The Fika Friday Returns

Some of my readers may have noticed that I had disappeared from LinkedIn and some indicated that they had missed the Fika Friday.

For those who said so I am grateful so thank you Graeme J. and Scott Simmons for the chats and sage wise.

The Fika Friday will change in its format. It will still try to bring some light relief but will also look at changes going on around us.

We are now at the end of the first week of Fixed Recoverable Costs (FRC) being a thing and there will be numerous posts and articles for months if not years to come on what a bad idea this is and how unfair it is etc.

England and Wales is unusual in that it has a system that allows for the loser to pay legal fees and ,in the absence of a mature BTE market which for a nation that has pioneered many insurance products says much for our psyche, does mean that the legal costs can be uncontrolled.?

It cannot be the case that losing parties should be liable to pay out unlimited amounts of legal fees forever with limited checks and balances as to how those fees ‘costs’ have been incurred.

Legal Costs often outweigh the value of the case and that is often the ‘fault’ of both sides and how they have prepared the scope of the project and how they communicate, or not, with their own customers.?

The option to change is now with us and that needs to be embraced and firms need to apply strategies for such change.?

Project management and proper planning can be a tool here and while project managers may not be getting a solid press thanks to high profile projects like HS2 if applied well it can create a far more stable and stronger legal team.

While I am not a huge fan of lawyers suggesting that litigation is a battle or warfare I am a huge fan of using wargaming as a tool for firms to adapt to change.

Its particularly suitable for recognising and understanding strategic relationships in the company and with customers?

While classic business simulations mostly operate on an operational level, business wargaming deals with strategic planning. Typical areas of application include, for example, defining pricing strategies, entering new markets, new product launches, or a changing competitive situation in the markets that they operate in.

Such simulations should of course involve all the legal team and often the unspoken business support function.?

It is something to be recommended particularly as we move into a legal future where value and outcome becomes key and where AI will take over many tasks that lawyers currently undertake.?

Surveys by bodies such as the WEF amongst others all show that both legal back office functions as well as many tasks currently undertaken by lawyers are under threat from AI and the reduction in the billable time that law firms will be able to charge.

It cannot be the case that a task that used to take 10 paralegals 20 hrs each to sort through disclosure can be charged at that level when software has taken 10% of that time, and the argument that it needs paying for is a weak one. As indeed is the argument it needs to be provided the search terms by a team of Grade A fee earners.

To survive beyond the billable hour, to be in a world where machines can and will take tasks away, law firms need to be truly agile in how they approach the world of work - and no agile doesn’t mean giving team members a laptop to work from home - but they need to adopt agile methodology to focus on change within their organisations.

We now have a new “virtual” office based in Wilmslow. While I won't have an office I do have access to a number of excellent meeting rooms and of course the open areas in which to eat, drink and chat.

This will allow myself to spend a number of days a month in a more readily accessible location and be able to catch up with friends and colleagues more regularly so for those of you who are based in the North West I look forward to being to meet up with friends and colleagues and hopefully hold in a Fika Friday in person.?

For those of you further afield when you have car and in-car espresso maker journeys do seem so much more enjoyable when you can make a proper espresso on the move. So don’t hesitate to say come and visit us if you prefer the actual person not a Zoom call.

Finally the coffee of the month is Mr Higgins 1942 Blend a coffee that is really versatile and lends itself to any method of brewing. I thoroughly recommend it.