#LegalTechLives with Mitchell Kowalski, author, professor, and Legal Innovation columnist for the National Post Can you learn to be an innovator? Mitchell Kowalski says yes but believes the legal industry needs fewer buzzwords and more change. Oh, and before you ask, no, he is not related to “Killer.�
Mitchell Kowalski is the Gowling WLG Visiting Professor in Legal Innovation at the University of Calgary Law School, the Legal Innovation columnist at the National Post, and Principal Consultant at Cross Pollen Advisory where he advises in-house legal departments and law firms on the redesign of legal service delivery. He is a Fastcase 50 Global Legal Innovator and the author of the critically acclaimed book, Avoiding Extinction: Reimagining Legal Services for the 21st Century. His new book, The Great Legal Reformation: Notes from the Field will be published in September 2017. Ava Chisling: I know that you teach innovation and that people can learn about innovation, but can someone learn to be an innovator? Mitchell Kowalski: I don’t believe that some people are born innovators and others are not. While some people may have brains that are wired to automatically look at how things can be improved, innovation is a skill that can be learned. It comes from being given the freedom to experiment without crushing criticism, in combination with a support system that encourages a philosophy of continuous improvement. Lean, Six Sigma or Design Thinking are all philosophies and methods by which people can learn to take a more innovative approach to whatever it is they are doing. AC: This study you talk about in the Financial Post is fascinating, particularly because it states that 89% of law partners believe “innovation was one of [their] firm’s highest
strategic priorities.” Do you have any idea what would lead them to believe that? MK: Innovation is the legal buzzword of the day. Every law firm claims to be the most innovative or that innovation is its highest priority. It’s marketing hype. That hype feeds into the partnership because someone once used the word in a meeting or they heard that another firm down the street is “innovative” so they better make the same claim. Many firms don’t understand what innovation would look like at their firm, but they are loath to say that they aren’t innovative. That study was reassuring for me. At least now we had some data that reinforced my own feeling that when you do a deep dive into these firms, very little innovation is really going on. AC: And speaking of innovation… I wrote an article just this week for ROSS comparing law firms to the declining retail industry when it comes to technology. You wrote a book about it. Why can’t so many lawyers see what’s ahead? MK: Law firms are very risk-averse. They are not first movers. And they remain complacent in a closed, protected market that is not pushing them hard enough to change. Change is hard and there is a cost to it, both financially and mentally. Most firms still don’t believe that the benefits of change will outweigh the costs of change.
“Law firms are very risk-averse. They are not first movers. And they remain complacent in a closed, protected market that is not pushing them hard enough to change.”
AC: Step into your time machine, please, and travel forward 25 years… what do you see in terms of the legal industry? MK: In 25 years, legal services will transform from a lawyer-dominated service into an entity-driven service dominated by technology and process, and merely augmented by lawyers. It will be a new era of legal services as a team sport, just as pilots are very important for an airline, but they don’t run the company or perform all needed services. AC: What are the top three tools you think law firms should adopt right now? (Crossing my fingers that you will say AI!) MK: 1. Technology, and that includes AI. 2. Lean or Six Sigma-type tools for continuous improvement. 3. Adaptability skills — firms need to train their teams to learn, unlearn and re-learn.
AC: I am guessing you’ve been asked if you’re related to Killer Kowalski, an old-time Canadian wrestler who was hilarious as the villain. Have you seen footage of him?
MK: No relation! And yes, I have seen some footage. Kowalski is the classic Irish working-class name [laughs] and creates some interesting conversations. Kowalski is one of the Penguins of Madagascar and then there’s the infamous Stanley Kowalski. Kowalski is also the soldier who gets killed in almost every war movie, “Sarge, they got Kowalski.” AC: That’s hilarious! And true! AC: I’ve been asking everyone what kind of robot they would like to see invented right now. What’s yours? MK: Japan seems to be way ahead of the curve with robots for every taste… but mine is simple: I’d like a robot that’ll grocery shop, cook, clean and do laundry. There are a few jokes I could insert here… but I won’t. I will simply thank you for your time and for teaching future lawyers the benefits of innovation. Needless to say, ROSS is with you!
Tagged in Law, Legaltech By Ava Chisling on May 22, 2017. Canonical link Exported from Medium on August 18, 2017.