Shining a light on the digital revolution

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Over the next few months at CPD Interactive, we will be shining a light on the digital revolution. From Bitcoin to e-trial process to online legal research we will give you a little taste of the legal landscape in the context of digital change.

As lawyers building online learning we feel we are right in the thick of it.  Since our inception around 8 years ago as one of the first kids on the block with interactive online learning in the legal space, we have had quite a ride in experiencing the digital revolution first hand. When we first launched, smart phones and iPads had not yet hit the marketplace and access was all by desktop or laptops.  Making the leap to a multitude of platforms and search engines and getting it all to work seamlessly was never an easy feat but one we had no choice but to embrace and conquer.  Since then, we have completely rebuilt our learning management system to create a unique solution for our product and to meet the needs of our customers and now utilise a unique video editing tool called Vidversity to create our courses.   For all businesses, professions and organisations, changes in the ‘digital landscape’ constantly throws up challenges – do we change how we learn, teach, transact and process?  Do we take up digital solutions, do we stay with what we know or do we do a little of both?

Ultimately we are all humans adapting to change and the challenge for all digital solutions is to make sense to those using it and to make life easier, more efficient and to improve the quality of our experiences in and outside the workplace.

So with this framework in mind, follow us on our journey in the next month or so as we explore the digital revolution in substantive law issues that directly impact on lawyers and their clients, plus new ways of delivering learning to staff including legal research in the digital era.   We will explore New Law and ways firms can use digital platforms for the growth of their practice and their skills.  

Subscribe to our blog for more or you can follow us on LinkedIN, Facebook or Twitter.  Look forward to seeing you out there in the digital world!  

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Need An Extra Million? Initial Coin Offering (ICO)

Need An Extra Million? Try an Initial Coin Offering.

If you don’t understand how to raise funds through an initial coin offering (“ICO”), you should begin by forgetting everything you know about securities law. The ICO does have some resemblance to an IPO, an initial public offering, in that it is a statement of optimism regarding the future of a new venture, just without any of the unnecessary accoutrements such as corporate structure, compliance with regulations, or accountability.

An ICO is a crowdfunding option used to raise funds for new blockchain ventures. A startup, or just a bunch of guys in jeans and hoodies, create a new cryptocurrency as part of their new blockchain initiative, put it out there for purchase, and people send in genuine fiat currency in exchange for digital tokens that only have value if you choose to believe that they do or, at least, believe that they will at some future date. Of course, the expectation is that the venture, being based on blockchain technology, is a winner and that as the venture gains in value so too will the value of the tokens it has issued, much like stock share value (except that they’re not shares of stock and you don’t own any equity interest in the venture).

You may be thinking that this all sounds a bit mad and you could certainly make a convincing argument for it, but it just doesn’t seem to matter. ICOs gained steam in 2016 and are moving with greater speed in 2017. Over half a billion dollars (US) has been raised globally in the first two quarters of 2017. And why not? There is little, if any, discernible risk to a venture issuing tokens, so why not give it a go?

The ICO has real advantages over traditional seed or venture capital funding. It beats taking Mom and Dad’s life savings as seed capital. There is no struggling to make appointments with venture capitalists who ask a lot of questions and want a lot of equity. Particularly for unproven ventures, the likely outcome of that meeting would be a, “No thanks” in any case. Tokens are easily converted to fiat currency through cryptocurrency exchanges so there is immediate liquidity. And, important in a tech environment, the crowd that supports the venture by buying the tokens has put real skin in the game. They will work to test code, fix issues, and certainly to promote the venture because success of the platform is the only route to a return on their investment. The instantaneous creation of a supportive community of believers, and tech wizards, should not be underestimates in the blockchain space.

ICOs have been described as “the Wild West of financing”, but is that a bad thing? While token purchasers haven’t a whit of protection, they tend to be fairly savvy tech types. They communicate directly with platform developers and ask questions about underlying code so important to the valuation, and to the future utility, of the developing platform. Their analysis depends on both tech and finance, with the tech aspect probably of far greater importance in their decision process. Thus, everyone understands that this is not the typical financial creation blessed by Wall Street (where no one has ever gotten burned, of course) but that’s not the world of the ICO and that is not the mindset of the token buyer. The ICO is a vehicle for innovation and for risk taking, with little restraint. Sounds like fun.

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Introduction to advocacy

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The Bah-Humbug Lawyer Personality – skepticism, urgency and autonomy

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The Bah-Humbug lawyer personality – skepticism

Research has shown that lawyers are 40% more likely than others to be cynical, judgmental, argumentative, and distrusting. Don’t believe it? Well, of course not, you’re a lawyer.

Research conducted by Dr. Larry Richard, a trial lawyer turned phycologist, found that lawyers score in the 90th percentile for the personality trait of “Skepticism”, while the average Joe scores in the 50th percentile. The skeptical mindset, however, is not necessarily a bad thing for a lawyer. Skeptics are, by their nature, critical thinkers. They pick things apart, question facts and opinions, tend to envision all manner of potential problems, and will stick to their guns until convinced otherwise. That could make for a great lawyer.

Of course, skepticism can interfere when collaboration or trust is called for, such as in partner meetings, mentoring situations, or in leadership roles within the firm. Fortunately, skepticism is more learned, than it is a hard-wired personality trait, so with awareness and some effort, it can be toned down in circumstances where it is truly counterproductive.

Urgency and Autonomy

Lawyers also scored exceptionally high for the traits of “Urgency” at the 71st percentile, and for “Autonomy,” 89th percentile, which probably surprises no one. “Urgency” is a polite way to describe an impatient, driven personality. “Autonomy” is all about independence and self-direction. Both these traits, it should be noted, tend to separate lawyers both physically and socially from the rest of the herd.

Lawyers scored 21% higher in “Urgency” than did the typically relaxed, average person. While urgency can be very useful in moving along a case load or in efficiently completing tasks, it can wreak havoc on interpersonal relations and on listening skills. In fact, a previous post here pointed out that clients viewed being “good at listening” to be twice as important as did the lawyers who were supposed to be listening, a finding fully in keeping with the urgent personality. While urgency may have it’s drawbacks, being focused and results-oriented seems indispensable to practicing law.

Lawyers ranked just one point lower for “Autonomy” at 89%, than they did for “Skepticism” at 90%. Being cynical about it, you could put those two factors together and envision a cranky pessimist who doesn’t much like being told what to do. Further add in a rather pathetic score of 12.8% for “Sociability,” which is a desire to interact with others, and a score of only 30% for “Resilience,” a defensive hypersensitivity to criticism, and lawyers start to look a bit like Ebenezer Scrooge.

The study of lawyer personality is useful in identifying traits common to the profession that could prove problematic at times. Self-awareness is always a good thing, and reveals that a useful trait in one role can become a hindrance in another. But, does the lawyer personality come to the profession, or does the profession bring out the traits essential to the practice of law? That may be for each lawyer to ponder for themselves.

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Research tips – finding Australian legislation

Research tips – finding Australian legislation   https://www.facebook.com/cpdinteractive/videos/1690055014372838/

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Forget Clients – Does Your Website Repel Lawyers?

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Forget Clients – Does Your Website Repel Lawyers?

Your law firm website has a number of objectives; to promote your services generally, to showcase the firm legal expertise through blogs, to impress prospective clients, to reassure existing clients, and to introduce your firm culture to future co-workers. Wait…what was that last one?

Prospective hires will do the same as prospective clients; they will check out your website. Job postings may create the initial interest, but research from the Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession (“CLP”) shows that those seeking professional advancement and leadership roles will examine the messaging of the firm website as well. What does your website, particularly the homepage, convey to lawyers looking for the right work environment?

But before getting to that, let’s briefly consider the content of a job posting for a litigation lawyer, as an example, tested at CLP in two versions. After all, if the job description is off-putting, your website won’t much matter. By combining job elements, a test posting reduced the list of job responsibilities from 15 in the original ad to 6 in the updated ad. While the job remained the same, the shortened list reduced the intimidation level. And by softening such testosterone-laden vocabulary such as, “strong, superior ability to satisfy clients and manage firm’s association with them,” to, “sensitive to clients’ needs and committed to a relationship with clients,” the number of female applicants rose from 62.3% to 72.5%, resulting in a larger applicant pool from which to select the best candidates.

Similarly, women and minority applicants appear to better relate to the job and to the firm behind it when firm leaders go out of their way to emphasize the value of diversity. A few choice quotes from senior lawyers such as, “the diversity of our people is the cornerstone of our ability to serve our clients,” broadened the applicant pool. And including a video, that features both male and female lawyers that speaks to firm values and showcases a range of employees happy in their work, helps connect an applicant to the job posting, perhaps making it possible to see themselves in a role that may have appeared daunting without the reassuring words and visuals. Positive comments from current minority lawyers also reinforce the notion that the firm is accepting and that advancement is fostered. Just seeing others with whom an individual can readily identify can go a long way to encouraging a job seeker to send in an application. When the commitment to diversity is made clear, applications from female lawyers jumped from 63.8% to 83%.

While the CLP studies highlighted the changes in the number of female job applicants, the changes that appealed to female lawyers in the job posting and on the firm website also resonated with others and encouraged a mixed pool of applicants. A larger and more varied number of job applicants is certainly positive and can bring in talent that might have otherwise bypassed a firm.

Article By: Lydia Early

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Putting Your Best Bio Forward – how lawyers can use a bio to attract new clients

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Putting your best bio forward

Since 80% of legal site traffic goes to the lawyer profile page, your biography should really be created with the objective of engaging prospective clients. Yet too often, the typical bio seems designed to impress other lawyers. Unless your clients are other lawyers, why write a bio that speaks primarily to them?

The Venn Diagram, below, may be tongue-in-cheek but it makes a valid point regarding content that misses its mark. When your bio, or your website for that matter, talks past prospective clients and fails to include the specifics of interest to them, you have lost opportunity. Know your client and then fashion your bio to speak to them.

Putting our best bio forward venn diagram

Use the same marketing objectives to attract clients

Your profile should be created with the same marketing objectives in mind as for the content of a blog post or for the pages of your website. The objective should always be to attract prospective clients by addressing their needs and their wants. That should include a bio that, odd as it seems, isn’t all about you. Think about it; what if you introduced yourself to a stranger at a social function or at a business meeting by announcing all your qualifications and your great professional achievements. Would that person warm up to you or would they be hoping for a rescue? While your bio needs to provide certain essential data about you, it should also demonstrate that the client is paramount in your practice.

Clients really do care about the type of information listed in the Venn Diagram. But your knowledge of your own clients may bring other elements to mind that apply uniquely to  you and that should also be featured in your bio. So, why not include blog post titles that link to your posts? This not only demonstrates your expertise, but your willingness to educate and to share. Add a select number of testimonials from happy clients, because people just love reading what other people think. In fact, 84% trust online reviews for products and services as much as personal recommendations. There is good reason that every online retailer posts customer ratings. Informal exchanges on social media that reveal your helpfulness and how you communicate can be equally powerful, especially when clients have spontaneously posted positive comments. The informality of social media just makes you more human and approachable. Anything that helps create comfort and trust should be in your bio, as that is the likeliest place for a prospective client to see it.

Your profile picture

And there’s the picture. The degree of informality depends on your personality and on your client base but a stiff, hostage photo won’t do anyone any good. Use a high resolution, welcoming photo. And to find out how people actually perceive your photo, ask everyone you know what comes to mind about you when they look at the photo. How likeable are you? How professional or trustworthy do you seem? If you prefer the wisdom of crowds about this sort of thing, post your photo on websites like photofeeler.com to hear what people really think. Your professional bio deserves the effort.

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