2011 Meeting Materials

2011 Futures Conference:
Challenging the Law Practice Management Model

Presentations, October 28-29, 2011 Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago

What is the Future of Price: Defining Value in Value Billing. The future demands that law firms and their clients put a value on the services lawyers provide. The great recession and its law profession aftermath are driving more and more clients to demand fixed fee arrangements to ensure certainty and reduce legal costs. Law firms and their clients struggle to find solid principles that define that value. Moderator: Ronald Staudt, Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Law Factories vs. “Bet the Farm” Firms. Will law firms of the future need to segment clients in new ways? Might some firms focus on “industrialized” practices: hyper-efficient work using automation and low cost resources? Might others focus on “bet the farm” cases using mainly top legal talent? If the market does segment, will it do so by practice, by firm, by matter type or along some other dimension? Many factors could either drive or support this. Moderators: Ron Friedmann, Integreon and Toby Brown, Vinson & Elkins.

Disruptive Technologies—Innovative Thinking . Theorists like Clayton Christensen and Richard Susskind remind us that technologies themselves are rarely disruptive; it’s the business innovations they enable. Yet it’s clear that aspects of today’s transformations in the legal services delivery system are being driven by the dramatic economies of advanced new technologies. What’s going on? What should we expect? Moderator: Marc Lauritsen, Capstone Practice Systems.

  • Richard S. Granat, SmartLegalForms, Inc., and DirectLaw, Inc.
  • Maura R. Grossman, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
  • Kingsley Martin, KIIAC LLC, The End Game

Law Practice Without Borders. The future legal marketplace will be truly multinational, following the lead of an increasingly globalized economy. Already, the most innovative and dynamic developments in the legal sphere are taking place outside U.S. borders. This session explores the latest trends in key legal markets worldwide, including the UK, India and China. Moderator: Jordan Furlong, Edge International

Future View: Do You See What I See? Where should we focus our attention? What have we already missed? How can we best prepare for “what’s next?” Provocative prognostications on the law practice management landscape from a number of perspectives and market segments. Moderator: Sally Fiona King, SNR Denton.

  • Ross Fishman, Ross Fishman Marketing
  • Dave Hambourger, Seyfarth Shaw LLP
  • Chris Murray, Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc.
  • Chris Petrini-Poli, HBR Consulting

Innovation, With Velocity. The pace of change in the legal marketplace during the last several years has been unprecedented. This session explores what innovation is and is not. What are the barriers to innovation in law firms and how can we overcome them?

  • Tom Clay, Altman Weil, Inc.
  • Raymond Bayley, Novus Law