We’re going to come out of this a changed society and a changed legal system. ~ Jordan Furlong
Jordan Furlong (@jordan_law21) is a legal market analyst, author and speaker. He regularly consults with law firms and legal organizations to help them understand the present and prepare for the future.
Many of Jordan’t legal market insights are captured in his most recent book, Law is a Buyer’s Market: Building a Client First Law Firm.
Jordan has been closely following the sudden changes from the COVID-19 pandemic. He has already started thinking and writing about what this global event will mean for legal education, the legal services market and public justice. His series of “Pandemic” posts (which you should definitely check out) are available on his law21.ca website.
In this conversation, we take a deep dive into Jordan’s thinking about the current state of the legal world. But he doesn’t just dwell on our current problems and challenges. He also outlines very clear, actionable steps for lawyers, both now and in the longer term.
If you’re a legal professional who feels that the world is spinning out of control right now (even a little bit), you’ll find some valuable takeaways from this conversation. Looking beyond the pandemic, Jordan also his vision for the work we should all be doing to build better systems legal services and justice systems for the future.
Topics Covered
- Legal services as a market
- Legal education
- Access to justice
- Technology and justice
- Professionalism for lawyers
- Service and business tips for small and medium law firms in a pandemic
Quiz
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Show Notes
8:00 How Jordan describes his work
9:00 Talking about legal services as a market with more actors than just legal professionals
12:00 Jordan’s path to becoming a lawyer
14:30 What Jordan would say to himself in an email sent back in time to his first day of law school
17:30 Setting / managing expectations for people going into legal practice
18:00 Being patient about finding your right place in law
22:30 Developing a sense of professional identity
28:00 “Outsider” perspectives on legal practice
32:20 The disruptive significance of the COVID-19 pandemic
33:15 Our entire legal ecosystem was not only unprepared – but already staggering
34:20 The justice system shutting down
38:00 Legal education’s & law professin’s adjustments to continue operating
41:18 Online learning vs remote teaching
42:30 Doing things differently and doing things better
45:00 Reflections on tradition and change
49:00 Examining process to determine if it’s delivering something of value that is required and needed
52:00 Triage to get institutions working again in the short term and building on it in the long term
53:30 Courts dealing only with urgent and high-priority matters
54:30 JP Boyd on a family law agency
58:20 Jordan on Jack Newton’s Daily Matters Podcast
58:25 Jordan’s series of Pandemic blog posts (search “Pandemic” if the posts are not showing)
58:12 Triage / crisis management and priorities for law firms
1:02:00 Expanding what it means to be a legal professional
1:07:18 Even lawyers are social animals
1:08:20 The disappearance of some forms of traditional, transactional legal work
1:09:30 Making a connection and making yourself a key in your client’s life
1:11:00 How Jordan defines success for himself
1:12:25 The toughest choice or sacrifice Jordan made to get where he is today
1:15:38 If Jordan had to do a week’s worth of work in 3 hours…
1:17:17 Special things Jordan does to look after himself
1:19:17 A place to learn about Jordan for people who are too busy to spend much time @jordan_law21, law21.ca, Law is a Buyer’s Market
1:20:52 Before my work in the law is done, I want to…
1:22:37 Best book in the last year Lord of the Rings
1:27:33 Jordan’s asks, or calls to action for listeners