viewed as a way for lawyers to do "good work," it has a larger impact than just on those receiving the work. We anecdotally know that Pro Bono impacts professional development, business development, recruiting, retention, attorney morale, marketing, branding, and more. However, there hasn't been a very good way of actually quantifying how Pro Bono works affect the law firm. We've measured our work by the hours we put in (pretty typical for a law firm), but that doesn't really tell us all the story. Sameena walks us through some of the metrics that she and Paladin are measuring to show the true value of Pro Bono work and how it benefits much more than just the Pro Bono client. Information Inspirations: AI for the Business of Law Jennifer Roberts, our Data Science Superhero from Ep. 26, has an article in LegalTechNews this week which says that the AI Hype Cycle might be in full swing when it comes to work that lawyers are doing, but that cycle is still in it's infancy when it comes to the business side of the law firm. Specifically in the Business Development and is the Risk Management departments of law firms, AI is just getting started. Roberts lays out examples of ways which AI tools can identify client traits. Predictions and modeling on client's likelihood of attrition, or forecasting client's financial viability, or the buying patterns of clients are just a few things that AI can assist business development professionals. When it comes to conflicts, Roberts writes that AI can reduce the time it takes to clear conflicts by up to 80%. There's definitely some value-add which AI can bring to the business side of the law firm table. The 1619 Project and Howard University Law Grads The New York Times Magazine launched an amazing expose on the 400th anniversary of slavery in the United States. One section focuses in on four recent law graduates of Howard University. It is a powerful piece which describes the journey of these families starting with their enslaved ancestors, and travel the path through today, and the lawyers' plans for the future. There is also a 1619 Podcast launching this week as well. Accelerated Learning Mission.org provides concise summaries of management writings, and Marlene points us to one of her favorites. "131 Actionable Ideas from Ten Books I Wish I Had Read Ages Ago." Author Louis Tsai walks through key takeaways of ten management books. In about 10 minutes, you should be all up to speed. Listen, Subscribe, Comment Contact us anytime by tweeting us at @gebauerm or @glambert. Or, you can call The Geek in Review hotline at 713-487-7270 and leave us a message. We’d love to hear any ideas you’d like us to cover in future episodes. Also, subscribe, rate, and comment on The Geek In Review on your favorite podcast platform. As always, the great music you hear on the podcast is from Jerry David DeCicca, thanks Jerry!

When mega-legal publisher, Thomson Reuters, acquired regional legal publisher, O'Connor's in January 2018, there were many Texas lawyers and law librarians who worried about what would happen to this very popular publisher. Greg sits down with former O'Connor's Vice President, Jason Wilson, and talks about the history of O'Connor's, why they focused on information design, and the plain English style of writing of their books. Wilson says the secret to good publishing, is spending a good amount of time preparing the material, and a systematic approach to organizing the material in a way that makes sense to the attorneys. While O'Connor's has be gobbled up by Thomson Reuters, Wilson thinks that there is still a lot of room for small and regional legal publishers. In fact, he says it makes perfect sense for large publishers to license some of their more regional or niche materials to smaller vendors so that they can give it the attention to detail those topics need.  Information Inspirations In a world where you can't swing a swag back at a legal conference without hitting a vendor claiming to have AI which will transform the industry, is ROSS Intelligence pushing it a little too far when they claim that they've pulled legal research out of the "dark ages" and that they've eliminated the need for humans to compile information found in traditional secondary sources (AKA treatises)? Greg suggests that when you read PR like this, have your law librarian test it to see if it really is transformative, or if it is purely PR speak. Thomson Reuters recently published a white paper called The Next Gen Leadership: Advancing Lawyers of Color (pdf). In a legal industry which is 85% white, and 64% male (compared to US stats of 76.6% and 49.2% respectively), TR sets out to interview 23 attorneys of color across the country to find out what they see white/male attorneys are doing to advance and retain lawyers of color. There are three themes picked up by TR in the interview which cover: sponsorship to navigate law firm spaces access to critical assignments, and increase understanding on the unique experiences of lawyers of color. Stephen Embry has a great blog post that fits nicely with this topic, and covers the ABA's 2019 Profile of the Legal Profession Report.  Listen, Subscribe, Comment Contact us anytime by tweeting us at @gebauerm or @glambert. Or, you can call The Geek in Review hotline at 713-487-7270 and leave us a message. We’d love to hear any ideas you’d like us to cover in future episodes. Also, subscribe, rate, and comment on The Geek In Review on your favorite podcast platform. As always, the great music you hear on the podcast is from Jerry David DeCicca, thanks Jerry!

Ian McDougall is the General Counsel for LexisNexis, as well as the President of LexisNexis' Rule of Law Foundation. According to the Foundation, The Rule of Law is made up of four parts: Equality Under the Law Transparency of Law Independent Judiciary Accessible Legal Remedy For there to be a true existence of Rule of Law, all four parts must be present in the governments which rule the people. McDougall says that no country has mastered the Rule of Law, and that ideals like democracy and justice can cause significant barriers to the Rule of Law. Without the Rule of Law, there is no true access to justice. Without the Rule of Law, commerce doesn't flow. McDougall is working with partners, including NGOs and corporate operations to establish stable environments, for people, as well as commerce.  Information Inspirations: We live in an age of massive data, analytics, business intelligence tools which allow industry leaders to gain insights on their organizations, industry, and competition. With all these resources, data, analytics, and insights at their fingertips, Deloitte's recent survey of over 1,000 industry leaders exposes that a majority of these leaders still desire the simplicity of spreadsheets. To borrow from Henry Ford, they desire a faster horse. Perhaps, like Greg, you are not a fan of cockroaches. Science, however, is making cockroaches useful, and may even save lives during disasters. But even insects aren't immune from technology. Eventually, those roaches with electronic backpacks may still be outsources by their eventual robot replacements. Patrick McKenna's book excerpt, The Rise of the Legal COO, isn't just for COOs who find themselves reporting to a new Managing Partner. There's a number of questions, and adjustments which McKenna suggests, which will work for practically anyone who finds themselves with a new boss. While Gen X'ers should be in the prime of their professional careers, Harvard Business Review's recent report may show that companies, and maybe law firms, are going to find themselves with a Gen X problem. Boomers are staying, and Millennials are advancing faster. It's a squeeze on both ends of the generational tube. Listen, Subscribe, Comment    Contact us anytime by tweeting us at @gebauerm or @glambert. Or, you can call The Geek in Review hotline at 713-487-7270 and leave us a message. We’d love to hear any ideas you’d like us to cover in future episodes. Also, subscribe, rate, and comment on The Geek In Review on your favorite podcast platform.As always, the great music you hear on the podcast is from Jerry David DeCicca, thanks Jerry!

On this episode of The Geek in Review, Anusia Gillespie, the US Head of Innovation at Eversheds Sutherland, sits down with us this week to discuss what she refers to as the "New Big Law"  market's inverted approach to innovation. In a market filled with problem solvers, sometimes the innovation we create solves a problem first, and then sets out to find the problem for this solution.  Gillespie finds that innovation is disciplined and structured in its approach, but broad and creative in its thinking.  Innovation definitely doesn’t live in any one discipline.  Innovative solutions might require technology expertise, but it could just as well only require professional development expertise or strict legal expertise.  She's convinced that we need to move away from this type of anchoring bias to ensure that, in this time of rebuilding law into New Big Law, legal innovators finally design and implement correct and smart solutions.  With the various professionals needed to identify problems, and create solutions, you need leadership, structure, a bit of fun mixed in, and a champion-forward approach. We dive into issues ranging from an overview of how Eversheds defines innovation to case studies of Gillespie's publication on smart solutions for lateral recruitment and onboarding.  Information Inspirations There are five very good podcast recordings from Legal Talk Networks "On the Road" series from the American Association of Law LIbraries (AALL) conference in Washington, DC. Check it out. Subscribe to it (and to The Geek in Review whle you're at it!!)  Finnemore Craig's managing partner, James Goodnow, writes that his kids don't want to be lawyers! It's not surprising, but is it really all that bad? Maybe. Our fellow 3 Geek's writer, Ryan McClead, was interviewed by the ACC's Rachel Zahorsky about all those innovation subsidiaries that have been all over the news lately. McClead thinks there may be more sizzle than steak, saying that he doesn't think that anyone is doing it very well, and that the innovation created on the outside, doesn't seem to be making it back inside those firms. Cat Moon's #FailureCamp was a success. Marlene was excited about all of the Twitter traffic and information that came out of the workshop, and she hinted, pretty loudly, that she'd love one of the cool t-shirts the attendees were issued.  Bonus Nerdy Info Inspo's: Marlene goes full nerd and dives into archaeoludology, the study of ancient games. Not to be outdone, Greg nerds up and points to a recent episode of The Nod which discusses Jerry Lawson, and his invention of the gaming console cartridge.  Listen, Subscribe, Comment Contact us anytime by tweeting us at @gebauerm or @glambert. Or, you can call The Geek in Review hotline at 713-487-7270 and leave us a message. We’d love to hear any ideas you’d like us to cover in future episodes. Also, subscribe, rate, and comment on The Geek In Review on your favorite podcast platform. As always, the great music you hear on the podcast is from Jerry David DeCicca, thanks Jerry!

After a week of Washington, DC heat and humidity, we are back to discuss all things legal information with a slant toward technology and management. We have a recap of the American Association of Law Libraries annual conference, #AALL19, where Marlene runs through her packed schedule of events which she attended, presented, or wished she'd attended. Greg was just happy to rotate off the AALL Executive Board, which he's been a part of for most of this decade. Don't worry.... there's still plenty of other AALL work for him to do. On this episode, Marlene and Greg go international for the topics. We talk with Lluis Faus and Masoud Gerami of vLex about the recent merger of Gerami's longtime foreign legal information platform, Justis. Faus and Gerami tell us the story of how they were able to blend the two platforms together, and the process of how they are able to pull together information from over 30 different countries, all with different levels of transparency and access to their legal information.  Information Inspirations  France recently outlawed the use of judicial analytics which allows for the searching and identifying the names of the judges. We reached out to Tara Tubman-Bassirian, a French lawyer practicing in the UK, about the reasoning behind France's criminalization of judicial data. Tubman-Bassirian says that the reasoning rests somewhere between the country's effort to protect its Civil Law structure and the anonymity of the judges, and a flat out fear of what technology might be bringing in the ways of analytics, AI, and other unknown advancements.  Marlene's inspiration comes from our friends at CLOC, and their release of their 2nd Annual State of the Industry Survey. The survey covers topics like Expenditures, Headcount, Technology, and Law Firm Evaluations. Best of all... it's free! Artificial Lawyer blog has a great breakdown of the legal technology portion of the survey.   Listen, Subscribe, download Jerry’s music, and Send Us Tweets and Voicemails, Too!! Remember that you can contact us anytime by tweeting us at @gebauerm or @glambert. Or, you can call The Geek in Review hotline at 713-487-7270 and leave us a message. We’d love to hear any ideas you’d like us to cover in future episodes. Also, subscribe, rate, and comment on The Geek In Review on your favorite podcast platform.  As always, the great music you hear on the podcast is from Jerry David DeCicca, thanks Jerry! (TIP: Listen to the very end of the show for some "extra" Jerry this week.)

The law is the law, and should be in the public domain, right?? Well, you'd think so, but it may be up to the US Supreme Court to make that determination in its next session when it takes up The State of Georgia v. Public.Resources.org. We talk with Tom Gaylord, Faculty Services & Scholarly Communications Librarian at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, about his thoughts on why the Court granted cert. on an issue that hasn't been on its radar, and how he thinks a minimum of five justices may align on the issue. Tom breaks down possible arguments and what could happen if the Court rules in favor of Georgia's claim of copyright of its statues, or if it creates a bright line rule that statutes are not copyrightable. This is going to be one interesting case to follow. Information Inspirations Marlene discusses Carolyn Elefant's article on Whose Data Is It Anyway? and brings up the age old question of just because we can, doesn't mean we should, when it comes to data collection of client information. Lawyers have a special relationship with their clients and must be careful not to damage that relationship through the use of data collection (even if that collection is ethical, and with client consent.  Greg's first inspiration is from Patrick DiDominico and James Lee's article First Our Books, And Now Our Jobs? Paradigm shifts within the legal information profession isn't new, but how we adjust to those shifts can change with each shift. DiDominco and Lee say that there are ample opportunities for professionals who leverage AI to make them individually more valuable to their organization. Is that really true? Maybe... Maybe not. It's bad enough to have your phone hacked through something called a SIM Swap... but to make matters worse, some phone and data companies don't come to their customer's assistance when they need them most. Marlene discusses two stories where things go from bad, to worse. Greg's last inspiration this week brings us back to Georgia, where the state court system is totally Nyuk'ed. That's the name of the ransomware software that has infected the state court system and shut it down. One village in Florida had to pay $460,000.00, it's probably going to cost Georgia many times that to unlock their computers.  Listen, Subscribe, download Jerry’s music, and Send Us Tweets and Voicemails, Too!! Remember that you can contact us anytime by tweeting us at @gebauerm or @glambert. Or, you can call The Geek in Review hotline at 713-487-7270 and leave us a message. We’d love to hear any ideas you’d like us to cover in future episodes.  As always, the great music you hear on the podcast is from Jerry David DeCicca, thanks Jerry!

It seems that the current workforce is looking for more flexibility in where they work, and how often that means in an office setting, a home office, or in some other remote location. We conducted a semi-Elephant Post episode this week and asked our listeners to call in and leave their stories about the pros and cons of remote working. We have a diverse group of 13 stories ranging from marketers, librarians, attorneys, techies, and more from North America and even from Europe. Key factors are trust, transparency, flexibility, and a fast Internet connection. Walk with us as we celebrate The Geek in Review's first anniversary of podcasts by listening to a baker's dozen of stories of why working remotely works, or doesn't work for people.  Information Inspirations By popular demand, we bring back the Information Inspirations to the beginning of the episode.  Free the Statutes!! Marlene points out that the US Supreme Court is taking up the issue of whether states have the right to copyright their statutes. Carl Malamud's PublicResource.ORG is arguing that the law should be outside the restrictions of copyright against the State of Georgia. We are hoping that the Supreme Court frees state statutes out from under the copyright restrictions. As does the Editorial Board of the New York Times. Video Manipulation is a Problem! The Washington Post has created "The Fact Checkers" in order to try to identify manipulated videos that are posted online. They created a guide to video manipulation as well as a way for the public to identify videos which they believe are manipulated. This is going to be a huge problem in society, and Marlene and Greg think that there is definitely opportunities for law librarians to play a role in identifying harmful manipulated videos. Listen, Subscribe, download Jerry’s music, and Send Us Tweets and Voicemails, Too!! Remember that you can contact us anytime by tweeting us at @gebauerm or @glambert. Or, you can call The Geek in Review hotline at 713-487-7270 and leave us a message. We’d love to hear some (Elephant Post) ideas you’d like us to cover in future episodes.  As always, the great music you hear on the podcast is from Jerry David DeCicca, thanks Jerry!

There's more to strategy than having a shelf full of binders labeled "Strategy [Insert Year]." That's what this week's guest, Matt Homann from Filament, tells us. Matt's influence in the legal market goes back a couple of decades, and he's been a voice in the blogging sphere for a number of years. At Filament, he works with legal, as well as other industries (like the St. Louis Cardinals) to help leaders better relate and guide their organizations. As he puts it, "we help smart people think together better." Matt believes that the way we tell our stories will help people join in on the overall efforts and strategies of the organization. It's easy to tell our stories to like-minded people, but we also have to tell (and sell) our story to those who are opposed to the strategies. More importantly, we have to reach those in the middle, who could go either way. If you convince that 50-80% of people willing to join you if you give them the right motivation, it can change the entire momentum of your organization's efforts.  Information Inspirations We flip this week's episode and try something new. Our information inspirations segment will come after the interview. Let us know (@gebauerm or @glambert or call 713-487-7270) and let us know if you like or hate this new setup. Why isn't data privacy a bigger deal? There's a great episode of Make Me Smart which discusses Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. That section is responsible for the social media and overall Internet that we have today. What caught Greg's ear on this show was that co-host, Molly Wood, went on an absolute rant about how private and government entities are still not taking our privacy data as seriously as they should. Just this week there was a breach at US Customs where facial recognition data was hacked. With things like DNA databases, and other personal data out there in unsecured databases, and with penalties being relatively light, Molly was not a happy camper. Are states stepping up for consumer information? Marlene points out that while California's Consumer Privacy Act starts in 2020, Nevada has leaped ahead with their own privacy laws. Even New York is looking to join the list of states requiring more protection of consumer data. Is the path to protection going to be through individual state laws? Marlene contributes to Casetext's special report Casetext has released a new special report called "Evaluating and Adopting Legal Technology in 2019." Our very own Marlene Gebauer is a contributor to the report. You can download it for free. Listen, Subscribe, download Jerry’s music, and Send Us Tweets and Voicemails, Too!! Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and comment. Let us know about flipping the information inspirations and the interview. Like it? Hate it? Are you in the middle? (Di we need to tell you our story to win you over?) You can tweet @gebauerm and/or @glambert to reach out. Call us at 713-487-7270 with suggestions. And, thanks to Jerry David DiCicca for the music!

Brad Blickstein, Principal at the Blickstein Group, a research and advisory firm for both in-house and outside law firms, joins us to talk about legal operation, and his recent experiences at the 2019 CLOC Institute in Las Vegas. As with many great conferences, the programming between 9 AM and 5 PM is good... but the conversations from 5 PM to 9 PM (or 5 AM, this was Vegas), are what makes the gathering really special. We're calling it #CLOCAfterDark.  There's a lot going on in Legal Operations, and the Blickstein Group has put out a Law Department Operations survey for over a decade. He gives some great insights on the relationships between in-house counsel and outside law firms. While there's a big difference between the business operations in a company versus a law firm, the attorneys tend to be cut from the same cloth. Groups like CLOC are positioned perfectly to help lawyers understand the roles they need to play to protect their organizations. Blickstein stresses that Legal Operations is a broad topic, and that CLOC is part of that movement, but is not all there is within the movement. There's a lot going on, and the opportunities are pretty expansive these days.  Information Inspirations Copyright is not something to LOL about. The Houston Independent School District was slapped with a $9.2 Million copyright violation for copying study guides. Even though they cleverly blocked out the warning on the guides that "copying of these materials is strictly prohibited." Be careful out there when it comes to thinking it's okay to copy and distribute materials which have copyright protection. It can cost you millions. AI Sharecroppers. We all know that data is king these days, but not all data can be automatically gathered. At least not effectively. There is an underclass of labors out there who are being used to help gather and identify data needed to power AI programs, known as "human labeling." As the name "sharecropper" might imply, they do a lot of work... but don't make a lot of money.  Algorithm Problems creates Human Liabilities. We rely upon automation, AI, machine learning, and other technology to advance our society, but when those fail, it's not the automation that takes the blame. It's usually the human that is around at the time. MIT Technology Review talks about how we have a 21st Century tech problem that's being adjudicated under 20th Century morals and laws. Smile. You're on the London Metro Facial Recognition Program. The London Metro is using facial recognition to identify criminals. They say that this program has resulted in multiple criminal prosecutions. Watchdog organizations claim that the program has a 90% error rate. Can those two facts exist together? Listen, Subscribe, download Jerry’s music, and Send Us Tweets and Voicemails, Too!! Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and comment. You can tweet @gebauerm and/or @glambert to reach out. Call us at 713-487-7270 with suggestions. And, thanks to Jerry David DiCicca for the music! view more, including transcript of the interview

In our 40th Episode, Greg and Marlene interview Erin Levine, an attorney and founder/CEO of Hello Divorce, a service that makes divorce more human and accessible by offering legal help and wellness support throughout the process of dissolving a marriage.   Offered in California, Hello Divorce offers access to resources and tools and different service levels, from basic to concierge to a la carte access to independent fixed fee attorneys.  Erin highlights that the legal process can be confusing, dis-empowering and expensive and that Hello Divorce is a necessary guide to help people navigate the system in a way that doesn't destroy them financially and emotionally.  While divorce representation is a consistent legal need, Erin highlights that there are many other parts of the process that are also necessary which don’t require attorney skills.  She leverages various forms of process improvement including outsourcing, automation, smart contracts to make the service application scalable.   Part of what is interesting about the discussion (and there are lots of interesting parts) is that Erin stands the idea of aggressive and hostile divorce action on its head.  While Erin has critics, she maintains the benefit of taking down level of tension and fear between the parties.  In fact, 92% of divorces started with hello Divorce have concluded without having to refer out to full rep attorneys.  (10:17 mark)  Information Inspirations According to  Aliqae Geraci from Cornell and Shannon L. Farrell from University of Minnesota wrote an article entitled “Normalize Negotiations!" we teach librarians a lot about management skills, but we've lacked in teaching them basic skills like salary and promotion negotiation skills. There is a place for the American Library Association (ALA) and the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) to teach their members these skills.  (4:05 mark)  For the small price of a European vacation for a family of four (AKA expensive), you can own your very own AI  powered robot who cleans your house for you while you sleep… and can remember to bring you your favorite beer, hopefully when you're awake.  (5:59 mark)  From MIT, we get " Every Leader’s Guide to the Ethics of AI." Ep. 31's guest, Vishal Agnihotri suggested we look at this, and it ties in with our last episode on algorithmic governance. As AI becomes more and more integrated into business activities, the authors suggest that we treat it, as well as our employees, customers, and the public, with the respect we all deserve. An "AI Mishap" can destroy a company or its reputation. (side note: AI Mishap is the name of Marlene's new Country Band.)  (6:56 mark)  With all the talk about mental health in the legal industry, the NPR report on Where’s Masculinity headed? is perfectly timed. (8:51 mark)  Listen, Subscribe, download Jerry’s music, and Send Us Tweets and Voicemails, Too!! Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and comment. You can tweet @gebauerm and/or @glambert to reach out. Call us at 713-487-7270 with suggestions. And, thanks to Jerry David DiCicca for the music!