Hello 

I can't believe we are already through 21% of the year!!

Here's what coming up on the podcast over the next few weeks:

• Why solving AI problems is so difficult in the legal profession with Matthew Golab, Director, Legal Informatics and R+D at Gilbert + Tobin
• Performance optimization for legal leaders with Parul Patel, Founder, Fuel + Move Consulting
• Making smarter legal decisions using decision science with Len Hickey, IP Lawyer and Founder of Litizage

Recent history of the legal profession in nine tweets

Kristin Hodgins (Director of Legal Operations at Government of British Columbia) published a nine-part tweetstorm you don't want to miss. 

I've included the first and last tweet below to whet your appetite.

Lawyers & the legal industry are not inherently more resistant to change that any other industry; until recently, they simply have not had the need to do so. Very few in any industry are intrinsically motivated to change. If business is good, profits are steady, why would you?  

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Which is to say, we have to appreciate the role of human behaviour and understand the environmental factors pushing against an industry (or absence thereof) that are fundamental in driving innovation; we do ourselves and the industry a disservice otherwise. /9 

Explore the full thread here. 

The working parents survey 

The Lawyer has exceptional reporting, and they published two pieces earlier this month that are worth reading—the first looks at how people are coping, and the second at career prospects. 

Full kudos to Richard Simmons and the lawyer team for the excellent reporting. It's a fascinating read - taking in the respondent comments makes the strain working parents are under and their battle with exhaustion quite apparent. However, this can be juxtaposed against the rating the 1200 respondents gave their organizations, which I expected to be much lower:

The career prospects also paint a picture, which many of us likely could guess: (1) across the board, 30-60% of respondents are working 4-6+ hours beyond their "normal" day; (2) partnership aspirations are shifting, most notably for female parents (see graphic below); 

And, (3) almost half (46%) of junior lawyers don't want to or aren't sure if they will remain in the profession in five years. 

Why is everyone talking about NFTs?

If you want to understand better why there is so much fuss about non-fungible tokens (NFTs), then it's worth listening to this Modern Finance podcast episode.

Escape Zoom hell

If you find yourself in Zoom/Teams/Webex meetings all day, you can fight technology with technology. Sam Lavigne created a nifty app that allows you to introduce some sound interference to your calls. My favorite is 'Man Weeping.' 

I share this in jest; though the strain of back-to-back video calls is quite real. Some things that work well for me are turning off self-view, taking calls while on a walk, turning off the camera after an introduction, and scheduling shorter meetings. 

Check out Zoom Escaper

Until next week, stay well.

Best

Ab

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