Legal Geek once again provided plenty of food for thought for in-house lawyers. To my mind, this year’s key themes centred around innovation, collaboration and client-focus.
Empathetic lawyers; not robot lawyers
“Behave like a robot and you will be replaced by one. Work like a robot and you should be replaced by one.”
This quote, and the same speaker’s advice to “get into the soul of the client” was a recurring topic of discussion during the day. Although efficiency tools will gain traction, lawyers can still thrive by focusing their efforts on establishing deep, personal knowledge of their client. Lawyers should be encouraged to listen, be empathetic and provide intricate, tailored, strategic solutions for their client. From an in-house perspective, this means focusing on the end users of your advice: your colleagues.