Graeme J.’s Post

This post outlines the nine facets of noslegal (open source non-commercial legal standards taxonomy developed in consultation with law firms and others over the last four years) and their direction of travel. The first facet is Needs. This is a formalisation of the four areas noslegal is designed to help with - Knowledge - e.g. practical legal guidance and templates - Work, process and financial - e.g. budgeting, pricing, spend and project management - People and organisations - e.g. resourcing, experience, training - Sales and marketing - e.g. credentials, pitches What we've left out is also important: it's not designed for, say, legal research or education as we believe those will likely lead us down local law rabbitholes which risk distraction. The next four are the most important for describing key things (such as matters, documents and people's experience) in the above four areas of need. - Work. Types of distinctive process, e.g. litigation, investigation, transaction, dissolution, advice. There will likely be some updates here. - Places. Countries and their sub-divisions and aggregations enriched with legally-useful information, including the types of links which a matter or document typically has to a place (e.g. asset in, litigation in). - Laws. Types of law e.g. private, public, criminal, information, economic, employment. Each with simple subtypes of international relevance. Later this year we expect to fold an older facet (Perspectives) into this. - Sectors. Derived from an international classification but updated in various ways to deprecate types of little relevance, and to add aspects (e.g. in financial services) of great relevance. A sixth facet, Processes, currently in (public) draft, goes inside legal matters to describe phases of matter types described as combinations of concepts from the above four facets. This contains typical phases, outputs (deliverables) and more. It's been prepared in conjunction with global law firms in an effort to modernise and internationalise this topic. The seventh facet is Information assets - fairly high level types and states of documents. A topic to discuss is whether to expand these. The eighth facet is Subjects of the law - e.g. persons, property and relationships. This has some high level types such as individual or company and some specialist extensions such as roles, features, connectors and UK legal organisation types. How far to extend (and ontologise) this is a matter for discussion. The ninth facet contains some Combinations of entities from the other facets, illustrating how they can express more complex entities. A topic to discuss at our early Oct event in London will be some development of details of these facets, but also whether to embark upon any more. For example, some community participants have expressed interest in a Skills facet. All of this will be discussed at the Oct event but I wanted to put something out publicly to invite input from anyone who cares to.

Business Law – Legal Foundations for Your Business Legal compliance is the cornerstone of a successful business. Understanding the fundamental principles of business law is crucial to navigating the complex web of regulations that govern the world of commerce. From forming contracts to protecting intellectual property rights, knowing your legal obligations can mean the difference between smooth sailing and costly legal battles. In this post, we will explore the key legal foundations every business owner should be aware of to ensure their operations are on solid legal ground. Establishing a Business Entity Sole Proprietorships To start your entrepreneurial journey, one common and straightforward option is to establish a sole proprietorship. In this business structure, the business is solely owned and operated by one individual. It offers simplicity in setup and management, with the owner having full control and decision-making power. Partnerships One of the earliest forms of business structures, partnerships involve two or more individuals sharing ownership and responsibilities. It can... #businesslaw #businessprinciples #businessregulations #businesssetup #BusinessStrategy #businesssuccess #companylaw #corporatelaw #LegalAdvice #LegalCompliance #legalfoundations #LegalStrategies

It's nice to be written about, but Sophie Dillon at Legal Cheek has given me the added gift of LinkedIn 'about me' soundbites galore! Hopefully I give some useful insights to future digital lawyers - and others joining the legal profession (in whatever role) - which essentially boil down to: 1️⃣ Keeping an open mind. Whether during your rotations, secondments, or whatever else, use the opportunity to learn more about law, business - and yourself. I often suggest that my mentees take the time, every so often, to write down (using pen and paper) what it is that they've done that they've enjoyed, and not enjoyed, and why. Really drill into what motivates you. You can't get rid of everything you don't enjoy... trust me, I've tried... but you can take control of your career journey from the start. 2️⃣ Taking time to listen to others - clients, colleagues, mentors, whoever - and really seek to understand. Being a 'trusted advisor' goes so much further than just responding to a brief. Understand pain, motivations, personalities, and everything else that makes up the situation. The questions you ask and insights you gather will open doors, give you data to act on, and allow you to build far stronger and longer-lasting relationships throughout your career. 3️⃣ Think like a disruptor. The legal sector has evolved so much in just a few short years, and will continue to do so at incredible pace. This presents new and exciting opportunities for future digital lawyers (and others) to challenge the way we do law, carving out names for yourselves from the outset as truly digital operators. Your knowledge and interest in cutting-edge technologies can help inform legal matters, allow you to transform the way you do tasks, and even reinvent how law is delivered to clients (think 'digital products'...). You can add a lot of value from day one. 4️⃣ Build your skills holistically. Technical excellence, attention to detail, and commercial awareness are all fundamental skills in the legal sector, so what else are you bringing to the table? I enjoy meeting people with 'founder personality' - those who build on their technical foundation with curiosity, tenacity, communication, resilience, adaptability, and self-awareness. They are humble individuals who use their listening skills to identify opportunities, then have the courage to try something, fail fast, learn - and reiterate until they succeed. My former ETG paralegals Akshat Bhatia, Theo Harding, James Blades-Walker, and Hugo Carter - now trainees and future trainees at leading firms - are all wonderful examples. Good luck to everyone going through applications, interviews, and vacation schemes over the coming weeks and months. It's a gruelling period, but one that opens the door to a dynamic, exciting, and evolving profession. #DigitalLaw #EmergingTech #AI #Blockchain #Lawyer https://lnkd.in/eEUsvMeJ

Product Counsel: Advise, Innovate, and Inspire by Adrienne Go and Olga V. Mack is now live on Globe Law Online. https://lnkd.in/e6EPEzWG "This is a must-read for any product lawyer who wants to be a trusted business partner. Adrienne and Olga have written the quintessential guide for lawyers at every level. It’s engaging and so useful with practical advice, tips, and the checklists you’ve always wanted to have at your fingertips. I highly recommend." Eve Saltman "The modern corporate lawyer needs to be fluent in the technologies, products, and industries they support. They must help their clients and corporate partners assess and navigate risk. They need to not just understand regulatory landscapes, but counsel on where they might be heading. Product Counsel: Advise, Innovate, and Inspire doesn't just address these issues, it provides roadmaps and frameworks for legal practitioners to upskill their careers. Adrienne Go and Olga Mack bring decades of combined experience, and their work is essential reading – not just for traditional product counsels but for all corporate legal professionals looking to stay ahead in an evolving landscape." Adam Sterling "This book outlines the steps necessary to become a business-focused lawyer, a product counsel who can support and advise leadership in their journey by understanding the business and products. Legal advice can be critical to the success of a business, and by understanding how to deliver that advice, you can gain the trust of your colleagues across the company. The framework described in this book is a great foundation for your journey to successful legal leadership at your company." Karna Nisewaner

Consultant fee sharing models now employ 4,000 lawyers – Report Consultant or platform law firms continue to grow with 4000 lawyers reported to be operating under the fee sharing model in England and Wales according to the latest insight. Despite it remaining a small fraction of the overall legal market; the sector is growing and developing into new areas of law according to a new report from Codex Edge.

🌐📣 𝐀 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧📣🌐 At 360 Business Law, we pride ourselves on being the only law firm (that I know of) offering a global subscription legal service for commercial, contracts, and employment law. For a single monthly premium, our clients can access our experienced lawyers in over 90 countries. 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲, 𝐢𝐧 𝟗𝟎% 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐝-𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐊 𝐨𝐫 𝐔𝐒𝐀. Once signed up, and subject to very few caveats, our clients enjoy stable fees with no increases, regardless of workload rises. Although we have some household name clients using the service, 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐬. We conducted a short survey and discovered the reason: many simply didn’t know we offered this service! SO, WE NEED TO SHOUT MORE! 📢 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟑𝟔𝟎 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐋𝐚𝐰 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐮𝐧𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭. #LegalInnovation #GlobalLawService #BusinessLaw #CommercialLaw #EmploymentLaw #LegalSubscription #360BusinessLaw #GlobalLegalSupport #AffordableLegalService Let's connect or send me a message and explore how our unique service can benefit your business!

For all interested businesses looking for some cost-containment strategies, your legal support needs is an area where effective solutions exist, or at least one solution does. @360businesslaw offers tremendous value-for-service and should be investigated for your company.

Reinventing an industry like the legal profession doesn’t happen by dumb luck. And the folks at Law Squared know this. They’re a law firm that’s set on changing the way businesses across the world engage with legal counsel. And while they’re on their journey, they’ve been experimenting with new tools and processes to deliver a superior buying experience for their customers. “Our philosophy is that we should use best-in-class tools to do exactly what they’re designed to do” explained Nam Truong, their Digital + Innovation lead. As part of this process, they identified that their proposal process to close new clients was clunky and painful. It looked a little something like: - An initial conversation (or several) takes place - The firm creates extensive proposals in tools like Microsoft Word, then sends them to clients - Clients choose their preferred service option and reply via email - The firm puts the preferred option into a cost agreement—a service contract—and emails it back to the client - The client reviews and signs the contract using a tool like AdobeSign - The firm signs the contract and the engagement begins “We knew there had to be a way to combine the proposal and cost agreement into one easy step”. And that’s when they found Qwilr. The team loved how Qwilr leveraged the power of the web to make their proposal more visually appealing. But that wasn’t all. They also used Qwilr’s automations to lighten the administrative burden on their operations team. By integrating Qwilr with Salesforce, Law Squared were able to save time on proposal creation, with great results. As Trent Milvain, Law Squared’s COO, put it: “It’s really important, because it delights our team members. Our lawyers are freed up to do what they want to do—provide robust and helpful legal advice.” Qwilr also enhanced their brand… Nam explains: “We get regular feedback from clients saying things like, ‘You guys are the first law firm that I’ve worked with that’s given me a proposal in this format. It looks incredible.’” Now that they’ve integrated with Salesforce, Law Squared is seeing at least 10-15 Qwilr proposals accepted every week. They’ve successfully embedded Qwilr into their workflows and processes, empowering their employees to spend time on work that’s meaningful to their business and their clients. Interested in trying Qwilr for yourself? Get in touch with our team and get started.

Reinventing Operating Models in Law Firms: Insights from Industry Leaders Join us for an informative session on the transformation of law firm operating models aimed at better serving General Counsels, where our panellists will discuss WHY it is worthwhile to embrace change and HOW to effectively implement it. James Lane, Regional General Counsel for Stericycle, a global leader in medical waste and document destruction services, will share his extensive experience in collaborating with panel law firms. With oversight of the legal function across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific, James manages a cross-border legal team spanning over a dozen countries. One of his initial tasks at Stericycle was to establish an internal Legal Function and conduct a comprehensive panel law firm review. James will outline his criteria for selecting the most efficient counsels and his strategy for fostering well-working relationships. Line Lolk Thomsen, Head of Projects & Innovation at Plesner, one of Denmark’s largest law firms, brings expertise from her background in Innovation and Business Development. Holding a Master’s degree from Copenhagen Business School and having worked in Latin America and Asia, Line now works at Plesner within areas such as process management and digitalization. She will discuss how multidisciplinary teams, working collaboratively across disciplines, are driving innovation. Jordan Lee, Chief Strategy Officer at Pogust Goodhead, a pioneering collective redress law firm operating on a No-Win, No-Fee model funded by hedge funds, will present practical use cases and examples illustrating the impact of their innovation-driven approach. Responsible for both demanding and driving innovation, Jordan will highlight how their model enhances speed and focus, ultimately improving case success rates and reducing costs. Paula Reichenberg, Vice-President of the Swiss LegalTech Association and Founder & CEO of NEUR.ON, will moderate the panel. Neur.on is the first #LegalTech to offer law firms, corporate legal departments, and financial service providers an industry-tailored platform for accurate legal and financial translations. In both her capacities, Paula closely monitors the fast-growing expectations of law firms and legal departments regarding tech-induced efficiency gains. The topics covered will encompass: -      strategy-driven advice, -      the value added by multidisciplinary teams, -      client expectations regarding the use of LegalTech tools, and -      the benefits of data analytics in identifying potential efficiency gains. This session is geared towards law firms looking to stay ahead in a competitive landscape. It provides an opportunity to gain insights from leaders who are at the forefront of #LegalInnovation. #LegalInnovation #LawFirmTransformation #ChangeManagement #legalTechTalk2024