Lolita the killer whale at the Miami Seaquarium Lolita the killer whale at the Miami Seaquarium. Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

The opening of the Association of Legal Technologists' second ctrl ALT del conference opened with a call to arms for attorneys to start thinking about technology. But the mission wasn't that lawyers should drop everything and start changing their workflows—instead, the call was to think differently about the possibilities in the marketplace.

“In most environments in a law firm, it's very difficult to have the lawyers engage with others and actually listen,” said Michael Kraft, founder and general counsel of Kraft Kennedy. “I try to encourage the law firms that we talk with to pull together the various heads of departments. To me, it's always been like Upstairs, Downstairs … [attorneys] think they know what they're doing, but they don't have a clue.”

This shift in mindset was the focus behind the New Legal Service Delivery portion of ALT's programming. ReplyAll Corp. CEO and legal technology writer and speaker Zach Abramowitz began the conference by exploring technologies that have been developed within law firms. He likened law firms to killer whales—just as killer whales have learned to “beach” themselves to catch unsuspecting seals as prey, so too can law firms change their strategies when necessary to capture markets some thought they'd never reach.

He explained the concept through his own work consulting with Reed Smith. In 2014, the firm had developed an internal solution called Periscope that helped attorneys analyze their data and recommended, implemented and optimized legal technology systems. But they thought differently and could do more—Reed Smith started a wholly owned subsidiary called GravityStack in 2018 to sell the solution to the market, and just last month even brought another law firm on board as a client.

But very few law firms are at this point yet, and how to take the next step is a matter of debate.

On a panel following Abramowitz's talk, Joe Borstein, global director at Pangea3 Legal Managed Services and director of innovation with Thomson Reuters, noted that a natural first step for many legal organizations is not going straight to technology, but rather examining their own processes.

“We often talk at conferences about artificial intelligence and other types of innovation, but business structure innovation has been just as important, if not more important, legally,” he explained, adding that in a recent Thomson Reuters survey alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) commanded $10 billion of the global legal market.

The entrance of these alternative providers has naturally led many firms to innovate to compete. Martin Catania, director of client relationship management at Keno Kozie Associates, noted that he has seen a rise in CIOs and other technologists coming from outside the legal market to firms to drive new ideas.

“I assume that you're going to continue to see that, just like we're seeing in all industries,” Catania added.

Still, especially when talking with attorneys, there's not a guarantee that these voices will always be heard. Joseph Scott, chief strategy officer at American LegalNet, said that “there's something about the lawyers' DNA that they think they can take on new things and do them better than everyone ever did them.” Rather than taking that mindset, he advised, “Bring in somebody who has had some of those [different] experiences and understands the business side of things. It is different from practicing law.”

He added that he tells his kids, “We all learn from experience, but it doesn't have to be your own experience.”

Indeed, to start to think differently, the general takeaway from the beginning of ALT was that it all starts with communication. For his part, Kraft said that the main way to success for attorneys is to approach businesspeople with a new mindset, quoting Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom's Joe Flom in saying, “Don't tell them what they can't do; find them a legal route to do what they want.”

Otherwise, attorneys may end up the seal who didn't realize change was afoot rather than their destiny as a killer whale.