SHO R T TA K E S

Dumbing Down Sedona

Discovery guru Ralph Losey recently played a game with AI bot ChatGPT. He asked it to rewrite the 14 Sedona Principles at an 11th Grade and a 2nd Grade level. The results are fun and enlightening. Here’s Principle #14 in the original: “The breach of a duty to preserve electronically stored information may be addressed by remedial measures, sanctions, or both: remedial measures are appropriate to cure prejudice; sanctions are appropriate only if a party acted with intent to deprive another party of the use of relevant electronically stored information.” Here’s the 2nd Grade: “If someone breaks the rules and doesn’t take care of the information or tries to hide it on purpose, the court can make them fix the problem and even punish them.” 11th Grade is even shorter and easier to read. “Seems to me like the AI did a pretty good job,” Losey says.

Firms Need to Trim Fat

Law firm profits fell nearly 4% in 2022, according to a report from Wells Fargo, as hours billed per lawyer fell below 1,600 for the first time in the 15 years Wells has been doing the report. This has Owen Burman, managing director of Wells’ legal specialty group, fretting about excess capacity and low productivity as unsustainable. “A handful of law firms, including Goodwin Procter, Cooley, and Kirkland & Ellis, have trimmed their associate ranks as demand declined,” he says in a piece from Bloomberg Law. “That list could grow if demand doesn’t pick up.” Kay Hoppe, a well-known Chicago recruiter, is a bit more sanguine as managing partners at leading firms nevertheless remain bullish on long-term growth. “It’s not their first rodeo,” Hoppe says. “They are not overreacting.”

In-housers Resist “Bad Guy” Label

Unhealthy Working Ways

Mary Abraham believes the typical ways of working in law firms are problematic – even dangerous. “Specifically, working with constant interruption and too little sleep has an impact on the body similar to alcohol and substance addiction,” she writes on her blog, Above and Beyond KM. “The impact on work product also is bad unless the lawyer involved expends more of their depleted resources to catch and fix errors that result from exhaustion or distraction.” Clearly, she says, a change is needed – driven by what she calls partner activism. “This means exercising restraint in assigning work and setting standards. To be crystal clear: this absolutely is NOT about lowering standards. But it is about setting and maintaining standards that are healthy rather than excessive.”

The More Things Change

In this piece on JD Supra, Eric Dewey, former CMO of several law firms and now a business development coach for lawyers, discusses the General Counsel panel at Thomson Reuters’ 30th Annual Marketing Partner Forum, which included GCs from Sallie Mae, TMX Group, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, and Stretto. His key takeaway? “General counsel may change, but their themes remain surprisingly consistent,” he writes. Among those themes are these chestnuts: “understand our business; partner with us; be efficient; and, collaborate.” The top concerns for GCs include: ESG; legal operations; corporate governance; corporate and crisis communications; cloud services and anything cyber-related; ERP; health law; employment law; government relations; and regulatory, especially the strategy function.”

In this piece from FT, legal heads discuss the balancing act they face as they take the lead in today’s complicated policy environment. FT industry and investments editor Brooke Masters writes that top lawyers are now asked to weigh in on vaccine mandates, cyber security breaches, supply chain struggles, and diversity and inclusion efforts. That is sparking debate about how senior in-house lawyers balance their broader responsibilities, which means being involved in key decisions from the very beginning – which is not always how things play out. “We should not be the department that has just a final veto,” says Maaike de Bie, group GC at European airline easyJet. “That sounds to me like a position where people come to you at the very end. Whereas, if you are involved from the very beginning in decision-making, you can help shape the decision and make sure it’s both lawful and ethical and the right thing to do.”