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Legal Innovation Trends: Are Law Firms Missing the Boat?

By Sonya Sigler August 10, 2017 Comments Off

This fourth and final installment in the series of articles on innovation in the legal field covers what innovations are happening. The prior articles focused on why law firms aren’t innovating and what in-house counsel can do to inspire innovation. In reading these other articles, you might walk away with the thought that law firms are missing the “legal innovation” boat. But are they? In looking at what is happening in the legal industry, it seems that law firms areRead More

Guy Kornblum – Insurance Expert

By Sonya Sigler July 25, 2017August 10, 2017 Comments Off

By Guy Kornblum I have a passion for dispute resolution. It comes from my heritage – a dad who was a lawyer in the Midwest in the 50’s, 60’s and until he retired at 85 years old in the 1990’s. He was a master negotiator, but at the same time a supreme diplomat. His best friend – my Godfather – told me that Dad could tell someone to “go to hell” and they would walk away thinking they had justRead More

Just What is NDR?

By Robert Christopher July 21, 2017July 25, 2017 Comments Off

As you know, what we do at Just Resolve is promote and facilitate neutral-driven, non-adversarial ADR (“Alternative Dispute Resolution”) in legal disputes where legal and other related costs of litigation (and its popular alternatives) would otherwise consume the financial stakes over which the parties are fighting. Neutral-driven ADR is exactly what its name implies, and could also be described just as accurately as Non-adversarial ADR. Either characterization is a mouthful, however, that doesn’t trickle off the tongue, might be confused withRead More

Arbiter Tamara Pow Wins Women of Influence 2017 Award

By Sonya Sigler May 30, 2017May 30, 2017 Comments Off

Tamara Pow received a Women of Influence 2017 award from the Silicon Valley Business Journal last week and Rob and Sonya were fortunate enough to join this accomplished legal practitioner and Just Resolve Arbiter in this celebration. Ms. Pow has a unique mix of business, tax, and real estate legal experience. She is a licensed attorney and real estate broker with an MBA. The legal practice she founded, Strategy Law, LLP, focuses on helping businesses negotiate deals and navigate theRead More

Forcing Law Firms to Innovate: First, Get Your (In)House in Order

By Sonya Sigler May 25, 2017 Comments Off

Even though it may feel like a steep uphill climb for in-house counsel to force law firms to innovate, there are things that in-house counsel can do to encourage change. In the prior article in this series, I asked “Why won’t in-house counsel force their law firms to innovate?” and the most common answer was that “there is very little we can do to “force” anything…other than rates and reporting. We can’t tell them how to run their business…” Wait, butRead More

What Mt. Kilimanjaro Taught Me About Business

By Robert Christopher March 20, 2017March 20, 2017 Comments Off

Picture this: ten friends slogging their way up Mt. Kilimanjaro – each one carefully copying the foot placements of the person in front of him. Now add in extreme weather, sleep deprivation and the lurking possibility of injury. About a month ago, that was my reality. The air was thin, but the penchant for adventure was dense as ever. As my friends and I struggled to make our way up, I couldn’t help but think of all the similarities between this trek andRead More

Why Won’t In-House Counsel Force Their Law Firms to Innovate?

By Sonya Sigler February 21, 2017March 14, 2017 Comments Off

As a follow-up to my recent article “Why Won’t Law Firms Innovate?,” where the answer was in part that their in-house counsel won’t force them to, I’ve had the chance to speak with several other in-house counsel and I asked them bluntly, “Why won’t you force your outside law firms to innovate?” The responses were varied, and even though the most frequent answers were centered around fear, uncertainty, and doubt, the real answer lies in one response – “we haveRead More

Why Won’t Law Firms Innovate?

By Sonya Sigler November 15, 2016January 8, 2017 2 Comments

Most law firms still use an “opportunity cost” model to charge by the hour, regardless of outcome and how much is at stake. The reason law firms don’t change the way they are doing business is this simple – law firms won’t change because clients don’t make them. Law firms are waiting for clients to insist on change before they make a move. This is a dangerous waiting game. It’s the chicken and egg problem. Clients suspect that their timeRead More

Proportionality in Dispute Resolution: Breathing Through Your Legal Downward Dog

By Robert Christopher July 20, 2016January 8, 2017 Comments Off

Some of us were not meant to be yogis. Downward Dog is more accurately Face-plant Dog for some people. Balance, right? Who knew it could be so difficult? Lately though, there’s been a great deal of chatter about finding balance. In fact, achieving balance appears to have surpassed many previously elevated goals such as making as much money as possible, maintaining triathlete level fitness standards, or even raising a first-chair-violin-and-home-run-hitting valedictorian. The renaissance of balance, of proportionality, means that weRead More

Client Centric Lawyers

By Sonya Sigler March 30, 2016January 8, 2017 Comments Off

What does it mean to be a client centric lawyer? Lawyers get a bad rap sometimes and are seen as money grubbing slime-balls who bleed their clients for every dime they have. Now, that may be true in the movies but it hasn’t been true in my experience as an attorney. Most lawyers I know and have come across have been very client centric and are concerned about what is best for their client. (Whether the client listens to theirRead More