Daily Matters: The changing face of the legal industry

As Co-founder and CEO of Zapier, Wade Foster and his company have played a pivotal role in helping different industries transform—including legal. Additionally, because Zapier has been a 100% remote company ever since its inception in 2011, Wade has priceless knowledge to share about how remote teams can operate more effectively.

In this episode, Wade talks to Jack Newton about:

• How Zapier grew from a three-person company to almost 300 employees today, all working remotely
• Valuable lessons for law firms and businesses learning to operate remotely
• Whether work-from-home is here to stay forever, and if so, to what degree
• How law firms and legal professionals are best utilizing Zapier to enhance efficiency

Wade Foster is Co-founder and CEO of Zapier, the easiest place to sync data between web apps. Zapier gives you internet superpowers by making it easy to get your web apps to talk to each other, and it has been trusted by thousands of law firms to integrate with legal software applications and platforms—like Clio.

Since founding Zapier with two friends in 2011, Wade and his partners have grown the company to employ hundreds of people across 17 time zones in 28 countries, with a 100% remote workforce from the very beginning.

Continuing our Legal Industry Transformation Week, today we welcome Kimberly Y. Bennett, Esq., Founder of K Bennett Law LLC, a boutique subscription legal services law firm. Kim is an innovator, entrepreneur, industry disruptor, and business coach—who happens to be a lawyer—and her mission is to help foster a permanent shift in the way law firms deliver legal services to clients.

In this episode, Kim talks to Clio CEO Jack Newton about:

• What she learned during the Great Recession in 2008, and how she’s applying those lessons now
• How her subscription services model, which she describes as “flat fee on steroids,” works
• What kinds of transformation she hopes to see in the legal community, and how she’s working to create that change

Also, on Friday, May 22, Kim will be a panelist for Clio’s Innovate Legal Online virtual meetup event, “Re-thinking Your Law Firm During a Downturn.” To learn more and sign up for the meetup, register here.

Kimberly Y. Bennett, Esq., is the Founder of K Bennett Law LLC, a boutique subscription legal services law firm that helps small businesses protect their brands and grow profitable and sustainable seven-figure organizations. Kim defines herself as an innovator, entrepreneur, legal industry disruptor, and a business coach—who happens to be a lawyer. 

Kim’s legal career began with a focus on labor and employment law before she broadened her scope to include business and corporate law. For over a decade, she has represented clients in the sports, print media, digital media, financial services, real estate, and entertainment industries. Now, she brings her business and legal acumen to help small businesses address their trademark and business strategy needs.

In addition to growing and managing her firm, Kim coaches women building modern businesses, speaks on legal topics, teaches workshops for new entrepreneurs, and is a co-organizer of two legal tech communities: Atlanta Legal Tech and Atlanta Legal Hackers.

In this episode, Joshua Browder, CEO and Founder of DoNotPay, shares his personal journey and why he created DoNotPay, as well as:

• How DoNotPay is helping increase access to justice for legal consumers
• Ways that COVID-19 is affecting consumers’ rights, and how DoNotPay helps them respond
• The lasting effects of this crisis on the legal industry
• Why lawyers need to be learning about technology, AI, and Machine Learning
• The major changes in expectations that consumers—and legal clients—will have as a result of this pandemic

Joshua Browder is the CEO and Founder of DoNotPay, “the world’s first robot lawyer,” which prides itself on making the law free for consumers through Artificial Intelligence (AI). The company is backed by an investment from Andreessen Horowitz and Greylock Partners. It has saved an estimated $15 million in parking fines and now works in hundreds of legal areas. The company has been featured in every major media outlet internationally, including the Wall Street Journal, BBC News, Guardian, CBC, Telegraph, Business Insider, ITV, TechCrunch, Daily Mail, NPR, Bloomberg, NBC, ABC, CBS 'This Morning', Telemundo, and others. The BBC called DoNotPay “the Robin Hood of the Internet.”

Joe Andrew is the Global Chairman of the world’s largest law firm, Dentons, which employs more than 19,000 people across 193 offices in 75 countries. This gives Joe a unique, bird’s-eye view of how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the worldwide legal community on a macro level, and it enables him to compare and contrast the situation in the US to what’s happening internationally.

In a wide-ranging and eye-opening conversation with Jack Newton, Joe discusses:

• Why “people really aren’t going back to the office”
• The dilemmas facing leaders at firms and legal organizations 
• How and why data, technology, and history should shape the way firms respond to this crisis
• The challenges of inequality this pandemic presents
• The importance of embracing change and adapting quickly

Joe Andrew is the Global Chairman of Dentons, the largest law firm in the world. An accomplished and highly-regarded corporate lawyer, Joe may be best known for his role as chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in the US from 1999 to 2001.

As Global Chairman of Dentons, Joe is the architect of Dentons' global strategy. He represents Dentons with clients around the world, key strategic partners, business and government leaders, and other external groups. Central to Joe’s work has been his vision for the law firm of the future, which includes Dentons' growth, integration, and reinvention.

For nearly 30 years, Joe has practiced corporate law, focusing on mergers and acquisitions of regulated companies. He has represented many Fortune 1000 companies in negotiating acquisitions, spinoffs, financings, and corporate governance disputes, and in structuring capital market products and organizations to meet their needs. Since joining Dentons in 2004, he has been involved in negotiating deals worth in excess of US$500 billion, including numerous Fortune 500 mergers in the health care and insurance areas.

Joe has counseled companies worldwide on their corporate and policy strategies in a variety of industries, ranging from technology companies to regulated companies in the insurance, energy, life sciences, banking, and telecommunications fields, to foreign acquirers and heads of state. He also advises corporations on issues arising from Capitol Hill, the White House and administrative agencies, and on policy matters in the 50 states.

Joe is an entrepreneur, a published author, a frequent speaker on political and demographic trends, a board member of several nonprofit organizations, and a member of various progressive policy organizations. He is the founder of a socially responsible mutual fund, a biotech consulting firm, a cleantech company, and numerous nonprofit organizations. In addition to his corporate legal background, he is a leader in corporate social responsibility, socially conscious investing, historic preservation, smart growth, and urban planning. He frequently speaks on those issues, as well as election law reform.

Brian Cuban, author of the bestselling book The Addicted Lawyer, knows how challenging of a time this is for the legal profession—which already faces disproportionately high instances of mental illness, substance abuse, and suicide compared to other professions.

To close out Mental Health Week, Brian talks with Clio CEO Jack Newton about the very real difficulties facing many legal professionals. He shares stories from his own battles with addiction and eating disorders, and he discusses some of the core ways the legal industry must change—fundamentally—in order to begin addressing these issues in a substantive way.

Brian Cuban, the younger brother of Dallas Mavericks owner and entrepreneur Mark Cuban, is a Dallas-based attorney, author, and addiction recovery advocate. He is a graduate of Penn State University and The University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Brian has been in long term recovery from alcohol, cocaine, and bulimia since April of 2007.

His first book, Shattered Image: My Triumph Over Body Dysmorphic Disorder, chronicles his first-hand experiences living with, and recovering from, 27 years of eating disorders and Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD).

Brian’s most recent, bestselling book, The Addicted Lawyer: Tales of The Bar, Booze, Blow, & Redemption, is an unflinching look back at how addiction and other mental health issues destroyed his career as a once-successful lawyer—and how he and others in the profession redefined their lives in recovery and found redemption.

Brian has spoken at colleges, universities, conferences, non-profit, and legal events across the United States and in Canada. Brian has appeared on prestigious talk shows such as the Katie Couric Show, as well as numerous media outlets around the country. He also writes extensively on these subjects. His columns have appeared and he has been quoted on these topics on CNN.com, Foxnews.com, The Huffington Post, Above The Law, The New York Times, and in online and print newspapers around the world.

An accomplished executive and leadership coach and Interim Vice President of People at Clio, Natalie Archibald’s mission during the coronavirus crisis is clear: Help people navigate the diverse challenges they’re facing so they can feel supported and effective in their professional and personal lives.

“These events really shake the bedrock of our lives,” Natalie says in this Mental Health Week episode, where she talks with Jack Newton about the collective grief we’re all experiencing; what organizations and leaders can do to support their people during this time; and how individuals can safeguard their own mental wellbeing.

Natalie Archibald is a Registered Clinical Counsellor, Leadership Coach and Learning & Development Consultant. With 10+ years of experience in leadership development, strategic planning, L&D architecture and people development, her goal is to catalyze leadership, learning and culture within organizations.

A practicing bankruptcy attorney who also writes about and teaches mindfulness, meditation, and stress management to lawyers, Jeena Cho has a crucial dual role to play during COVID-19. As part of our Mental Health Week series, Jeena (co-author of The Anxious Lawyer) joins Daily Matters to help legal professionals and organizations understand ways to practice wellness techniques more effectively—and she even leads us in a two-minute mindfulness exercise.

Listen to this episode to hear what’s happening in Jeena’s bankruptcy practice, why she’s noticing “a peak in stress and anxiety” in legal, learn about her personal mental health journey, and understand how you or your firm can better navigate this crisis from a wellness perspective. 

Jeena Cho is a partner at JC Law Group PC, a bankruptcy law firm in San Francisco, CA. She practices with her husband, Jeff Curl, working with individuals and small businesses to find the best solutions for their financial troubles. In addition to her law practice, she teaches mindfulness and meditation to lawyers. She regularly speaks and writes about wellness, self-care, and mindfulness. She also works with lawyers and law firms on stress management, work-life balance, career transition, increasing productivity, and overall wellness.

Jeena is the co-author of The Anxious Lawyer (ABA). She is a regular contributor at Above the Law. She has also written for Forbes, Bloomberg, Lawyerist, Ms. JD, and Huffington Post. She’s been interviewed on MSNBC and Wall Street Journal. Jeena is the author of the LexisNexis guide How to Manage Your Law Office, where she wrote about starting, growing, and managing a solo practice including topics ranging from marketing to virtual law practice to social media. She holds a J.D. and B.A. from University at Buffalo.

When the Founder and CEO of the Stress & Resilience Institute comes on the show during an international crisis, we listen. As a former lawyer and expert at leading individuals and teams through adversity and burnout, Paula Davis-Laack shares research- and experience-backed insights on how legal professionals can respond to drastic challenges (such as those posed by COVID-19).

In this episode, Paula talks burnout, resilience, “post-traumatic growth,” and pressing issues relevant to the legal industry. She discusses how she works with legal professionals, firms, and organizations at the Stress & Resilience Institute, and she shares resources and strategies lawyers can use to navigate times such as these.

To get the Stress & Resilience Institute’s helpful Coronavirus and Beyond PDF guide, download the Organizational Resilience and Agility Checklist. 

As the founder of the Stress & Resilience Institute, Paula Davis-Laack is uniquely qualified to teach resilience skills within high-stress professions. She is one of only three lawyers in the world to have graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Applied Positive Psychology program, and she has been trained to teach resilience skills and tools to Army personnel as part of Penn’s resilience program with the Army.

Paula’s company, the Davis Laack Stress & Resilience Institute, studies the effects of stress and burnout on organizations and busy professionals and delivers cutting-edge programs designed to increase thriving at work, prevent burnout, and build resilience to stress. The Institute has worked with leading companies such as Walgreens, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Harvard Law School, Coca-Cola, GE Healthcare, and the United States Armed Forces. Paula and the Institute have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Oprah Magazine, and the ABA Journal.

“A lot of times law firms already have the tools that they can use to adjust, and they just don’t realize it.”

How is technology enabling law firms as they adapt to the era of social distancing and remote work? Legal technology consultant and practice management advisor Adriana Linares joins Jack Newton to discuss the essential technology that law firms need in the new normal, client perceptions of remote law firms, data retention policies, and the value technology adds to the client experience.

The President of LawTech Partners, a legal technology consulting firm, Adriana Linares is a frequent speaker at national technology conferences and a regular contributor to legal blogs, publications, and podcasts. In 2013 she was selected as a Fastcase 50 honoree, recognizing “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries, and leaders.” She is a member of the 2015 class of the ABA’s LTRC Women in Legal Technology. She served as Chair of the American Bar Association TECHSHOW 2017 and was profiled as a Legal Rebel Trailblazer by the ABA Journal in 2018. She has hosted the New Solo podcast on the Legal Talk Network since 2014.

While she continues her work helping law firms and legal organizations, Adriana also serves as a technology consultant the Florida Bar Board of Governors and is the Member Technology Officer of the San Diego County Bar Association. She is a Microsoft Office expert, a Certified NetDocuments Partner, and a Gold Clio Certified Consultant. 

Janine Sickmeyer, Founder and Managing Director of NextChapter, is a legal tech entrepreneur, podcast host, and soon-to-be author who is running a business while raising four kids—all under five years old. In this episode, Janine shares her inspiring personal story, provides an on-the-ground view of what’s happening in the bankruptcy world during the COVID-19 crisis, and shares valuable perspective for any legal professionals out there with an entrepreneurial spirit.

Note: NextChapter is hosting a Five Day Virtual Bankruptcy Summit from May 11-15. Clio CEO Jack Newton will be a keynote speaker at the event. You can register here: https://nextchapterbk.com/bankruptcy-week

Janine Sickmeyer is the founder of NextChapter and a true visionary and tech expert. She started as a paralegal with an idea and after learning to code, she built the team and product into what it is today (and navigated the company through its acquisition by FastCase in 2019). Additionally, Janine is the Founder of Modern Attorney, the creator of the She Starts Up podcast, and the author of the forthcoming “She Starts Up” book.

When she's not working, you can find Janine at a coffee shop reading a book, hiking, or traveling with her husband and four young children.