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Artificial Intelligence: What Lawyers Should Know
Generative AI has suddenly become a must-have technology for almost every company. One reason is that generative AI (GenAI) has impressive capabilities useful for various applications such as natural language chatbots, text-to-image generators and text-to-video generators capable of producing incredibly realistic outputs based on text inputs. GenAI can also create human-like recommendations, robust content, and valuable new features for digitalproducts that can improve user experiences. As generative AI enters the mainstream, each new day brings a new lawsuit. Not only is GenAI being used to create new content, but other types of AI are also used to make decisions that, in years past, were the purvey only of humans. But what happens when AI discriminates, injures, or monopolizes, it then becomes the subject of discovery and litigation.
Artificial Intelligence: What Lawyers Need to Know (Webinar)
This is a link to the video presentation on Artificial Intelligence.
A Review of New Ethical Rules ‐ Scenarios, and Ethical Advertising Practices
This is a copy of the slide deck used in the presentation.
Who Is (or Are) Your Client(s)? Representation of the Entity and Majority Equity Holder in a Business Transactional Setting
Lawyers are always (or almost always) involved in documenting fundamental transactions for smaller businesses and the number of these transactions is increasing over time. Think of sales of businesses, mergers, changes of control and/or redemptions of equity as fundamental transactions. It is difficult to come by actual data on the number or dollar value of sales of U.S. businesses valued at $50 million or less. However, we know from surveys of business brokers that the deal volume they were experiencing in Q3 of 2021 had rebounded to slightly above pre-pandemic levels and that the multiples of EBITDA which sellers were commanding was being maintained in smaller value deals and going up slightly in larger value deals. The multiples of EBITDA commanded by sellers increase as the size of the business being sold increases. Transactions involving these smaller businesses typically involve a single lawyer or a team of 2-3 lawyers in a single firm on each “side” of the transaction. While a larger transaction may provide more opportunity for a law firm to only represent the entity while other law firms represent the board or the majority equity holder, the seller’s legal team in a smaller transaction prepares the documentation and may represent both the majority (or sole)equity holder who makes the decision to sell as well as the business entity being sold.
Burnout in the Practice of Law: It's Real and What to Do About It
Being a lawyer in Texas is not easy. This paper provides some basic information and tools to help lawyers understand and address the serious stress, mental health and substance use issues which so many attorneys face.
Attorney Fee Agreements and Miscellaneous Forms
This document contains a set of forms for arranging fee agreements with clients. Sample forms are provided.
Document Automation for Transactional Attorneys
In this paper we focus on digital curb cuts created during the pandemic: improvements designed to increase accessibility that benefit people beyond the population that they are intended to help. As much as 86% of civil legal needs are unmet, according to a 2017 study by the Legal Services Corporation. Courts and third parties designed many innovations to meet the emergency needs of the pandemic: we argue that these innovations should be extended and enhanced to address this ongoing access to justice crisis. Specifically, we use the Suffolk University Law School's Document Assembly Line as a case study. The Document Assembly Line rapidly automated more than two dozen court processes, providing pro se litigants remote, user-friendly, step-by-step guidance in areas such as domestic violence protection orders and emergency housing needs and made them available at courtformsonline.org. The successes of this project can extend beyond the pandemic with the adoption of an open-source, open-standards ecosystem centered on document and form automation. We give special attention to the value of integrated electronic filing in serving the needs of litigants, a tool that has been underutilized in the non-profit form automation space because of complexities and the difficulty in obtaining court cooperation.
Emerging From the Pandemic: Lawyer Well-Being
This is the PowerPoint slide deck regarding the Texas Lawyers' Assistance Program.
If Your Law Firm Was a Product: Automation, Customer Interviews, and Who’s Your Competition
Many of the world’s greatest cities are clamoring to be the next Silicon Valley; touting themselves as Silicon Roundabout (London), Silicon Hills (Austin), or my personal favorite Philicon Valley (Philadelphia). Each region is trying to capture the spirit of innovation to further its economic growth and competitiveness in a global market. This article endeavors to make law firms competitive not only against other firms but against other technologies. It explores customer discovery and evaluates law firms through the lens of product management. What is a law firm’s product? Is it contracts drafted? Advice given? Kinda both, but also kind of neither. “[A]product is something that can be marketed to customers because it provides them with a benefit and satisfies a need.”3A client wants a contract, not just to have a piece of paper with some legalese on it, but to protect themselves or effect a sale. The benefit to the client is the hope of the purchase contract or the decrease in anxiety to know that they have limited their liabilities. Advising a client to settle a case is only a benefit if the client understands that they are saving significantly more money than if they hadn’t settled.Now that you understand what a product is, this article will talk about ways to improve your current product through customer discovery and competitive analysis. We’ll also sprinkle in some tech you should know about too.
Real Legal Issues in a Virtual World: Electronic Communications and Virtual Meetings
In its U.S. Remote Work Survey published in January 2021, PriceWaterhouseCooper (PwC) concluded that “Remote work has been an overwhelming success for both employees and employers.” And while a return to work in- person remains a moving target for many businesses and the law firms representing them as vaccination rates fluctuate and COVID variants remain a concern, less than 20% of the business executives surveyed by PwC say they want to return to the office environment as it was before the pandemic. Yet even as businesses and law firms alike have embraced the benefits of virtual meetings and remote practice, there are important considerations. For lawyers, there are ethical ramifications that are part and parcel of the remote practice of law. In addition, there are evidentiary issues and other concerns for lawyers and their clients to be mindful of when it comes to the proliferation of new forms of electronic communications. Likewise, both attorneys and businesses have firsthand knowledge of the many things that can go wrong when you’re not careful in using virtual meeting platforms like Zoom. In this article, we will examine each of these areas and offer some best practices for working remotely, meeting virtually, and communicating electronically.
I Got the Judgement. How Do I Get the Money?
These are the PowerPoint slides for the presentation.
What I Wish I knew Way Back When
Twenty two nuggets of wisdom from an experienced attorney.
Trends in Legal Technology
The legal practice, like many industries, is awash with new technologies that promise efficiencies and improve the way we practice law. Are these promises true? How much pressure do you feel to keep up with your competitors and the new technology trends? The pressure to keep up is understandable and real. There are technology solutions that will provide efficiencies and improve the way you work. In fact, the global legal technology market was a $437 billion market in 2019 and is growing at nearly 28% a year. If you fail to take advantage or ignore these solutions, you may lose ground to those that do. Of course, the degree of benefit depends on the way a solution is used. This article is intended to discuss current technology trends in the legal industry. It will also identify issues involved in the selection, implementation, and utilization of any technology solution. Lastly, we will address how the legal function can help inform other aspects of your business.
Cybersecurity
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) which is part of the US Commerce Department began its efforts to manage Cybersecurity in 2013 and in 2018 established the Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, Version 1.1 (https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/CSWP/NIST.CSWP. 04162018.pdf) (the “Framework”) which sets guidelines for private sector companies to follow to be better prepared in identifying, detecting, and responding to Cyberattacks.
Video Mediation: An Effective Alternative to In Person Mediation
How to use Zoom (or something like it) effectively in a mediation.
Building Blocks for a New Business Law Practice
Lawyers wear many hats – we are legal advisors, we are sales people, we are risk managers, we are people managers, we are counselors generally, among other roles. Law school doesn’t teach us how to listen to clients, how to build a reputation, how to create a business development system, how to market a law practice or how to delegate work or manage teams, among other things. But, law school did teach us how to learn all of these skills and in your journey to master the first building block (e.g. be a great lawyer), you will be well on your way to attaining all of the necessary skills to build a successful business law practice. Business lawyers who have mastered all four building blocks are highly valued in the business community due to their breadth of experiences and knowledge and their critical thinking and problem-solving capabilities.Building Blocks for a New Business Law Practice
Working with Alternative Legal Service Providers
The legal industry is always evolving. The changes in technology the past 40 years has drastically changed how attorneys work. When I started practicing, I was told to dictate my memos and briefs because it was a more efficient use of my time. Similarly, recent changes in technology allow us to collaborate with colleagues all over the world in real-time. Not only can we communicate with people all over the world, but we can work closely together too. In addition to technology, there has been a growth of alternative legal service providers that have changed some aspects of the traditional law firm and corporate legal department relationship.
Using Contract Lawyers
Contract attorneys also known as flexible legal talent, are utilized as legal experts for a short- or long-term engagement. Legility, a legal operations company that provides solutions to legal departments has a flexible legal talent division that provides access to top attorneys with years of experience across diverse practice areas. You get talent when you need it and where you need it.
Practical Considerations of Cleaning Up the Business and Preparing It For Sale
Preparation is the key to successfully marketing and selling any business. But selling a business is not a one‐size‐fits‐all proposition; each industry, and each business within an industry, has unique characteristics that must be considered. Moreover, each business owner has unique and specific goals. Sometimes co‐owners have different goals, which can present challenges. However, there are common principles in preparing a company for sale that can help any size or type of business.
Closing Time: Issues to Consider When Terminating a Business
Planning for the orderly end of a business, by necessity, begins when the entity is first formed and includes a clear-eyed assessment of the events requiring winding up of an entity. Not every client’s circumstances are the same. Thus, the process for handling the winding up and termination will vary. This is an area of business practice where you must be prepared to evaluate many facts and ever-changing circumstances. This Article will provide an overview of the “Events requiring winding up of a Domestic Entity” under the Texas Business Organization Code (“TBOC”) and the steps required to wind up and terminate a Texas entity. And because sometimes plans will change, this Article also will discuss the steps to revoke winding up and termination. Next, this Article reviews standard termination provisions using model organizational documents and provides practical drafting suggestions. This Article highlights cases relevant to the winding up process. Finally, checklists and forms are attached to this Article as appendices to aid in an orderly analysis of termination and dissolution matters. This Article focuses on the TBOC and the Texas Tax Code (“TTC”). Although entities may also be formed under Delaware law or the law of other states or countries, the laws of such other jurisdictions are beyond the scope of this Article.
Ten Tips For Lawyers Dealing With Stress, Mental Health, and Substance Use Issues
The life of a lawyer can be very stressful and difficult. Lawyers are handed their clients' worst problems and are expected to solve them. This paper provides some basic information and tools to help lawyers understand and address the serious stress, mental health and substance use issues which so many attorneys face.
The Prevalence of Substance Abuse and Other Mental Health Concerns Among Attorneys
The Prevalence of Substance Use and Other Mental Health Concerns Among American Attorneys. The study measured the prevalence of these concerns among licensed attorneys, their utilization of treatment services, and what barriers existed between them and the services they may need. Substantial rates of behavioral health problems were found, with 20.6% screening positive for hazardous, harmful, and potentially alcohol-dependent drinking.
Resilience Training: Performance and Interpersonal Management Skills For a Better Practice...And a Better Life
There is a reason that there are no company mottos that tell you to go out and have a sucky day. There is a reason that you tell someone to “Be Careful” instead of “Don’t have a wreck”. Humans subconsciously listen to the message and hear the main words as in this example, “careful” and “wreck”. Humans are driven through their unconscious mind, which is incapable of absorbing the negative “don’t”. For example: Hold your coffee is absorbed in the unconscious mind, don’t drop your coffee, don’t spill your coffee, and don’t burn yourself on hot coffee is incapable of reaching the unconscious mind.
How To Deal With Disasters For Your Office and Your Clients
Natural disasters seem to be becoming more prevalent each year. Attorneys must prepare their practices for such disasters and may also need to advise clients of how to prepare for disasters. This article provides advice and guidance on how to put a plan in place to prepare for and manage a natural disaster in order to minimize damages suffered by your or your clients’ businesses.
Structuring Law Firm Organizations and Related Ethics Issues
This paper reviews the four principal forms of business entities used by Texas lawyers to organize themselves, along with eight informal sets of relationships that are being used in daily law practice to varying degrees. This paper is not intended as a complete analysis of choice of entity matters. There are ample materials elsewhere, indeed entire books, that consider the legal and tax implications of choosing one entity over another. The goal of the authors is to survey the four principal business entities and the eight informal relationships and highlight selected issues, and the liability and ethics implications that they present.