Thomson Reuters’ Legal Executive Institute has launched Legal Tech Link—Connecting the Legal Technology Ecosystem. It’s a joint effort between CodeX: The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics and TR, lead by editor  David Curle (Director, Market Intelligence, TR) and contributing editor Roland Vogl, Executive Director, CodeX.

 

The inaugural edition includes an interview with Daniel Martin Katz, an Associate Professor of Law at Illinois Tech—Chicago-Kent College of Law, and soon to also be the director of Law Lab @ Illinois Tech). Katz is an affiliated faculty member at CodeX.

Katz earned quite a reputation a few years back when he was at Michigan State University College of Law, where he and Renee Newman Knake created “ReInvent Law” and took the road show around the world (literally). Among his many acolades, Katz has been named both an ABA Journal Legal Rebel and a member of the Fastcase 50—an award that “recognizes 50 of the smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders in the law.”

 

This summer, Katz blew the roof off ILTACON (the International Legal Technology Association annual conference) with his keynote discussing his current passion: Fin(Legal)Tech-The Financialization of the Law. (Check out the upcoming Nov. 4 conference at LIT-CKC).

In the inaugural Legal Tech Link issue, Curle and Katz discuss the goal of developing “a polytechnic style of education,” where law students will be exposed to “processing engineering like Lean and Six Sigma. We’re also interested in the appliation of metrics and scientific tools to think about law as a science.”

And with the skyrocketing costs of law school, that often leave students with massive debt, it’s not surprising to hear Katz suggest that “One of the things I think the lab can do is be a vehicle to create employment pipelines for our students.”  Katz advocates encouraging students with STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) backgrounds to consider law school.

U.K. & EUROPEAN FOCUS

 

Legal Tech Link also includes a U.K. and European Focus section. Roland Vogl discusses “Legal Tech and the Responses of Law Firms and Corporate Departments.” Jimmy Vestbirk writes “Legal Geek: Building a LawTech Startup Community.”

Writes Vogl: ” The short summary is that law firms are facing more demanding clients, in particular corporate counsel who want more value for their outside legal spending. It is clear that, as law firms compete for legal business, they face new competition from alternative legal service providers, including the large accounting firms, legal process outsourcing companies (LPOs), and legal technology providers.” Vogl cites examples of change, in firms such as Seyfarth Shaw; Fenwick & West; and Dentons, among others. “For lawyers, it’s a time to rethink how the business of law can work and how legal expertise can be shared with their clients in the most efficient and cost-effective way—while still providing for reaosnable income for their expertise and effort. In fact, those lawyers who recognize the pending changes as an opportunity will likely do very well in this new environment.”

 

OTHER FEATURES

Legal Tech Link also includes legal tech company news. In the first edition, it discusses:
• Neota Logic & HighQ, RAVN
• Dentons and RAVN|
• ROSS Intelligence
• Kira System & DLA Piper; Deloitte; Clifford Chance.

New companies:  Legal Robot; LegalDesk.com; LitFunders; Loom Analytics; MyOpenMatter; Paper; LexCognition; and Unity Legal Solutions.

Recommended reading (with links):  The Current State & Future Prospects for Legal Tech Adoption (Elizabeth Lowell). The Tangible Law Firm (Jordan Furlong). Remaking the Law Firm Ecosystem (Jason Moyse and Aron Solomon).

Academia (Law schools with legal technology and innovation programs). This issue includes 10 schools.

Calendar: Info and links to upcoming shows. This edition includes VQ Knowledge and Strategy Forum 2016 (Stockholm); Legal Geek Conference (London); Fin (Legal) Tech (Chicago); Evolve Law (various venues); Legaltech New York.

ENTHUSIASM & EXCITEMENT

“This publication arose out of a sense that the enthusiasm and excitement for the new legal technology market that one gets at a lot of legal tech conferences is not really reaching out to most practitioners,” observed Curle. “Our goal was to create a plain-English publication that brings all the fast-developing changes in legal tech to a wider audience, so practitioners can see how it will affect their careers and businesses, and identify ways that they can participate more directly.”

MORE
• Law Technology Now (Legal Talk Network) “Closing the Gap Between Law School and the Legal Industry” (podcast with Katz .
• Twitter
• Linkedin
• Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute blog
• Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute

Monica Bay is a fellow at CodeX and a freelance journalist and analyst. She is a member of the California bar. Email: mbay@codex.stanford.edu. Twitter: @MonicaBay

Cover image: Clipart.com