Pioneers and Pathfinders

Today’s guest is Jayne Reardon, executive director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, which promotes a more civil, professional, and inclusive legal culture in the state. In her nearly 16 years at the commission, Jayne has overseen a growing roster of initiatives rooted in civility, including programs on ethics, diversity, well-being, and the future of law. These programs are united by her belief that the legal profession can and should do better in meeting the legal needs of consumers by unlocking the underutilized potential of attorneys. Listen in to today’s conversation to learn: - How Jayne’s approach to the issues facing the profession are shaped by her prior experience as a successful trial lawyer. - What she sees as the barriers to civility in the profession. - How a focus on civility can increase access to justice.

Today we are joined by Bea Seravello and Brad Blickstein, leaders of new law advisory services at Baretz+Brunelle, a strategic communications and digital marketing agency. Bea and Brad bring complementary experiences to their roles. Bea is a longtime business of law leader at top Am Law firms, and Brad is a renowned legal industry futurist. Most recently, they released a two-part report on innovation adoption in law firms, which provided fascinating insights on the current rates of adoption—spoiler alert: the numbers are low—and case studies on successful adoption from a number of large law firms. Seyfarth is honored to have been profiled. Listen in to today's conversation to learn more about: - How Bea and Brad’s individual journeys intersected and culminated in the founding of B+B’s new law advisory practice. - How their experiences complement each other. - Their specific insights on innovation adoption in law firms.

Isabel Parker has long been a leader in pushing boundaries and driving change in the legal profession. She started her career as an associate at Freshfields, and after a brief break, she rejoined the firm to lead legal services. Isabel eventually took on the role of chief legal innovation officer, where she was part of the leadership team driving the firm's digital transformation initiative. During that time, she spearheaded the formation of Freshfields’ legal services center in Manchester, a first of its kind captive ALSP. Today, Isabel is the executive director of the Digital Legal Exchange, a nonprofit whose mission is to enable legal leaders to deliver measurable commercial value to the business and its customers. If that isn't enough, she recently authored a book, Successful Digital Transformation in Law Firms: A Question of Culture. Listen in to today's conversation to learn more about: - Isabel's fascinating journey from Magic Circle associate to head of innovation. - How her journey informed her take on the digital transformation of law firms. - Her advice for how to achieve the firmwide mindset change required to drive transformation.

Basha Rubin, CEO and co-founder of Priori Legal, discusses her entrepreneurial journey, the use of technology and data in legal services, and challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. Priori connects in-house teams with skilled attorneys using a data-driven process. They explore Priori's new product, Scout, which aims to diversify legal services and address pain points faced by law firms in identifying suitable lawyers.

Joy Heath Rush has spent virtually her entire career supporting lawyers, and has had a leading role in defining the value of allied professionals. Her career path started at Sidley Austin in document services, where her devotion to excellence and love of technology helped her move into a number of leadership roles. After a stint at Litera, Joy is now CEO of the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA)—what she calls her dream job. Listen in to today's conversation to learn: - Why she loves working with lawyers. - How Joy’s role as CEO of ILTA is the culmination of all her professional experiences. - How COVID-19 has transformed the delivery of content. - The advice she gives to allied professionals who want the career longevity she has had.

Today we continue our exploration of the efforts underway to close the justice gap with our guest, John Mayer, the executive director of the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) at Chicago-Kent, the law school of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). One of CALI’s key projects is A2J Author, a software tool that enables nontechnical stakeholders from the courts, legal services programs, and law schools to rapidly build and implement user-friendly interfaces for document assembly. A2J Guided Interviews remove many of the barriers faced by self-represented litigants, allowing them to easily complete court documents. It is a testament to how law, design, and technology working together can close the justice gap. Listen in to today’s conversation with John to learn: - Why an engineer by education and self-described systems thinker chose to stay “law adjacent” rather than embarking on the chief information officer path. - How John’s participation in a joint project of Kent Law School and the Institute of Design at IIT on self-represented litigants laid the groundwork for A2J Author. - And why John believes automating court forms is one of the best ways for law students to learn the law.

The justice gap is one of the most serious issues facing our country. Of low-income Americans experiencing civil legal problems, the vast majority receive inadequate or no legal help at all. This gap is the result of overlapping issues facing the legal industry: the cost of law school, the complexity of our justice system, and the slow adoption of technology by lawyers and the courts, among others. Our guest today is David Stern, a legal industry pioneer who has spent the majority of his career addressing the justice gap. He is executive director of Equal Justice Works, an organization committed to mobilizing passionate public service leaders. Under David’s leadership, Equal Justice Works has grown to become the nation’s largest facilitator of opportunities in public interest law. The organization has facilitated more than 2,500 public interest fellowships, with 85% of fellows remaining in public service. Listen in to today’s conversation to hear: - How educational debt has increased the justice gap—and what Equal Justice Works has done to make it easier for students with debt to choose public service jobs. - How a child of a professional muckraker went from law school to clerkship, to a brief stint in practice; and how a chance encounter on the other side of the planet led him to Equal Justice Works. - Why today’s law students have such an appetite for public service; and inspiring success stories of Equal Justice Works fellows.

Today’s guest is librarian, lawyer, knowledge management, computer programmer, blogger, and podcaster Renaissance man Greg Lambert. Like so many of our multihyphenate guests, he is a very busy man. Many of you will know Greg from the long-running 3 Geeks and a Law Blog, which was founded in 2008 and is one of the first blogs to focus on what we now think of as “the business of law.” Greg also co-hosts The Geek In Review podcast, which dives into the world of legal information professionals. If that wasn’t enough, Greg also has a day job as chief knowledge services officer at Jackson Walker. He thinks of himself as a "connector" who puts the spotlight on the innovative folks in our industry and connects them with others who have similar goals. Today, we put the spotlight on Greg, to learn more about his unique journey. Listen in as we talk shop about podcasting, geek out over guests, and learn a little about how Greg is innovating the role of law librarian.

Today’s guest is Laurie Robinson Haden, an award-winning lawyer and agent of change who personifies the pioneering spirit that defines this podcast. During a nearly 20-year stint in various leadership roles in CBS’s law department, she founded Corporate Counsel Women of Color (CCWC), the largest and most influential professional organization of its kind. What started as an informal group of friends exchanging contact information in 2004 has now become a powerhouse network of nearly 5,000 women of color devoted to empowering one another and lifting one another up. Seyfarth is proud to have played a role in the early days by helping Laurie set the organization up as a 501(c)(3), and the firm is proud to call her an alum, as well. Listen in to today’s conversation to get a feel for Laurie’s infectious energy as we discuss: - The need for an organization like CCWC—especially for first-generation women lawyers of color. - Her advice for getting buy-in and support from employers for diversity initiatives, and why people shouldn’t be afraid to walk away when they don’t get it. - What’s next for CCWC as it turns focus from the chief legal officers space to the boardroom. Note: Pioneers and Pathfinders will be taking the week of Thanksgiving off. We hope you enjoy the holiday with your friends and family. We will be back on December 1.

We've had a number of guests from legal education who are helping law students find and forge alternative career paths that prioritize business skills alongside legal. Today's guest, Amani Smathers, is among the first generation of young lawyers to embark on one of these new—some might say non-traditional—career paths being forged. In fact, when Amani was still a law student, she introduced the industry to the concept of the T-shaped lawyer, which combines breadth in business skills with depth in legal knowledge. This idea has stuck and changed the discourse around lawyer professional skills development. Today, Amani is a senior practice innovations specialist on the Chapman Cutler Practice Innovations team focusing on process improvement, workflow management, and turning data into actionable insights. If that's not enough on her plate, Amani is also paying it forward as an adjunct professor at the Center for Law, Technology & Innovation at Michigan State University College of Law. She’s doing incredible, award-winning work, and Seyfarth is proud to call her an alum. Listen in as we talk about: - How free pizza changed the trajectory of her career. - How the concept of the T-shaped lawyer has evolved since 2014. - Why technology and process design are so important for access to justice.