2020: Implications for the Future

Law Technology Now’s hosts discuss the mark the global pandemic will leave on law firms, legal education and the delivery of legal services

While legions are hopeful for a return to normalcy as soon as possible, the pandemic’s legacy will be felt for decades. The impact is already sure to prompt change from tech adoption to what defines an entity’s business hub.

Ralph Baxter, Daniel Rodriguez, and Dan Linna use their final episode as hosts of LTNow to discuss life before and during the pandemic, and what they predict is next in their respective fields of expertise.

Linna references disruptive innovation theorist Clayton Christensen in considering a different way for law firms to think, plan and talk about technology. Instead of choosing between prioritizing disruptive tech vs operational innovation, Linna says firms need to balance both to keep pace with an evolving industry.

Rodriguez reviews the pandemic’s impact on law schools, already struggling with decreased enrollment, law school finances, and student debt. He discusses regulation of law schools, the shift to all online early in the pandemic, grading changes, and how remote and hybrid learning is creating opportunities for improving teaching during precious hours in person and via technology while remote.

For law firms, Ralph Baxter expects the pandemic will have game-changing ramifications. Specifically, he believes the disruption shared globally created a gateway for change for an industry on the precipice of progress. Years of talking gave way to sudden action by necessity.

Baxter predicts changes and improvements beyond travel and space, down to the fundamental concept of how the workplace hub is defined. A brick-and-mortar space was the hub of activity pre-pandemic. But the new hub is information and the technology that connects people and processes to that information.

Ralph Baxter served as Chairman & CEO of Orrick for nearly a quarter-century and is a member of Intapp’s board of directors.

Daniel W. Linna Jr. has a joint appointment at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and McCormick School of Engineering as the Director of Law and Technology Initiatives and a Senior Lecturer.

Former dean Daniel B. Rodriguez is the Harold Washington Professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.