Ride the Lightning

Another Great ABA TECHSHOW is in the Vault!

April 20, 2015

As I write this, I am still in Chicago getting ready to catch a plane home – weary but happy. And full of new knowledge gleaned from my colleagues on the ABA TECHSHOW faculty, the exhibitors in the Expo Hall – and, as always, from the attendees themselves.

My favorite presentation was a plenary with Professor Andrew Perlman (who we are happy to count among our friends) of the Suffolk University School of Law and Casey Flaherty, formerly in-house counsel at Kia Motors and now the founder of Cost Control LLC.

Their plenary was a striking look backward and forward. We've heard Andy speak several times before and he is always delightful, and his presentations are ever-evolving. As he points out, rapid change (mostly technology) has driven the practice of law into unknown waters – and we are not handling it well.
Law schools, by in large, are still teaching law students much as they have since Harvard Dean Christopher Columbus Langdell established the case method of teaching in the late 1800's. While some law schools are making changes, only a few schools are really making the needed radical changes. Suffolk is now including courses in legal project management and process improvement, has multiple clinics, an incubator – and even has a fee-generating law firm within the law school. You'll need to listen to Andy to hear about all the other revolutionary moves Suffolk (and a few others) have made.

Casey was a new-found delight, an excellent speaker with a compelling message. I agree with him that we have bought into The Myth of the Digital Native. Our 2-year old children can push buttons to make things happen on a computer but that doesn't make them geniuses – it is instead a tribute to how intuitive the machines have become to operate.

My experience, like Casey's, is that young lawyers know a lot ONLY about the technology they use all the time, mostly tech that allows them to consume videos, movies, music, etc. They know about social media, texting, photo storage and manipulation and a lot of worthless games and apps. They don't know a lot about the functions of Word, Acrobat, Excel, or a host of other programs necessary for legal associates to perform their job.

So I love the Legal Technology Audit that Casey and Andy (with others) have devised. As Casey pointed out, you still have to take a driving test to get a license. Why shouldn't you have to take a test to prove that you know something about legal technology?

The audit is up and running and will be expanded to include more legal tech skills over time. Congrats to both Andy and Casey for a compelling presentation and offering the audience a lot to mull over as we all return home. Well done! Langdell's methodology, while valid in its time, will likely be simply history in another decade . . .

E-mail:    Phone: 703-359-0700
Digital Forensics/Information Security/Information Technology
http://www.senseient.com
http://twitter.com/sharonnelsonesq
www.linkedin.com/in/sharondnelson