GLH final round judge George Beaton offers advice — and warnings — for a better law firm future
“The publicity and energy released by the GLH catalyze people,” says Melbourne-based law firm adviser George Beaton
When law firm adviser George Beaton spoke about the future of the law firm back in 2016, the Melbourne-based NewLaw proponent remarked that a growing array of issues in law firm business were “straws in the wind,” harbingers of a storm to come that could tear the market asunder. Now, even though we have yet to find ourselves in a fully-fledged hurricane, Beaton says, “clouds are definitely gathering in Australia and the UK.”
Co-author of Remaking Law Firms: Why and How, Beaton is the executive chairman of Beaton Global and will serve as a judge at the final round of the Global Legal Hackathon alongside four other impressive industry leaders.
The major issues Beaton identified then were the “not-so-subtle changes in clients’ buying behavior, work ambitions of millennials, [and] the rate of change and impact of new technologies,” all compounding “the slowing of profit growth across the industry.”
“A handful of traditional BigLaw firms are clearly on a transformational change journey.” — George Beaton
As Building NewLaw’s Natalie Worsfold gleaned from Beaton’s book, it isn’t just traditional business models that are threatening the future of firms. NewLaw providers have also been fighting a “talent challenge,” not sufficiently training their people and overlooking the value of traditional apprenticeships.
Even now in 2018, Beaton observes that “no NewLaw firm yet has the scale to invest in training of this kind.”
Beaton warns that if traditional firms do not act soon enough, they could end up like “the frog in the beaker of heating water.” He also cautions that NewLaw providers’ greatest enemy could be their own hubris.
Fortunately, it appears that some firms are beginning to sow the seeds of change. “A handful of traditional BigLaw firms are clearly on a transformational change journey it seems,” says Beaton. He cited Pinsent Masons, who hosted a round-one Global Legal Hackathon event in London, as an example of a firm seeking transformational and “sustainable” change.
Beaton also observed that initiatives like the Global Legal Hackathon could help foster these types of industry-wide changes. “The publicity and energy released by the GLH catalyze people — not just young people. And, it’s inevitable that new models will emerge, among the many that will fail. It’s Darwinian.”
“The publicity and energy released by the GLH catalyze people — not just young people.” — George Beaton
He advises any new legal tech start-ups looking to succeed in the current ecosystem to simply “Persist. Persist. Persist.”
As a judge at the GLH finals, Beaton will be closely watching the finalists as they present their legal tech solutions, looking for those that clearly display “realism, conviction, and original thinking.”
For Beaton, the most exciting aspect of watching this inaugural Global Legal Hackathon unfold so far is “the speed and inclusiveness of the project.”
As the hackathon hits its crescendo at the gala next weekend in Manhattan, Beaton is looking forward to “meeting lots of cool venturers and entrepreneurs who believe creativity and diversity can change the world.”
Well, he’s certainly come to the right place.
If you believe that creativity and diversity can change the world — and the legal sector — join the Global Legal Hackathon community for the finals next weekend in New York, New York! Want to hear more sharp insights from George Beaton? Follow him on Twitter at @grbeaton_law and @grbeaton_psf!
