Moral Bankruptcy: Modeling Appropriate Attorney Behavior in Bankruptcy Cases

This essay discusses how important it is for lawyers, especially senior lawyers, to model appropriate behavior so that the newest lawyers learn how best to behave professionally

Leveraging Legal Analytics and Spend Data as a Law Firm Self-Governance Tool

This paper discusses the advantages that law firms can get by using legal analytics (big data) to analyze how they do their work for their clients (and how their clients can benefit as well). We discuss the external forces that are reshaping the economics of today’s legal industry; the types of decisions, in determining how best to represent a client in a given matter, that tend to drive up costs; the possible reasons for those decisions; how law firms can use data-analytics tools to examine their own choices; and the benefits that stem from a data-driven analysis of those choices

Training Law Students to Maintain Civility in Their Law Practices as a Way to Improve Public Discourse

Our current social discourse is broken. Not only have we resorted to name-calling instead of reasoned discussion, but we have also resorted to the fundamental attribution error: we attribute bad motives to people with whose positions we disagree rather than starting with the presumption that, perhaps, buried deep within their positions could be a grain of truth. As Yoni Appelbaum observed in a recent article in The Atlantic, Recent research by political scientists at Vanderbilt University and other institutions has found both Republicans and Democrats distressingly willing to dehumanize members of the opposite party. \u27 We need to find a way to reach across the void. As a way of mending our torn social fabric, I recommend that we train law students not only to pick apart bad arguments but also to find ways to pick arguments apart without showing disrespect for the person making the argument. By training law students to behave civilly, even when they are convinced that the other person is fiat-out wrong, we might just be able to get people to hear each other, rather than speak past each other-not just in law schools, not just in universities, but in our society

The Client Who Did Too Much

Using Hitchcock\u27s MacGuffin as a theme, I discuss the dynamics between client and lawyer when the client so obsesses over the issue driving him that he persuades (or attempts to persuade) the lawyer to do things that are inadvisable from the lawyer\u27s point of view

TELLING THE STORY ON YOUR TIMESHEETS: A FEE EXAMINER\u27S TIPS FOR CREDITORS\u27 LAWYERS AND BANKRUPTCY ESTATE PROFESSIONALS

This short (approx. 5,000 words) essay, which forms the basis of a keynote address to the Federal Bar Association that I’m doing next month, discusses how much of a lawyer’s embedded assumptions and cognitive errors can come across in something as simple as a time entry on a bill. So much can be revealed about how a lawyer views himself or herself in society and about the lawyer’s relationship with the client that it’s worth examining what we can find when we look at legal bills. One note, though: my writing style is informal and distinctive in that regard (especially when the article forms the basis of a keynote speech), and I like to keep my writing style that way, so if you hate informal writing, my article isn’t likely to be right for you. On the other hand, if you like footnotes that can be amusing, then please read on

Telling the Story on Your Timesheets: A Fee Examiner\u27s Tips for Creditors\u27 Lawyers and Bankruptcy Estate Professionals

This essay discusses how much of a lawyer’s embedded assumptions and cognitive errors can come across in something as simple as a time entry on a bill. So much can be revealed about how a lawyer views himself or herself in society and about the lawyer’s relationship with the client that it’s worth examining what we can find when we look at legal bills

Nudging Better Lawyer Behavior: Using Default Rules and Incentives to Change Behavior in Law Firms

This article examines how incentives in law firms can affect lawyer behavior and suggests some possible changes to incentive structures and default rules that might improve the ethical behavior of lawyers. In the changing landscape of law practice — where law firm profits are threatened by such changes as increased pressure from clients to economize and the concomitant opportunities for clients to shop around for the most efficient lawyers — are there ways to change how things are done in law firms so that firms can provide more efficient and ethical service? This article suggests that an understanding of cognitive biases and basic behavioral economics will help law firms tweak their incentives and default rules to promote the improved delivery of legal services