Newswise — The legal ecosystem is undergoing massive transformation around the world, prompting some legal professionals to wonder if the industry is in crisis.
In the 21st episode of Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s Planet Lex podcast series, and as a prelude to the Law School’s Beyond Our Borders, a two-day summit on global legal innovation earlier this month, Northwestern Law Dean Daniel Rodriguez talked to Mark Cohen, CEO of LegalMosaic, and Eva Bruch, founder of AlterWork, about what’s broken within the legal industry.
Topics include the access to justice crisis, outdated performance metrics and the rise of alternative business structures. They also discuss addressing these problems at the source by developing business management, technology, culture and people skills at law schools.
Below is an excerpt from the interview
“I think that lawyers have to understand that different matters and different tasks have different values to clients,” Cohen said. “Lawyers have always sort of dictated the value and it’s always been a very monolithic kind of dictation; that is, they deserve the absolute very best, we have to turn over every rock. And now clients I think are taking a much more businesslike approach and saying, we don’t always need to have the Sistine Chapel ceiling of legal briefs.”
About Planet Lex
Northwestern Law Dean Rodriguez hosts and the Legal Talk Network produces the Planet Lex podcast series. The podcasts typically feature interviews with prominent Northwestern faculty members, discussing the law’s role in changing global, societal and technological landscapes.
Topics of earlier episodes include defending Brendan Dassey; the evolution of music copyright law; sexual misconduct on campus; the regulation of public corruption; technological advancements and the law; law enforcement and implicit bias; and integrating the law and STEM-focused multidisciplinary education; online privacy and cybersecurity; and the U.S. Supreme Court.
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