Ride the Lightning

Interview with Joshua Lenon, Clio’s Lawyer in Residence

October 13, 2022

As a very successful ClioCon 2022 began to wrap up on Tuesday, it was my pleasure to interview Josh Lenon, Clio’s “Lawyer in Residence.”  So what, you might ask (as I did) is a “lawyer in residence?”

Joshua is clearly all over the map doing a smorgasbord of things. He might be explaining the legal/ethical implications to those working on the hard core technology. He might bring the executive team up to snuff on cybersecurity, data breach notifications and state privacy laws. He does a lot of public speaking. He makes sure everyone within Clio understands what lawyers are looking for in a cloud- based practice management environment. He basically a legal subject matter expert for everyone at Clio who needs his expertise.

I am sure he doesn’t ever get bored with all the variety!

Our conversation wandered in all sorts of directions in our 30-minute conversation. Here are some of the interesting tidbits.

Using internal location data, it was clear that non-lawyers were spending more time at home as many firms bought work laptops for them.

One of the starting findings (consistent with the Great Resignation) was that 1 in 5 lawyers changed jobs and 9% more planned to.

We chatted about the divided workforce with 49% of lawyers preferring to work from home and 409% wanting to work at the office. This, as you might expect, is driving law firm management crazy. Office space is their 2^nd biggest experience after salaries. So there is a of talking of ‘hoteling’ space on an as needed basis. There is also talk of compelling people to come back to work. It seems to me to be an almost endless conversation among law firm partners.

76% of lawyers want to set their own hours.

However, as Joshua points out, firms need to have a reason for time in the office, whether it is training new associates, mentoring folks, or working together on a matter.

Clio’s report doesn’t have the data necessary to tell us what’s going to happen in an uncertain future, but I certainly noted that it warned of possible slowdowns amid growing inflation predictions.

Joshua and chatted about big firm lawyers I know who answer client calls during the middle of the night. Joshua said he would ask them why they were doing that – and I told him that they had replied to that same question from me that, if they didn’t answer those middle-of-the-night calls, the client might well find a lawyer who would.

As Joshua pointed out, most people looking for a lawyer want, most of all, a good lawyer. While they may appreciate a lawyer who has evening or weekend hours, statistics show they are more focused on good online reviews and lawyers who communicate well with their clients.

The last few years have, as Joshua noted, favored creativity by lawyers, some of whom are more open to new ways of thinking than others. As Louis Pasteur once said, “Fortune favors the prepared mind.” That was true for many lawyers who adopted creative thinking post-pandemic.

Jack Newton, Clio’s CEO and co-founder, mentioned at the end of his opening keynote the thought that there were valid reasons for building culture together at work and then letting the lawyers and legal staff do their work at home. Not a quote, but the gist of what he said according to my not-very-legible notes.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Joshua said almost the same thing in his own words: “Embrace hybrid. Use the in person time in the office to build your culture and train. Allow people to work remotely to get work done.”

I will be turning some of the substance of my interview and a summary of Clio’s “Insights from the 2022 Legal Trends Report” into an article to circulate to bar association publications across the country.  My contact information is below if your bar association would like to write me to make sure they receive the article.

Thanks for taking the time to speak with me Joshua!

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
3975 University Drive, Suite 225, Fairfax, VA 22030
Email:   Phone: 703-359-0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
https://senseient.com
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