Match-Making for Lawyers

No, I am not offering to match up people looking for love (perhaps a love for the law!). I am offering that our industry needs to take extra time and care to match up the right lawyers at law firms with the right lawyers in-house. There is frustration building up in the legal industry for those who are actively seeking to innovate. That frustration is brewing on both sides of the table - buyers and providers of legal services. In-house lawyers continue to ask for different services to be delivered in different ways, and law firms are actively experimenting with new ways of delivering.

The problem is that those unique #unicornlawyers on either side are not always finding each other. It is like legal professional ships passing in the night. A few years ago, it was easy to blame law firms for not being creative. Now law firms are quietly pointing at their clients and whispering that the client is not responding to the firm’s offer of innovative ideas.

As the explosion of conversation continues online and in conferences, more and more people are jumping in to opine. But I am noticing that few of those people are the attorneys who have actually done it themselves. I am not referring to the "recovering attorneys" who no longer want to be practitioners. I'm looking for the lawyers who still love the legal work they do, but want to do it in a different way. Those lawyers that understand how to take smart risks to try something new and are willing to spend the time with their providers (or within law firms- with their clients) to experiment and explore together.

The more law firms talk about innovation without publishing case studies, white papers and educating their other clients more broadly, the more sentiment builds in the industry that there is a lot of talk and no action. Law firms are trying and many are delivering, but some are not good at sharing their story or their clients aren't consuming the stories in a way that is relatable and replicable. Perhaps this is why we have seen recent surveys showing the rise in marketing and development investments in firms. I worry that the increase in spend is not correlated with the increase in education.

Practicing lawyers, especially in firms, need to be educated about what is happening in the legal industry around them, where they fit in, how they can adjust... and more importantly, how they can differentiate themselves. They need to learn from others who have done it, who have delivered an innovative service or those of us who have received an innovative solution. We need more real-life examples of successful alternative models of legal. The core issue is that there is a gap in education in today's practicing lawyers, and that is what makes the match-making extra difficult.

My suggestion is not to read every article or blog that is posted on the topics of legal innovation or legal tech, but to find people who have done it and get their story. Practicing lawyers need to see examples and learn from them, to find ways to apply them to their own practices. A few weeks ago, it all became very clear to me when a very experienced partner at an AM Law 100 firm said to me very simply "I just don't get it. My clients are asking for different things, but I'm not sure how to do it." This firm has innovation-focused professionals, but somehow the practicing lawyers, taking client calls every day, are not being educated in a way that makes it actionable for them. The curious ones are asking to learn more, bulk the majority are happy to delegate innovation to those with that word in their title, and just keep doing it the way they've always done it.

We need to have more proven practitioners (I mean the lawyers) share their stories and educate their fellow lawyers. There is a real opportunity for lawyers to differentiate themselves by being the ones who "get it" and can articulate it to their clients. Those are the firm lawyers who really stand out today. Comment on this post to share your expereinces and lets get the match-making started!