The New Arbitration Game @ New York Arbitration Week 2021

The pandemic had a deep impact on the practice and business of arbitration teams. This presentation focuses on (1) virtual persuasion, (2) the debate between WFH and RTO policies within law firms, and (3) the need to hop on the legal tech wave before it's too late.

Transcript

1. The new arbitration game José María de la Jara
2. 01. Replace intuition with data
3. Virtual persuasion
4. 🤔 Intuition: “In virtual hearing you can read people’s facial expressions with more detail” 📊 Data: Hold on…
6. Thinking and feeling Hearing Seeing Decision-making
7. Hynes, J. (2019) 👩⚖ Trials held at immigration courts. 👨⚖ 211 hearings to grant or deny release on bail. 🗣Defendants could choose to appear face-to-face or through videoconference. 🖥
8. face-to-face c2c computer-to-computer Percentage of bail denial, per communication channel 22% 50%
9. Thinking and feeling Hearing Seeing Decision-making Less trust No eye contact Less attention Less empathy Hard to communicate emotions due to standarized bandwidth Profound impact on decisions
10. 01. Replace intuition with data.
11. 02. Stop relying on chance as a catalyst for change.
12. WFH vs. RTO
13. Are law firms returning to provide better services to their clients?
14. 📄 “Our profession cannot long endure a remote work model” Eric Grossman, Chief Legal Officer at Morgan Stanley
15. 🥵 “We’ve never been more inclusive, agile, innovative and ‘together’, and yet some would rather revert to what they know and pretend like it never happened? Out of fear? It certainly screams micro management to me.” Xavier Langlois, General Counsel at Beamery Craft Counsel, “In-house lawyers on remote working memo from Morgan Stanley” (2021)
17. When the pandemic is over, how important is it that law firms return to their offices in order to provide services? It is indifferent to me Not important Important Very important
18. Are law firms returning to provide better services to their clients?
19. Are law firms returning to provide better services to their clients? in search for more collaboration?
20. “Collaboration” = knocking on seniors and partners’ doors
21. This is how “collaboration” can feel sometimes
22. The cost of workplace distractions Think Monkey (2015) 🕒 A third of employees are distracted at work for up to 3 hours a day 😨 The average employee gets interrupted 56 times a day 🔊 Noisy offices are the #1 cause of workplace distraction 😖 Interruptions cause employees: • to take 27% more time to complete a task • commit 2x as many errors • experience 2x the anxiety
23. Linklaters UK is already experimenting with Gather.Town
24. Are law firms returning to provide better services to their clients? in search for more collaboration?
25. Are law firms returning to provide better services to their clients? in search for more collaboration? to train young associates?
26. It’s kind of needed. WFH led to knowledge leakeage at law firms.
27. “Law firms […] hoped that random encounters generated from the shared use of narrow office corridors would render unnecessary any efforts to actually exercise leadership or develop professional skills or build firm culture.” Jordan Furlong
28. Strong reliance on face-to-face encounters to build knowledge
29. TEMPLATES GUIDES WIKIS PROJECT MANAGER
32. Are law firms returning to provide better services to their clients? in search for more collaboration? to train young associates?
33. Then why are some law firms forcing RTO?
34. “I had so much paper I was taking with me, it was easier to bring it into an office” To Get Ahead at Work, Lawyers Find It Helps to Actually Be at Work, New York Times (2021) Partner, law firm from Chicago
35. WFH is not causing knowledge leakage, affecting culture, training, and leadership
36. Neglecting these key aspects of the workplace is
37. 02. Stop relying on chance as a catalyst for change.
38. 03. It is now or never.
39. Legal tech
40. The pandemic brought even more work for lawyers
41. Both law firms and legal departments had to do more with less
42. Legal tech is trending… 👨💻 80% of lawyers report their need for tech solutions has increased as a result of the pandemic. 💁 91% stated that technology has been important in delivering client services during the pandemic. Kluwer Future Ready Lawyer Report (2021)
43. FTI-Relativity General Counsel Report But GCs feel that outside counsel are technologically incompetent
44. Some law firms were not prepared 📚 For 77% of respondents, increased volume and complexity of information and increased importance of legal tech were the top trends impacting their organization. 😫 Only 32% and 33%, were prepared for those challenges. Kluwer Future Ready Lawyer Report (2021)
45. gap There has been an historic gap between leading and trailing law firms
46. Data Kluwer Future Ready Lawyer Report (2021) Leading tech law firms grew… 📈 46% reported they were very prepared to support clients remotely, versus 8% of trailing firms.. 💰47% were more likely to report profitability, compared to 13% Trailing firms. 🤖 65% continue to invest more in technology.
47. Data Kluwer Future Ready Lawyer Report (2021) …while trailing law firms lost business 💸 51% of lawyers do not see business returning to pre- pandemic levels until 2022. 😕 51% of in-house are “somewhat satisfied”. ⬇ 24% of in-house lawyers “very likely” to switch firms (compared to just 13% in 2020). ⚠ 74% said the growth of ALSPs is the biggest trend.
48. Data Kluwer Future Ready Lawyer Report (2021) Top 5 reasons Legal Departments would switch law firms ⚡ If the firm did not demonstrate efficiency and productivity. ⚡ If no longer had trust in the firm to meet our needs. ⚡ If the firm did not specialize in the types of services we need. ⚡ If the firm did not equip its staff with the right tools to perform our work. ⚡ If the firm did not offer the best pricing/value.
49. Clients will take business away from law firms FTI-Blickstein Group, “Law Department Operations Technology Survey” (2021) Legal Spend Analytics / Reporting Tools 55.6% Workflow or Business Process Automation Tools 55.6% Pre-Execution Contract Management 47.2% Document Management 41.7% E-Billing 38.9% Post-Execution Contract (Lifecycle) Management 36.1% E-Discovery 22.2% Matter Management 16.7%
51. gap The gap between leading and trailing law firms is growing
52. gap 🌊 If you don’t catch up with the wave soon, it might end up drowning your business.
53. 03. It is now or never.
54. The new arbitration game Virtual persuasion WFH vs. RTO Legal tech
55. The new arbitration game Virtual persuasion WFH vs. RTO Legal tech
56. The new arbitration game Virtual persuasion WFH vs. RTO Legal tech
57. The new arbitration game Virtual persuasion WFH vs. RTO Legal tech What’s stopping us?
58. LEVEL 01
59. TOXIC CULTURE AND LEGAL MINDSET
60. Scepticism Sense of urgency Autonomy 50 90 50 71 50 89 Dr. Larry Richard, “Caliper Profile” Other professions Lawyers
61. gap 💥 Can we try to be more collaborative in order to provide more value to our clients?
63. LEVEL 02
64. THE PARTNERSHIP MODEL
65. gap 👓 The partnership model is short-sighted.
66. gap 🔮 It doesn’t provide incentives for seniors associates and partners to invest in the future.
67. gap 📈 How about giving equity to the management partners in order to align interests and get rid of short-termism?
69. LEVEL 03
70. THE BILLABLE HOUR
71. gap 🎯 The billable hour is not user-centric.
72. gap 👨⚖ It is a lawyer-centered way of looking at the world.
73. gap 👩⚖ It is designed to protect lawyers. Their time and profitability.
74. gap 🙉 Are we going to listen to clients’ demand for alternative fee structures?
76. The new arbitration game José María de la Jara