Attorney Journals, Orange County, Volume 177

ORANGE COUNTY

Volume 177, 2020 $6.95

More People Are Asking Siri About Lawyers

Jim Bliwas

Marketing Under Lockdown

Gina Eliadis

RISING STAR OF THE MONTH

Ryan W. Cooper, Fielding Law, APC, Irvine

Young Attorney Rises to the Occasion Through Positivity, Reliability, and a Competitive Spirit

Attorneys of the Month

Annee Della Donna & Eric Dubin Power Duo: Taking on Cases as One Team

Law Offices of Annee Della Donna, Laguna Beach Dubin Law Firm, Irvine

How to Write Content People Want to Consume

Nancy Myrland

7 Ways to Take Your Holiday Networking Virtual

Linday Tiffany

Law and Justice Powered

by Artificial Intelligence?

It’s Already a Reality

Neil Sahota

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2020 EDITION—NO.177

TABLE OF CONTENTS 6 Voice Search—With COVID-19, More People Are Asking Siri About Lawyers Jim Bliwas

8 Lawyers, How to Write Content People Want to Consume

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Nancy Myrland

12 Seven Ways to Take Your Holiday Networking Virtual Linday Tiffany EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Brian Topor

14 Community News ATTORNEYS OF THE MONTH

EDITOR Wendy Price

16 Annee Della Donna & Eric Dubin Power Duo: Taking on Cases as One Team Law Offices of Annee Della Donna, Laguna Beach Dubin Law Firm, Irvine

CREATIVE SERVICES Penn Creative CIRCULATION Angela Watson PHOTOGRAPHY Chris Griffiths STAFF WRITERS Dan Baldwin Jennifer Hadley CONTRIBUTING EDITORIALISTS Jim Bliwas Gina Eliadis Nancy Myrland Neil Sahota Linday Tiffany WEBMASTER Mariusz Opalka ADVERTISING INQUIRIES Info@AttorneyJournals.com SUBMIT AN ARTICLE Editorial@AttorneyJournals.com OFFICE 30211 Avenida De Las Banderas Suite 200 Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688 www.AttorneyJournals.com ADDRESS CHANGES Address corrections can be made via fax, email or postal mail.

RISING STAR OF THE MONTH

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22 Ryan W. Cooper, Fielding Law, APC, Irvine Young Attorney Rises to the Occasion Through Positivity, Reliability, and a Competitive Spirit

26 Marketing Under Lockdown— Leveraging Social Media to Maintain Visibility Gina Eliadis

28 Law and Justice Powered by Artificial Intelligence?

It’s Already a Reality Neil Sahota

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Editorial material appears in Attorney Journals as an informational service for readers. Article contents are the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of Attorney Journals.

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Attorney Journals is a trademark of Sticky Media, LLC. Not affiliated with any other trade publication or association. Copyright 2020 by Sticky Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced without written permission from Sticky Media, LLC. Printed in the USA

Voice Search— With COVID-19, More People Are Asking Siri About Lawyers

by Jim Bliwas

In an episode of the hit sitcom The Big Bang Theory, Rajesh was so lonely that he began to think of Siri, the Apple voice assistant and search tool, as his girlfriend. The storyline was written for laughs, yet it underscored an important law marketing truth about the value of writing webpages and blogs to accommodate what is happening today in the real world.

Roughly half of all searches are done now by voice and nearly one-third of searches are made without using a screen. Just as telling, in a study two-thirds of the respondents who have Siri, Amazon Echo or Google Home say they cannot imagine not using a smart speaker to find what they need.

While there are only very preliminary data, voice search seems to be increasing as COVID-19 keeps many people working at home.

No doubt the percentages include searches done for consumer items such as clothes, music, games, and— before COVID-19—restaurants and movie theaters.

But the numbers represent an established trend that all lawyers and law firms must factor into their online marketing strategy: A growing number of people are asking for what they want to find as opposed to typing a search request.

Creating Voice Searchable Webpages To write webpages that will help get a search engine to rank you higher, ask yourself “How would I search for this if I am talking?”

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Search engines make no secret that they look for pages written for voice search, ranking them higher than those that are not. How the pages are written differs for businesses selling a product than for firms selling a service.

When COVID-19 hit and courts went virtual, a family law firm introduced “e-divorce” for couples who met certain criteria. On the webpage explaining the service, we included information people who wanted to get divorced now were likely to ask in a voice search, and provided answers.

For most lawyers, writing for voice search requires a more nuanced approach depending on whether their client base is a business or a consumer.

One place to put information that will help voice search is on a FAQ page. Many of them already come close to being conversational and may only require a bit of tweaking. Yet some FAQ page questions are too long and do not really come across the way a person might look for your practice. Tighten entries that ramble; the average voice search result is just 29 words and no more than three sentences.

Google will tell you what words and phrases people use when conducting a search for what you offer. A deft writer will weave them seamlessly into the copy. If done with a heavy hand, it will make the copy awkward and difficult for a visitor to read, decreasing the chance that they will make an inquiry. Also, search engines see this as “keyword stuffing” and downgrade the page in the results it displays.

How to Build Voice Search into Blogs It can be trickier to write blogs that are voice search friendly, but it can be done.

The purpose of a blog is to offer new ideas that help readers do their job better, think differently about an issue, or seize an opportunity. As you consider an idea for a blog and then write it, keep in mind questions that you’ve been asked—or that you asked yourself.

You don’t need to clutter the text with ungainly questions. But, for instance, you can use subheads that break up blocks of copy. “Building Voice Search into Blogs” at the start of this section is an example.

As you write, consider what somebody doing a search “intends” to find. Search engines use artificial intelligence to spot the search intent behind each query by tracking how its users engage with each page of results. Blogs can adapt the content for each particular search intent by using a text optimizer tool that helps with both voice and typed searches.

The tool uses semantic analysis to extract related concepts and tools from search results, offering insight into what people tend to learn from each search request and what sort of action they take.

In the case of a blog, knowing what people intend to do with the results of their search by giving them useful information is likely to generate more traffic to your website. If what they read provides actionable ideas, it will create new opportunities for you. We see it in the analytics we run for clients every month.

Help Voice Search Work for Your Practice As we wrote on the September issue, content marketing has been elevated to Emperor as a result of COVID-19 and is not just the King anymore.

Indeed, the pandemic has created the need for attorneys to adapt and adjust all of their content marketing efforts whether on a webpage, at a blog or when using social media.

Writing for voice search is one of the changes that needs to be accommodated even if you do not think of Siri as your girlfriend. n

We Know Marketing Like You Know The Law

Let us “do the time” to get your project right!

• Writing for the layperson • Putting together a presentation • Developing a marketing strategy • Sprucing up your website • Designing an ad, booklet, flyer or brochure • Establishing a better logo, mission statement or tagline

Jim Bliwas was a law marketing pioneer and senior marketing and content strategist for PSM Marketing. We are very sad to report that he passed away not long after sending us this informative editorial.

He was a great guy and supporter of Attorney Journals and will be missed. Rest in peace, Jim.

215-550-1435 • penn-creative.com Attorney Journals Orange County | Volume 177, 2020

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Lawyers, How to Write Content People Want to Consume

by Nancy Myrland

L

awyers, you write every day, but when it comes to writing content that people actually can and want to consume, writing for others can sometimes stop you in your tracks because you aren’t sure what to say and how to say it.

Let’s Talk About Best Practices One of the first things you should keep in mind is the most obvious: You are writing for other people.

When it comes to creating content for others, it is important to remember that consumers of that content aren’t necessarily as knowledgeable in your practice area as you are because they didn’t spend all of the years studying and using the same language as you now use every day as a normal part of your lexicon.

They might use different words to describe what you do, what the issues are, and what they need to be concerned about.

What Language Do They Use? Knowing that you are not writing for you, and that you aren’t even necessarily writing for other lawyers, you should back up and ask yourself: • What are the terms that people understand?

• What language do the majority of the people, your clients, potential clients, and referral sources who don’t always understand what it is you’re talking about, use when they discuss their challenges?

• What kind of terminology do media sources use?

What search terms might they use when looking for an expert to contribute to content they are creating?

Create Keywords When I conduct LinkedIn training, one of the very first things I talk about with a lawyer is the identification of keywords and key phrases that speak to all the audiences mentioned above.

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These are keywords that you are known for, or that you want to be known for, as well as terms that are important to your target audiences. What are the basic terms that they use when they talk about this matter?

Those will serve you in every way. They serve the lawyers I train on LinkedIn throughout their entire LinkedIn profile, as well as in every piece of content they create.

They will also help you so that when you’re trying to figure out what to blog about, what to write a LinkedIn article about, what updates to write, share, or react to on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, or Facebook, what to record in your next podcast episode, and even what to use when you create video, whether that be recorded or live.

Make the Complex Simple Always remember that you know your practice area 50 times, even 100 times better than anybody else does so, when creating content, you have to do what I often say is one of my primary responsibilities and goals, and that is to make the complex simple.

I think that is one of your jobs, too. You need to make the complex simple for others who are consuming you, your knowledge, and your content.

Ask Your Readers If you don’t know those keywords, then just ask, or read comments that your target audiences are using when they write or when they post on social media. You can also call them and ask them. You can email them and ask them. People want to be helpful. They want to be brought into your fold.

If that is uncomfortable, we can work on those in The Lawyers Marketing Academy VIP. They are not difficult to identify, but they sometimes need dedicated time and a bit of guidance. Either way, know that they are an extremely important foundational step in the creation of content that others want to consume.

Give a Spoiler Alert

Give Them Your Details

Always remember that it is important to keep it simple.

Tell people up front what it is you’re going to talk about.

It is almost like giving a spoiler alert. Tell them in the first paragraph what you are going to discuss, then spend the middle of your piece of content making the case and backing up that first point.

At the very end, one of the last things I want you to do is to put a photo and a mini bio about you with a link back to your bio or your website. It is important to tell people about you because people who don’t know you are going to land on your content.

If you don’t tell them who you are, some people will never know because they might have just seen this link to your blog post or article out in the wild somewhere.

Help them out by letting them know who you are. It is not bragging. They have chosen to consume your content.

I always say that, if people have chosen to consume your content, let’s tell them what you do, who you are, who you help, and a little bit more about you, and then give them a link or some contact information.

Make It Easy on the Eyes Another best practice when you are writing is to give readers a lot of white space.

Our eyes are not trained to read an entire clump of copy on a page, whether that is your LinkedIn profile or whether it is a blog post, whatever that might be. If we go to a page and we see a lot of content that is just jammed together, and this can even be in a simple social media post, our eyes do not gravitate toward that content. We give up on it because it is hard to look at. So, my recommendation is to break that up into much smaller paragraphs.

Some people break up every sentence into a paragraph.

Be careful about that because, in a blog post, there are some sentences that, for effect, should stand alone in a paragraph, but probably not always because it can start to look a little gimmicky if you do that on every paragraph or every sentence.

Skimmers appreciate this structure because it is much easier to skim a page and read your content when their eyes see white space in between paragraphs, so make sure you do that.

Take Time to Summarize I want you to end your blog post or your content by summarizing what you talked about. Again, consider using bullet points when you do that because, again, for those who skim, bullet points are very easy to view.

Let’s say somebody goes to your blog post and reads your first paragraph. Using the structure, I discussed above, they will discover what you are going to talk about.

Then, maybe their eyes drift down to bullet points that summarize your blog post. That’s great. Then you’ve at least given skimmers a snapshot of what you’ve talked about in the rest of your blog post or article.

Sometimes that leads people back into your blog post or your article, and they will read more. If not, you’ve lost nothing because you gave your skimmers what they came for, haven’t you?

So, let’s make it very easy for them.

To Summarize Those are the basics about how you should consider writing content that is easy to consume.

• Create keywords • Make the complex simple • Ask your readers • Give a spoiler alert • Make your article or blog post easy on the eyes • Take time to summarize (hint, hint…just like I’m doing right here) • Give them your details Do me a favor and let me know when you write something.

Also, let me know if this makes the writing process a little bit easier to understand. n Nancy Myrland is a Marketing, Business Development, Content, Social and Digital Media Speaker, Trainer and Advisor to lawyers, legal marketers and law firms, specializing in helping you grow your firm and your practice through the understanding, creation, and integration of marketing and strategic plans with content, social and digital media. Learn more at www.myrlandmarketing.com.

Attorney Journals Orange County | Volume 177, 2020

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The Original Legal Malpractice Firm

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We’ve reassembled our original team of lawyers, with a combined 50 years of prosecuting and trying legal malpractice claims throughout the state.

Don’t be fooled by others claiming to be a legal malpractice firm. Stanford And Associates is the original legal malpractice law firm and we: • Never charge a consultation fee • Never bill our clients by the hour • Never represent or defend lawyers • Never handle fee disputes between lawyers We are pure contingency fee lawyers and we pay referral fees!

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CHOOSE THE TRUE ORIGINAL

7 Ways to Take Your Holiday Networking Virtual

by Linday Tiffany

L

et’s face it, the holidays are coming, but the coordinated soirees and fortuitous run-ins they often afford will likely be missing this year.

We all know how easy it is to get wrapped up (pun intended) in the hustle and bustle of the holidays. And while it’s true that amid a global pandemic, things like holiday travel may be foregone, most of us will still manage to find ourselves up to our ears in work and other end-of-year to-do’s.

Let’s not use that as an excuse to let merriment, camaraderie, and connection among personal and professional contacts fall by the wayside.

Now is the time to be proactive about your holiday networking, lest you find yourself all dressed up with no Zoom meetings to join.

Before we dive into ideas for hosting your own virtual holiday networking event, keep these things in mind: Always Add Value Time is precious, arguably more so now. Be mindful that in inviting someone to join your virtual event, you’re still making an ask of their time. Make your value proposition in the invitation. Are we briefly connecting over a holiday spirit?

As a guest, am I learning or trying something new? Will there be games? It doesn’t have to be expensive, but as a host, you should be prepared with a theme of sorts so that you don’t log in to a quiet, expectant Brady Bunch staring back at you.

Don’t Invite Your Favorite Clients and Friends Just Because They’re Your Favorite When selecting a group to invite to the party, be mindful of who in your network might benefit from meeting each other. (Remember ‘always add value’?)

There are some good things coming from the global pandemic, and blurred geographic lines are on the list. In the pre-COVID world, your college roommate now three states away was likely never going to meet your accountant neighbor, but in this new virtual-first world we’ve found ourselves in, you can host the party where they’ll both meet.

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Have Fun Because parties should be fun!

Alright, on to the virtual holiday party ideas:

 Virtual Wine Tasting Coordinate delivery of a bottle of wine with instructions not to open it until the event. At the event, you or a guest sommelier leads the group through a brief wine tasting, leaving time for networking after and along the way.

 Virtual Wine and Food Pairing Deliver a bottle of wine and include instructions for pairing with a key ingredient. At the party, guests bring their take on a dish prepared with the ingredient and share the recipe.

 Virtual Class Do you know someone who teaches yoga? Cooking classes?

Even better, is this person a friend or client? Hire them and treat your virtual party guests to a class or demonstration.

The opportunities here are truly endless and if you don’t know any talented individuals you can hire to teach at your party, you can look to platforms like Skillpop which offer virtual classes on everything from crafting the perfect cheeseboard to watercolor painting.

 Virtual Game Night (or Day) A quick internet search reveals lots of options for trivia, escape rooms, scavenger hunts, and other games you can play with a virtual group.

Don’t forget to include an ice breaker so your guests can get to know each other and of course, leave time for more organic conversation.

 Virtual Potluck Assign your party guests a course and let each person describe the dish they bring to the virtual event. Like #2, this event allows a great opportunity to follow up with party guests later with the compiled recipe book from the night.

Themes or key ingredients encouraged!

 Virtual Coffee Pretty self-explanatory but definitely worth mentioning!

I’m part of a local networking group that met regularly for loosely moderated coffees before the pandemic. With ease, we shifted to the virtual environment and never missed a beat. These meetings have been a lifeline during this challenging time.

 Host a Virtual Service Project Consider taking your favorite service project to the web.

Distribute boxes of holiday cards, stamps, and recipient lists to guests in advance. Over a festive drink on your favorite

virtual platform, you and your guests can sign and address holiday cards to a local nursing home or deployed military.

If you’ve made it to this point and the ideas above make you cringe, take nothing away but this: do not let the absence of holiday parties leave you with a big 0.0 hours in the business development bucket (or worse, a dry pipeline after your Q4 business has settled down).

Spend some time today identifying the individuals you haven’t spoken to in a while; the ones you love to see on your holiday party circuit; the people who mean the most to you and your business—and simply reach out to them.

Perhaps in this virtual-first world we’re living in, this is the year you send holiday cards via snail mail. n Linday Tiffany is Marketing & Client Service Manager at Wyrick Robbins. As Marketing & Client Service Manager, Lindsay oversees the firm’s public relations and marketing efforts with an emphasis on connecting attorneys and clients through digital channels and live events. Leveraging the firm’s website, social media, and email marketing platform, she develops strategies to share the firm’s collective knowledge and also assists in soliciting client feedback and measuring client satisfaction.

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Helping You See ERISA and Employee Benefits Law Clearly Practice areas include: ESOPs - Pension, Profit Sharing, 401(k) Plans - ERISA Litigation - ERISA Compliance - IRS and DOL Audits - Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans - Stock Options Plans - Business Transaction & Succession Planning Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs)

10021 Willow Creek Road, Suite 200, San Diego, California 92131 Telephone: (858) 444-2300 Facsimile: (858) 444-2345 www.bsllp.com

Attorney Journals Orange County | Volume 177, 2020

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COMMUNITY news n Brown & Charbonneau, LLP is proud to announce that Gregory G. Brown has been selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2021 publications of The Best Lawyers in America® for the fourth year in a row and California Super Lawyers® magazine for the 12th GREGORY BROWN year in a row.

Attorneys named to The Best Lawyers in America® are recognized by their legal industry peers for their legal excellence in specific fields. More than 9.4 million votes were analyzed, resulting in the inclusion of more than 67,000 lawyers—approximately 5% of lawyers in private practice in the U.S. Super Lawyers undertakes a rigorous multi-phase selection process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, independent evaluation of candidates by attorney-led research staff, a peer review of candidates by practice area, and a good-standing and disciplinary check. Only five percent of the lawyers in the state are named by Super Lawyers. n Jennifer Keller, a nationally prominent trial attorney at Keller/Anderle LLP in Irvine, has been named to the 2021 Benchmark Litigation “Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America,” an exclusive list of the top courtroom advocates in the JENNIFER KELLER United States. This is the 4th year in a row that Jennifer has been selected. In addition, Ms. Keller was selected to Benchmark Litigation’s “Top 20 Trial Lawyers in California” list for the 3rd year in a row (every year since inception of the list).

In announcing the Top 100 list, Benchmark Litigation notes: “This elite group consists of partners who have been venerated by peers and clients as being the best in breed at the nuanced practice of trial law, with this acclaim supported by representative work (public or confidential) to exemplify this status.”

Have a Press Release you would like to submit for our Community News?

Email it to PR@AttorneyJournals.com

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n Snell & Wilmer is pleased to announce that California Partner Steffi Gascón Hafen has been re-elected for a second term as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Orange County Head Start, Inc. Hafen has been a board member since 2016, having served as Secretary and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors before first being elected as Chairman in 2019.

Hafen is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, STEFFI GASCÓN HAFEN Trust and Probate Law, California Board of Legal Specialization. She is a partner of the firm’s Private Client Services and General Federal Tax practice groups. Hafen’s practice is concentrated in tax, trust, and estate matters with emphasis in estate planning, trust and probate administration, and estate and gift taxation. She received her L.L.M. in Taxation from Loyola Law School, her J.D. from the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law and her B.A. from University of California, Santa Barbara. n Butterfield Schechter LLP is pleased to announce that Senior Paralegal Kristine Custodio Suero was selected as the 2020 California Paralegal of the Year, awarded by the California Alliance of Paralegal Association, and nominated by the San Diego Paralegal Association. Kristine teaches at the University of San Diego School of Law Paralegal Program, frequently speaks at seminars KRISTINE CUSTODIO and conferences on a variety of legal topics, on SUERO issues concerning the paralegal profession, and on leadership. She also coaches and mentors paralegal students and other working paralegals. Kristine writes numerous articles for various publications and focuses much of her current work on access to justice issues. She frequently volunteers for events including Wills for Heroes and the San Diego High School Mock Trial Competition and has spearheaded local conferences on combating human trafficking. n The 2019-2020 Higgs Fletcher & Mack (HFM) Diversity Scholarship in honor of Craig Higgs has been awarded to Nicole Cohen and the 2019-2020 Steven J. Cologne Annual Scholarship has been awarded to Carola Murguia San Roman.

Both scholarship recipients are University of San Diego School of Law graduates who have earned their law degrees and will soon take the California Bar Exam.

HFM has been granting scholarships in support of diversity and inclusion efforts to local law students for several years. The diversity scholarship is funded by contributions from HFM’s attorneys and the firm itself. The Steven J. Cologne Annual Scholarship is funded solely

by HFM Managing Partner Steven Cologne.

“Our community and the legal profession flourish when we make diversity and inclusion a priority,” said Cologne. “HFM stands behind our commitment to diversity, and we are proud to support a future generation of lawyers who have already shown their commitment and support for diversity efforts.”

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PowerDuo Attorneys Annee Della Donna and Eric Dubin Take on Some of the Biggest Cases in America as One Team

by Dan Baldwin

A

lthough maintaining their individual law practices, for the past four years attorneys Annee Della Donna of The Law Offices of Annee Della Donna, and Eric Dubin, of The Dubin Law Firm, have combined their strengths to fight high-profile wrongful death cases that frequently touch on critical issues facing America today.

They met when Dubin prepped Della Donna’s husband as an expert in Dubin’s recent $10.2 million jury verdict.

Della Donna says, “I was really impressed with Eric’s level of knowledge of the law, of his cases, of strategies, and with him as a person. He is a very ethical and honest attorney who cares about his clients. Later, I brought him on a case, and we have partnered on numerous cases since then. Each of us has our own law firm. So, it’s not the usual partnership.”

Dubin says, “Annee and I knew each other for some time, and we waited for a perfect case to work on together. That eventually happened and then we evolved into this amazing collaboration. Our styles comfortably complement each other, and our work ethic is strong and our passion for justice is intense. It’s amazing to work with someone who feels exactly the way I feel.”

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A Bulldog in High Heels

Della Donna’s aggressive advocacy for her clients earned her the nickname “Bulldog in High Heels” among her colleagues. She has traveled some distance since her early days when she was planning a career in medicine.

However, during high school a judge pointed her in the direction she would eventually take.

She was living on her own with five other women her senior year when she and one of her roommates decided to move out. Although they didn’t give a formal 30 days’ notice, they informed the landlord of the move. They also removed a carpet her roommate had purchased. The landlord, the young woman whose parents owned the house, sued, and won.

“I didn’t think the court was right, so I filed an appeal to Orange County Superior Court.” The appellate judge said that he was going to rule in Della Donna’s favor, adding that he was really impressed with her presence and ability in the courtroom and that she should seriously consider a career in law. He said, “You are so good at arguing. You have a great manner in the courtroom and you’re already very analytical at this young age.”

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© Christopher TODD Studios

2020

“As busy as I was, I agreed. You think you don’t have time, but you always have time to do what is right. I went to the prison and met with one of the prisoners and cross examined him for two hours. I went through every fact in that case and when I was done, I told the officer that the man was innocent.”

Della Donna won in the Appellate Court and Supreme Court this year, in In Re Juan Rayford.

5 Cal.App.5th 594. “We pretty much overturned the kill zone theory, which is what these young men were prosecuted under. I was granted a writ of habeas corpus, overturning all 11 consecutive life sentences, and vacating their sentences.”

A Visit to the Courthouse Leads to a Career in the Courthouse

At that time, she was signed up as a pre-med student in college. She had been a dental assistant in high school, loved medicine and was planning on becoming a dental surgeon or going to medical school. Things began changing the first couple of weeks in college. One of the students insisted that she join the debate team. She did and her team became number one nationally while she was there. She stayed with pre-med for three years and then switched over and graduated in political science with a minor in biology.

Eventually the judge’s advice took hold. She put herself through law school and began her legal career—32 years so far—and a total commitment to justice. Working at Wylie Aitken’s office she handled a major case involving nine people who had contracted cancer from exposure to electromagnetic fields. Her experience at the Aitken firm was invaluable A case in point involves a former LA police officer who asked her to look into a case in which he believed the convicted persons were innocent. Two young men, ages 17 and 18, were accused of shooting at a house. No one was injured, but they were sentenced to 11 consecutive life sentences.

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© Christopher TODD Studios

Annee Della Donna

Dubin grew up in Detroit and one day a field trip to the courthouse set him on the path to a career representing people in such surroundings.

The students observed a murder trial being battled out by two aggressive lawyers. Dubin says, “Afterwards, we happened to be riding the elevator down with the two lawyers and I saw them being cool with each other. It was almost as if they were planning to go out and have a beer together. I thought that was awesome how they could play that hard and still be friendly when it was over. It reminded me of sports. As long as you play clean, everything off the field should be cool. Two people at the top of their game in battle, but once the battle was over, they could shake hands and be human beings again.”

He followed that path and became a successful trial lawyer, but a meeting with famous attorney Gerry Spence changed the entire direction of his career. “Once I met Gerry, the light came on. I was on the wrong side.

I wanted to train with him, and he wouldn’t train you unless you were a plaintiff lawyer. I made a deal with Gerry that if I opened my own firm, he’d train me. My life has never been the same.”

That change of direction led to Dubin’s participation in the biggest investigation in LAPD history in which actor Robert Blake was accused of murdering his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. Dubin says, “It was like climbing Everest without oxygen. But you learn what you’re capable of when meeting challenges like that.”

The experience reinforced what Spence said about honesty and credibility winning the day. Dubin says,

“After all the horrible things Robert Blake’s lawyers had said about Bonny Lee Bakley, winning $30 million in general damages alone was especially important to the family. There were no special or punitive damages, but I convinced the jury Bonny was a loving mom regardless of the mass media trashing of her name and life. Collecting was great, but the validation of the award was powerful for that family.”

The Blake case is just one that established Dubin as a powerhouse lawyer for the past 28 years. In 2013, OC Weekly Magazine named him the Best Lawyer in Orange County, and in 2019 Best Lawyers Magazine featured him on the cover as the Best Personal Injury Lawyer in Orange County. The Los Angeles Daily Journal named him one of the top 20 lawyers in the state of California before 40. He is known for winning big, and paying generous referral fees to many of the top attorneys in southern CA. Fellow attorneys agree. “I have known Eric for the better part of 20 years and he has proven over and over again why he is successful; he is a tenacious litigator who never loses sight of how important the case is to his client. Eric not only gets results the old-fashioned way—he wins in court—but he delivers true client satisfaction by guiding and supporting them through the very difficult process of litigating personal injury, wrongful death, and other matters. I have recommended Eric to many people in need of an excellent personal injury or wrongful death attorney and Eric has delivered every time.” Dale Giali, Partner, Mayer Brown LLP.

Doubling Down on Hard Work

The pair often cite a phrase representing their total commitment to their clients: Justice is Mandatory; Sleep is Optional. One of the many factors that makes this team such a powerhouse is their dedication to doing whatever is necessary to prepare for victory in the courtroom or across the negotiating table.

Dubin says, “We are relentless in the pursuit of justice. It starts with preparation. We obsess over details. When it comes to trials and prelitigation we just dominate. There’s no fear, we come ready to shine every single time.

Annee and I play off each other’s strengths, and the flow we create is incredibly special and powerful. We have active cases involving police killing an unarmed African American, the Marine AAV tragedy off San Clemente Island, Uber and Lyft safety protocol, and other cases

of national importance. We are about to start the first police killing trial of the Black Lives Matter movement, a case that exactly parallels what happened to George Floyd here in Orange County.

Dubin and Della Donna each are hands-on with every case and don’t hand them off to a young associate.

They have often found victory over larger firms with more resources because those firms use multiple or inexperienced lawyers to cover important aspects of the case, such as critical depositions or discovery, he says.

“Cases are won at deposition and we need to be the ones in the room asking the questions and running the show. We put our heart and soul in every single case we accept, and nobody will ever know our cases better from the defense side.”

Della Donna is sometimes called “Nancy Drew” by her clients and fellow attorneys due to her commitment to conducting her own investigations. “On every case I’ve ever handled there’s been one thing that I have discovered through my own investigation that has turned the case around,” she says.

She also says that her biggest strength going is that she knows her client far better than the other side knows their client. “I make my clients members of my team. I know what they need, want and their expectations, and all my weaknesses and strengths.”

Eric Dubin and Annee Della Donna hold a press conference on behalf of the parents of Christopher Eisinger. Eisinger’s parents say that Anaheim police officers held a knee to their son’s neck and back for up to five minutes while he couldn’t breathe.

He died in the hospital eight days later.

Living on a Two-Way Street

Each attorney’s commitment to the law is matched by their commitment to their community and their families— finding a comfortable balance between the two worlds.

Della Donna and her husband of 26 years, Eric, have two daughters, Eliana (25) and Shira (22) and a son Aaron (23). Much of her time out of the office involves work through the Innocence Rights of Orange County, a pro bono law clinic at UCI Law School she founded seven years ago. She is active in the Laguna Pantry, Laguna Playhouse, Hoag Hospital Foundation, Laguna Friends in Need, the Assistance League. As if preparing for a career in the up and down world of law wasn’t enough, she also used to fly aerobatic planes Dubin and his wife, Dalia, have a daughter Alexa (19) and a son, Jakob (16). He has written several books, one with Larry King. He hosted a legal radio show in LA on FM 97.1, Legally Speaking with Eric Dubin. His book, The Star Chamber, has been cited world-wide on high-profile trials. He is a legal expert for ABC News and has received prestigious front-page profiles in both the OC Register and LA Times. He has volunteered legal services at the Mesereau Free Legal Clinic for many years. Dubin was invited to be a guest speaker on winning high-profile trials for the William P. Gray American Inn of Court, where he has been a member ever since.

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Dubin and Della Donna have been joining forces for specific cases for four years, a combination of skills and talents they see continuing. “We come together as separate law firms on a single case. There is incredible strength in doing it that way. We really do double-team the opposition.” n Contact Annee Della Donna Law Offices of Annee Della Donna 301 Forest Avenue Laguna Beach, CA 92651 (949) 376-5730 delladonnalaw.com innocencerightsoforangecounty.com killthekillzone.com Eric Dubin Dubin Law Firm 19200 Von Karman Avenue, Sixth Floor Irvine, CA 92612 (949) 477-8040 dubinlaw.com

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RYA N W. C OOPER Young Attorney Rises to the Occasion Through Positivity, Reliability, and a Competitive Spirit

by Dan Baldwin

How does an attorney with just two years of experience enter the “Rising Star” category? For Ryan W. Cooper, Associate Attorney at Fielding Law, APC, obtaining more than $12 million for his clients is a good start, a success record he attributes to three factors: positivity, reliability, and a competitive spirit.

Cooper learned the incredible power of positivity from his father, Bill Cooper, who won a very tough battle against throat cancer. “During that time when my dad was in and out of treatments and obviously very sick, he was incredibly positive. He was positive about his treatment and positive with others. Many other people with his exact same illness might go through the exact same treatment, but not beat the cancer like my dad did. The positivity was the X-factor. Now, I try to find the good in everything, even when my back is against the wall. I preach the same thing to my clients as well: after an accident, they must stay positive, stay resilient, and always keep moving forward.”

In terms of reliability, Cooper says he was given a tremendous amount of responsibility early on at his previous firm where he personally handled more than 600 cases in his first two years of practice. “I was the sole point of contact between our clients and the defense lawyers and the insurance companies and they relied on me to get the job done, to conduct myself in a responsible manner, to keep our clients happy, and to maximize case results,” he says.

His competitive spirit was inborn and brought out in life through his commitment to and love of sports. “You know that the defense lawyers are competitive and they want to

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do the best job they possibly can. I am the guy squared off directly against them. Every point of my life has had some form of competition involved and I channel that drive into my work,” he says.

Cooper’s commitment to positivity, reliability, and his competitive spirit were showcased in June when he resolved a case for the full available insurance policy limits of $1.1 million despite his client being placed at fault in the police report and by defense insurance. His client, a member of the Elks Lodge, was helping another member drive a truck out of a very narrow garage during a Lodge event.

In doing so, Cooper’s client found himself pinned between the truck and the garage wall, and consequently suffered major injuries. The police officer concluded that Cooper’s client caused the accident because he put himself in harm’s way, and the defense lawyers agreed with the officer.

Cooper quickly obtained multiple witness statements and spoke with other Lodge members to overturn the liability decision and obtain the maximum available insurance compensation for his client. Other firms had passed on this case because they did not believe they could overcome the liability hurdle. Not only did Cooper overcome that challenge, but he made a policy limit demand which was met and properly accepted, and the case was resolved within five months of the accident.

His areas of responsibility at Fielding Law primarily include automobile accidents, wrongful deaths, slips, trips and falls, pedestrian accidents, bicyclist accidents, dog bites, trucking accidents, and motorcycle accidents.

JOURNALS

FEATURED RISING STAR

OF THE MONTH

© Christopher TODD Studios

2020

Ryan W. Cooper, Associate Attorney at Fielding Law, APC

A Talent for Championship Performance Cooper has always had a knack for cultivating championshipquality teams. When he was twelve-years-old, his Pop Warner football team won a national championship. During his senior year in high school, Cooper led his baseball team, the Esperanza Aztecs, to the Division 1 CIF Championship game.

In college, he played Division 1 baseball for the UC Irvine Anteaters and competed in the College World Series. Now, in joining Fielding Law, Cooper has no doubt that he has once again joined a “championship-caliber” team.

Cooper was attracted to Fielding Law by the people and the vision of the firm. Clark H. Fielding quickly became a mentor to the young attorney. “He taught me the laws, the practical application, how to navigate client issues and strategize to maximize case value. Clark also taught me how to conduct myself with peers and clients. I totally trust Clark. There is still a lot I can learn from him and his team. This is a group who I am eager to work with day-in and day-out. They are all experienced and passionate advocates who will sharpen me every day,” he says.

The vision Cooper mentions is a reference to the way the people in the firm view themselves and their focus on the future.

“Here I have the opportunity and expectation to fully invest my time, energy, and attention into each case. My approach will be much more personal. I look forward to meeting more clients in person, hearing their stories, and building relationships with the clients,” he says.

Cooper seemed destined to be an attorney. He was encouraged at an early age by his parents to consider a career in the law. “I was well-spoken and well-written at a young age, and they nudged me in the direction of the legal field,” he says.

Cooper taking the field for the UC Irvine Anteaters during his senior season (May 2015)

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His uncle, who is also his godfather, is a very well-respected trial lawyer at a civil litigation firm in Orange County. When Cooper was younger, he loved listening to his uncle tell stories about his cases and trials. While he didn’t understand the law or how a trial works at the time, he loved the sportslike characteristics of a civil case: “an attorney needs a good strategy, to play smart, work hard, fight through adversity, and out-play your opponent,” he says. “I could relate to the formula because I played sports my entire life, and the formula for victory isn’t much different. My uncle was also extremely passionate about his work. He is a warrior in the courtroom.

Very few people talk about their job with the same level of excitement and passion that he did, and still does to this day. I like to think he passed on some of that to me.”

Cooper attended Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law, graduating Magna Cum Laude in the top five percent of his class. He served as the Managing Editor of the Law Review; competed in multiple mock trial competitions; was a finalist in the annual 1L oral advocacy competition; and was selected as the student speaker for his law school graduation ceremony.

While in college and law school, he worked at a civil defense firm doing insurance defense. “I was exposed early to personal injury cases and I liked everything that went into them. I liked the crossover between the medical and legal worlds. But, what it really comes down to is that I like representing a person rather than a corporation. It just clicks for me. It clicks with my personality. I know exactly who I am representing, what happened to them, and what they need from me. It’s very clear cut without any politics or games. My only goal is to make my client whole again,” he says.

Cooper delivering his speech at Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law Commencement Ceremony (May 2018)

© Christopher TODD Studios

Attorney Clark H. Fielding, Attorney Ryan W. Cooper, and the Fielding Law Team

“Be Quick, but Don’t Hurry” Cooper’s UC Irvine head coach preached a mantra of “Be Quick, but Don’t Hurry,” a guideline he still follows. “When people need help, they want it right away. They don’t want to wait for help, and they don’t want to prolong their suffering or frustrations any longer than necessary,” he says. “I take quick and aggressive action for my clients when warranted. I strike fast and stay on offense. But I never work to such a speed that would sacrifice the quality of my work. Quickness does not sacrifice quality if done right.”

Clients agree. One wrote, “RYAN COOPER IS THE BEST! He was able to recover so much more money than we thought and helped us recover our losses. We had our car totaled and now are able to get a new one for our family. He was so kind and so fast to respond anytime we had a question. He was understanding and bent over backwards for us to help us out every way he could!”

A True “People Person” Cooper says, “I have always been a true ‘People Person’ with the ability to connect with very diverse groups of people.” The most important person is clearly his wife, Jayme. They were married in November 2019. “Jayme is my best friend and my rock. She has helped me get through some tough times and lends limitless support and encouragement to me. We believe in each other and help each other grow personally, religiously, and professionally.” The couple lives in Rancho Santa Margarita and plan to be residents of Orange County their entire lives. Cooper is also strengthened by amazing parents and a wonderful sister.

He is an “obsessed” golfer, which he says was the natural next

step after changing career goals from baseball to the law. “I could go on and on about the similarities between the game of golf and a legal case. Perhaps the biggest similarity is that, whether it’s a round of golf or a personal injury case, you are guaranteed to face some unexpected challenges that you must overcome,” he says.

He hones his competitive spirit by participating in one to two triathlons a year. He is a history buff with an interest in U.S. presidents and is currently reading a biography of his favorite, Abraham Lincoln.

Cooper is licensed in the State Bar of California and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. His awards and associations include: Top 40 Under 40—American Academy of Attorneys (Personal Injury, 2020); Avvo Clients’ Choice Award (2019–2020); Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (Member); Orange County Bar Association (Member); Orange County Trial Lawyers Association (Member); California Young Lawyers Association (Member).

For Cooper, the awards and successes are, at the core, due to his commitment to representing people—the individual human beings whose lives have been damaged. He says, “Being an attorney has always felt completely natural to me. It just feels right. It feels more like a calling than a job.” n Contact Ryan W. Cooper Fielding Law, APC The Boardwalk 18575 Jamboree Road, Suite 600 Irvine, CA 92612 (949) 288-5484 www.fieldinglawfirm.com ryan@fieldinglawfirm.com Attorney Journals Orange County | Volume 177, 2020

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Marketing Under Lockdown— Leveraging Social Media to Maintain Visibility

by Gina Eliadis

M

arketing in the COVID-19 era is almost exclusively an online exercise. In the absence of in-person meetings and events, staying connected and top of mind is challenging. Social media has, therefore, come to occupy a larger role in marketing initiatives than ever before.

Enhancing your firm’s social media strategies will be critical for the foreseeable future Law firm marketing teams that already had robust social media strategies were able to adapt as the world gradually locked down.

Others found themselves building strategies overnight. No matter how prepared your firm was – or was not – for the COVID-19 era social media explosion, there is always room for refinement. As the global pandemic seems unlikely to end soon, continually adapting and enhancing your firm’s social media strategies will be critical for the foreseeable future.

Ashley Hollingsworth provided an excellent roadmap in her June 24 LMA webinar, “Marketing Under Lockdown: Leveraging Social Media to Maintain Visibility.” Hollingsworth is industry marketing manager of Healthcare & Life Sciences at McDermott Will & Emery. She also is a longtime LMA member and former chair of the Social Media Committee.

Social media can be a means to generate leads, build awareness, and showcase your firm’s brand and expertise. But many law firms take a “one-and-done” approach to social media, which means they could be missing opportunities. The routine of taking lawyer-created content, posting it on the website, emailing it to clients, and then sharing it on social doesn’t have to be a dead end. There’s more that can be done.

Hollingsworth provided another approach: • Position social media as the primary means of delivering your firm’s message • Repurpose content into social-friendly snippets • Drive home a consistent message through different content types • Generate leads and inquiries through consistent delivery and constant visibility Social media campaigns are an important tool, she explained.

Campaigns should reinforce the firm brand, be strategically focused, have measurable key performance indicators (KPIs) and SMART goals (defined targets to achieve over time), and influence followers.

“Successful campaigns work toward a goal with consistent messaging, reiterated regularly, with content that captures audience attention and meets their needs,” she added.

Define KPIs that align with your objectives.

“For example, if your goal is to drive downloads, your KPIs may be

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link clicks and form completions, and your supporting metrics may be impressions and engagements,” Hollingsworth explained. “If your goal is to increase traffic to a page, your KPIs may be unique page views and referral sources, and your supporting metrics may be social post impressions and clicks.”

There are many tracking and reporting tools available to measure progress. Look to in-platform reporting, Google Analytics, social media management tools (like Hootsuite and Sprout Social), and Excel to identify and measure data.

Once you have data to examine, there are three key questions to answer: 1) What is the data saying? 2) What insights can we take away? and 3) What recommendations can we make based on that data?

With goals identified, it’s time to work on content. Your firm’s social media content should amplify your brand through a consistent voice and consistent visuals to show who you are as a firm.

It’s also important to make your content audience centric. Persuade followers to care about you and what you have to say. Speak to their issues and frame your message in such a way that you are viewed as a resource for those issues.

Remember to engage. It’s important to build connections, Hollingsworth said. “Once you get your content, connect it to the greater conversation by tagging the lawyer and using relevant hashtags.”

She also explained the advantages of using imagery in your posts.

Images allow you to showcase the visual elements of your brand. They also take up more visual real estate in feeds, and they can contain extra information in addition to the content in the post itself.

Multimedia content, like webinars, podcasts, and videos, also offers a number of advantages. “These types of content capture attention on crowded feeds and humanize the brand,” Hollingsworth said. “They’re also easy to repurpose into new content and easier for followers to consume.” She added that multimedia content may be an ideal vehicle for lawyers who don’t like to write.

No matter what types of content your firm posts, be sure it’s relevant. As Hollingsworth put it, “Give your audience useful information to connect to. Present an issue that resonates and include how you can solve it. Make your content easy to find and easy to consume. And be part of the conversation.”

That’s great advice for all types of law firm content, but it’s especially true for social media in the COVID-19 era. The content competition on social media is fierce right now. The more your firm stands out, the more effective it will be at amplifying its brand and generating leads. n Gina Eliadis is the Director of Marketing & Business Development at Goodell DeVries.

Law and Justice Powered

by Artificial Intelligence?

It’s Already a Reality

by Neil Sahota

The AI wave in law is not coming, it’s already here … and it’s already transforming law firms.

C

hange happens faster than we predict. It is also happening more frequently. Consider, China is launching an online AI arbitrator this year. The United Nations wants to improve access to justice through AI judges and has been actively working on this for four years. A handful of firms have built digital assistants to help legal team comply with case rules to reduce time and expenses that are actually not billable.

Now factor in COVID-19. While it has been a pox on our lives, it has also been a great accelerator for innovation. With physical courtrooms closed, it accelerated the adoption virtual courtrooms. Law firms that never though a remote workforce would be effective are now wondering why they need huge offices when people seem to be working more effectively from home. Both the courts and firms are also turning more to AIpowered solutions to improve operational collaboration and efficiencies as well as to establish deeper engagement with petitioners and clients.

Society has entered the fourth industrial revolution that will trigger massive changes in how all industries operate. Artificial intelligence (AI) is one the biggest drivers fueling this revolution.

Most law firms, court systems, and government agencies agree that AI will have a huge impact in three areas: • Policy, regulation, and legislation • Legal operations • The future of legal profession The question, though, is where are we currently with AI in these three impact areas? Much further along than people probably realize.

For many years, there wasn’t much resonance in law firms regarding AI. Most of the interest was wondering how laws would change and anticipating how this would drive new legal matters. Through personal interactions with law firm leadership, there was lack of trust in the technology. Many managing partners expressed disbelief that a machine could do some of the things a lawyer does or possibly do them as well, if

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not better. “Even at 99% confidence level, lawyers ask about the 1%,” states Susan Wortzman, Partner at MT>3, a division of McCarthy Tetrault. She emphasizes the need to build truth and technology before firms will embrace adoption, and it is a much higher bar to get there than in other industries. That’s why MT>3 has focused on creating buy-in for so long. They make sure people understand the technology, and their process includes trust building activities and system validation. Wortzman also states that law firms must overcome the perception that AI is a pure corporate cost by emphasizing the industry pressures on better efficiencies in legal operations.

Wortzman outlines an effective (and effort intensive) approach. Asked to help one of the largest, international law firms, I was sitting in a room with a few of the managing partners and the firm’s Operations and IT leadership. Wanting to use AI, the firm had outlined a series of use cases ranging from better calendar management to timesheet management.

Reviewing their list, I made the blunt statement that AI wasn’t really needed for these items. One of the managing partners pounded the table with his fist and said, “That what I thought!

What’s the big deal with AI? It’s all hype, right?”

Not to be dissuaded, I stated let’s see if there’s something that you need that AI could actually add value. So, I asked this partner what his biggest problem was, and it turned out to be was talent management. The firm had issues in recruiting and assessing talent. They could not effectively figure out if a person would succeed as a trial lawyer, rainmaker, etc. In fact, they had let go of people they thought were mediocre only to see these people turn into superstar lawyers for other firms.

Well, AI can help them with this idea, and I explained how AI could be applied to solve this problem. Their first reaction was disbelief. Even after walking them through similar success stories in other industries and explaining how the firm could implement this, there was still some skepticism that a machine could do this better… but the law firm moved forward with it. ... clients are fueling the move to AI by pressuring revenue model changes in law firms.

Then, something changed two years ago that triggered a tsunami of interest and investment by the law firms. I was suddenly getting a flood of requests to help firms figure out competitive advantages by building their own AI solutions.

Even the mega firms were moving rapidly and launching several AI projects at once. Moreover, some established lawyers were slowing down their practice of law to pursue entrepreneurial AI ventures. What was the inflection point that triggered this rapid change? Well, it was a combination of a few things… starting with client needs.

“AI is like sex in high school… everybody says they’re doing it but very few actually are,” says Richard Robbins, Director of Knowledge Management at Sidley Austin. AI is a buzz word, and it spurs interest and engagement from clients. However, clients are fueling the move to AI by pressuring revenue model changes in law firms. The past decade produced a lot of case rules on what can be billed or expensed. Now, clients want more cost certainty and fix bid pricing. To accomplish this, law firms are looking to streamline their legal operations, and they’re finding a powerful ally in AI tools. The AI software in e-discovery, case rules, and admin tools, such as timesheets and calendars, have reduced costs and freed up more resource time for things that are billable or that contributed to more robust firm cost estimates to make a confident fixed price for clients. Robbins stresses that people hire firms for the wisdom and knowledge of the lawyers. Thus, the more mundane, administrative tasks are immaterial so there is a natural fit in finding technology solutions and opportunities.

Beyond automation, AI solutions can also provide insight that might be invaluable for firms and clients. Consider the matter of the chicken and Walmart. A man (who ironically is a dentist) bought a whole chicken from Walmart. When he bit into the gizzard, he broke his tooth on a stone, so he sued Walmart for damages. Typically, Walmart might have settled this case out of court. However, they use an AI powered solution from Legalmation, a company started by three lawyers. Legalmation’s AI can ready court documents and generate interrogatories. In review this case, the AI called out that it was a material fact that when chickens eat, they eat stones which get stored in the gizzard. Therefore, by eating the gizzard, the plaintiff should have been aware of this fact and not hold Walmart accountable.

This was the argument that allowed Walmart to get a favorable ruling. Now, how many lawyers might have unearthed this material fact? Or considered there’s enough promise to even do the research? This is the added value we can get from AI insights.

Changing competitors into clients is another driver for AI adoption and innovation for firms. Remember the gold rush stories and the people who actually got rich? It was the people who sold the equipment. It is not enough to be using these AI tools because most firms will be using them. A few firms have realized that if they build their own tools, then they would have a huge competitive advantage… which could then be licensed to other firms… turning them into clients.

Per Jeff Richardson, Partner and Chair of Technology Committee at Adams and Reese LLP, “Lawyers who use tools will be better attorneys and provide better quality of service.”

In turn, firms that create the best tools will have a large pool of lawyers who would like to use those tools. It’s a model that is quickly taking root especially at a time when firms are starting to hire business executives to run the operations of the firm, in effect, treating things more like a traditional business.

Lastly, coming to grips on how rapidly law and the future of the profession are changing is a big driver for firms using AI. Consider the recent case in which Alexa was called as a “witness” in a double homicide trial. If you’re the defense attorney, how do you cross-examine Alexa? Now take this a step further with the on-going rise in the use of robots (which are already factory workers, bartenders, tour guides, hotel receptionists, elderly care takers).

Firms are starting to realize that the nature of the work is changing ...

China is already rolling out an AI arbitrator in virtual courtrooms. The United Nations has been actively pursuing AI robot judges. Firms are starting to realize that the nature of the work is changing (less administrative to more complex tasks like case strategy or business development.) However, how do they get ready to try a case in front of a robot judge? What if the opposition counsel is a robot? As Richardson points out, “Law school teaches you to think like a lawyer but not really what it means to be a lawyer unless you’re in a clinical program.”

In the near future, firms will be looking to AI to help create “information arbitrage opportunities” (as Robbins coined it.)

That is, the firms that can better identify information sets (even something small like chicken gizzards) and transform that into actionable insights will be the ones sought by clients.

“In the future, firms not using AI will fall away,” states Workman. The AI wave in law is not coming, it’s already here… and it’s already transforming law firms. It’s a newer model, but one that aligns with the needs of clients, changing laws and regulations, and how lawyers will perform work. Any change is difficult, in part, because many people don’t like change.

This, however, is a time of adapt-and-overcome or die. So where should lawyers start? As Chuck Rossman, Chief Operations Officer at MT>3, eloquently puts it, “Don’t be afraid of change.

Don’t change for changes sake. Explore.” Firms need to marry legal, business, compliance, and IT as a collaborative team. The best AI solutions in law have come from the people looking to solve a pain point in the system or the firm by thinking beyond just automation (faster, cheaper, less errors) and finding innovation, a better way of performing legal services. n Neil Sahota is an IBM Master Inventor, United Nations (UN) Artificial Intelligence (AI) subject matter expert, and Professor at UC Irvine. With 20+ years of business experience, Neil works to inspire clients and business partners to foster innovation and develop next generation products/solutions powered by AI. Learn more at: www.neilsahota.com.

Attorney Journals Orange County | Volume 177, 2020

29

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