Digital White Papers

I L T A W H I T E P A P E R | K N O W L E D G E M A N A G E M E N T 5 I nnovation is often associated with disruption, which receives the most attention and press coverage, including in the legal sector. However, in practice, there is a spectrum of types of innovation 1 . Disruption of the legal market has been a hot topic for a number of years and a lot of disruption has actually occurred, particularly in the legal technolo space. Yet, the unofficial Silicon Valley motto of "Move Fast and Break Things" doesn't work well in law because of the high stakes nature of legal work. In an industry with deep history, traditions, regulations, and cultural practices, disruptive innovation, in its current form, is not always the best tactic for change. Rather than focus on disruption, respectful innovation is an area that deserves attention and discussion. Unless your firm operates like a startup (and some newer firms do), you likely experience many layers of strate and decision-making authority, competing demands from different practice groups, and a long history of the firm's evolution. For an innovation professional, this pace and structure can be sometimes frustrating. In this article I will discuss the uniqueness of law firms, explore examples of innovation that are currently taking place and provide my perspective and lessons learned/ideas to consider based on my experience in an innovation role in law firms. While I will not go in depth regarding the reasons law firms need to innovate (as that topic is well covered elsewhere), the most discussed reasons include: competition from other firms and alternative legal service providers (ALSPs), corporate in-house legal B Y A M Y M O N A G H A N R-E-S-P-E-C-T Reframing How We Approach Innovation in a Law Firm

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