The debate over the lack of innovation in law firms is a hot one. And the blame has been placed at a number of places, from firm leaders saying their partners won't buy in, to younger lawyers blaming older attorneys for their apathy to change and, now, maybe it's actually the younger lawyers who are the roadblocks to law firm innovation?

That was the debate I rudely jumped in the middle of on Twitter this week when some thoughtful industry watchers were at times looking to debunk the idea that more junior lawyers are pushing for change while more senior attorneys are standing in the way.

Ed Sohn, VP of Product for Thomson Reuters Legal, started the Twitter conversation from the annual International Legal Technology Conference, saying he agreed older partners are “part of the resistance” to change, though he asked how long they could be blamed alone.

Noah Waisberg, CEO if Kira Systems, challenged the notion, saying longer-tenured partners are often supporters of change while new partners want to maintain the status quo.

I don't have data to back this up but I'd suspect that plenty of older partners would seek to take big swings and be LESS risk averse, given they are on their way out. If some firm isn't set up to incentivize that behavior, it might not be a "partnership" in the truest sense

— edsohn80 (@edsohn80) August 21, 2018