The Notice: News and Resources for Paralegals, Litigation Support & Docketing Professionals
The Notice
Our team had a fantastic time at the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) Annual Conference & Expo in Seattle this past week! It was wonderful to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones. A huge thank you to everyone who visited our booth to explore our solution and chat with our team. We had a blast sharing the magic of ECFX with you all.
In recent legal news:?Students and early-career lawyers are increasingly bypassing major global law firms due to concerns about work-life balance and assignments conflicting with their personal values, the initial convictions related to the 'Varsity Blues' scandal have been overturned by a US Appeals Court, how legal resource technology can differentiate your law firm,?and more!?
And finally,?the?2023 CLOC Global Institute? is here? from May 15-18. Be sure to stop by?Booth 641?at the?B ellagio Las Vegas?to see how ECFX brings magic to law firms by automating the processing of electronic court filing (ECF) notices for both Federal and State courts. Don't forget to select your own magic wand while you are there!?Learn more and schedule a meeting with us below.
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~The Team at ECFX
Working in Large Law
Husch Blackwell turned in a stand-out financial performance in 2022, growing revenue by nearly 17% and extending a streak dating to 2018 of improving important metrics like revenue per lawyer, headcount, and net income.
Much of the growth can be attributed to the firm’s virtual office, which is unique among the country’s 100 largest firms by revenue.
Launched in 2020, it now includes more lawyers than any of the firm’s 21 physical offices. It’s dubbed “The Link,” and next week it will hit 200 lawyers working from homes in 28 states and Washington, D.C.
While other firms pressure lawyers to return to office—or?risk ?portions of their bonus—Husch Blackwell has gone all-in on the remote work model. The firm says it’s proving to be a differentiator.
It’s helped recruit lawyers from firms that were less accommodating, allowed the firm to retain lawyers whose lives benefited from staying at home with young families, and it’s bringing the firm more work from clients in cities that previously would have required an expensive office roll-out.
Read the full article?here
Students and early-career attorneys are increasingly looking past the biggest global law firms, fearing the lack of a work-life balance and assignments that clash with their personal ethics, a survey has found.
Just under 40 per cent of budding lawyers in the so-called Generation Z cohort — defined as being born between 1995 and 2012 — said they would like to join one of the US’s largest 200 firms, down from almost 60 per cent when the poll was last carried out three years ago.
The results “indicate Gen Z continues to place an extremely high value on flexible work arrangements, a trend that has only been heightened amid the pandemic”, said Jacqueline Bokser LeFebvre, a managing director at leading recruitment firm Major, Lindsey & Africa.
“While they of course recognize that law firm life will entail some late-night or weekend work, many do not expect or want these long hours to be a frequent occurrence,” she added.
Read the full article?here
News for 2022
A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday threw out the fraud convictions of two wealthy fathers charged with involvement in a vast college admissions conspiracy to pay bribes so children could attend top universities.
In a 3-0 decision, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled in favor of private equity executive John Wilson and former casino executive Gamal Aziz, the first defendants tried in the probe known as "Operation Varsity Blues."
The probe exposed inequalities in higher education and resulted in more than 50 guilty pleas, including by actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman.
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Parents were accused of conspiring with the scheme's mastermind, California admissions consultant William "Rick" Singer, to win college admission for their children through bribery, rigging entrance exams and fabricating athletic skills.
In a 154-page decision, the appeals court set aside all of Aziz's convictions, and all of Wilson's convictions except for filing a false tax return, which was upheld.
The plaintiffs firm once known as Roche Freedman, now redubbed Freedman Normand Friedland, has been ousted from another crypto class action because of clandestine – and embarrassing — video recordings of onetime name partner Kyle Roche.
But this time, the problem wasn’t the content of the videos, in which Roche appears to boast of his lucrative stake in blockchain company Ava Labs Inc and to suggest that he filed class actions against Ava competitors to boost Ava’s prospects.
Instead, U.S. District Judge James Donato of San Francisco?removed Freedman Normand as lead counsel ?in a securities fraud class action against blockchain company Dfinity USA Research LLC because he found the firm to be so consumed with vindicating its own reputation that it could not be relied upon to protect the interests of class members.
Donato’s May 8 decision followed seven months of litigation that the judge described as “a bitter war" that included "charges of personal vendettas, deepfake videos and other events not typically encountered in securities lawsuits.”
Technology and Legal Support
Firms that are prepared to provide the type of counsel these prospects need during difficult times can position themselves to win new business and establish strong relationships. But, client expectations go beyond a firm’s ability to say “yes” and its ability to take on a matter. These firms must also be able to deliver. In many instances, it is legal research technology that gives them that ability — potentially making legal tech the ultimate differentiator.?
Investing in legal research technology that differentiate your firm will help you to increase the quality of your work, and this will lead to a stronger reputation for your firm, as clients will be more satisfied with the results, and will be much more likely to talk about your firm with others. This, in turn, can lead to a higher number of referrals, which is invaluable in helping your firm grow.?
Read the full article?here
So far, most of the attention devoted to artificial intelligence in the legal profession has been on the substantive legal work of lawyers.?With GPT-4 passing the bar exam, it’s hard to argue with its significance.
But potential machine-learning and AI applications to back-office business operations like pricing, billing and invoicing will be just as critical for the business of law firms. The area may not be as flashy as AI-generated brief writing, but it is essential to nurturing client relationships. And it’s ripe for technological innovation.?
In-house counsel are under tremendous pressure to reign in rising legal costs. At the same time, law firms are encountering more and more resistance to their bills. These conditions have made effective and efficient systems around billing, pricing and invoicing more critical. Law firms that focus on those can establish trust with their clients, increase collection rates, and relieve some of the administrative burdens on lawyers.
Read the full article?here
Stop by?Booth 641?at the?CLOC Global Institute ?to see how ECFX can bring magic to your firm!
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You can?Schedule a Meeting?with us here