Get
A
Load
Of
John
Bolton’s
Emails:
Dude
talked
about
everything.
Not
All
Work
Is
Created
Equal:
Does
your
firm
punish
associates
with
hard
work?
Innovation
Matters!:
Is
your
law
school
one
of
the
most
innovative?
Washington
Litigation
Group
Is
Ready
To
Fight:
The
nonprofit
is
taking
on
cases
core
to
the
rule
of
law.
Now
That’s
What
I
Call
A
Lot
Of
Law
Students!:
The
boost
in
applications
means
easy
pickings
for
law
schools.
Clio
Wants
To
Be
A
One
Stop
Shop:
How
will
they
scale
up
from
small
law?
What
was
the
second
law
school
founded
in
the
United
States,
five
years
after
William
&
Mary
School
of
Law?
Hint:
Though
the
school
has
been
defunct
since
1833,
it
counts
two
U.S.
Vice
Presidents,
101
congressmen,
28
senators,
six
cabinet
secretaries,
three
justices
of
the United
States
Supreme
Court,
14
state
governors,
and
13
state
supreme
court
chief
justices
among
its
alumni.
Roughly
31,000
Kaiser
Permanente
healthcare
workers
have
walked
off
the
job
this
week
in
California
and
Hawaii,
protesting
stalled
contract
negotiations
and
what
they
describe
as
unsafe
staffing
levels
that
put
patients
and
employees
at
risk.
Their
strike
began
at
7
a.m.
Tuesday
and
will
go
until
7
a.m.
on
Sunday.
Kaiser
said
it
has
been
working
with
the
union
for
months
to
reach
a
fair
deal
and
called
the
strike
“unnecessary
and
disruptive.”
Inside
the
dispute
Kaiser
is
one
of
the
largest,
most
well-resourced
health
systems
in
the
country.
It
operates
40
hospitals
and
more
than
600
medical
offices
across
eight
states
and
Washington,
D.C.,
with
a
workforce
of
more
than
200,000
employees.
It
also
runs
a
health
plan
with
12.6
million
members.
Last
year,
the
health
system
made
$115.8
billion
in
operating
revenue
and
generated
a
profit
of
nearly
$13
billion.
It
paid
CEO
Gregory
Adams
a
salary
of
$15.6
million.
Kaiser
also
has
investments
totaling
more
than
$100
billion
—
both
domestically
and
abroad
—
in
areas
such
as
fossil
fuels,
for-profit
prisons,
alcohol
companies,
casinos
and
military
weapons.
In
the
past,
union
leaders
have
pointed
to
these
investments
as
evidence
that
Kaiser
has
ample
resources
to
address
workers’
demands
but
does
not
always
choose
to
prioritize
them.
The
health
system
is
no
stranger
to
labor
disagreements.
In
the
past
five
years,
it
has
faced
multiple
strikes
from
unionized
groups
of
nurses
and
other
healthcare
workers
—
mainly
over
staffing
shortages,
working
conditions
and
wages.
Kaiser
is
currently
negotiating
contracts
with
the
Alliance
of
Health
Care
Unions,
which
is
a
coalition
of
23
unions
representing
about
60,000
Kaiser
employees.
Within
that
broader
negotiation,
UNAC/UHCP
members
are
the
ones
striking
this
week
—
other
unions
in
the
alliance
are
at
various
stages
of
bargaining,
and
most
are
not
striking
yet.
During
these
negotiations,
Kaiser
has
offered
wage
increases
of
21.5%
over
four
years,
but
UNAC/UHCP
is
demanding
“an
excessive
wage
increase”
of
25%
over
the
same
period,
the
health
system
said.
“The
seemingly
small
percentage
difference
between
the
two
proposals
actually
means
significantly
more
because
it
is
multiplied
across
60,000
employees
and
causes
related
benefit
increases
over
four
years.
The
difference
between
a
21.5%
and
a
25%
increase
is
about
$300
million
a
year
in
salary
alone
by
the
end
of
the
contract,”
Kaiser
said
in
a
statement.
Kaiser’s
current
payroll
for
employees
in
the
Alliance
of
Health
Care
Unions
is
$6.3
billion
per
year.
Its
proposed
wage
increase
would
raise
pay
by
a
total
of
$1.9
billion
over
four
years,
and
the
UNAC/UHCP’s
demand
would
increase
pay
by
more
than
$2.2
billion.
This
additional
cost
would
mean
more
rate
increases
for
Kaiser’s
members
and
patients,
the
health
system
stated.
UNAC/UHCP
sees
things
differently
than
Kaiser.
“Kaiser’s
public
messaging
highlights
a
‘21.5%
wage
increase
over
four
years,’
but
what
it
doesn’t
mention
is
years
of
wage
freezes
during
record
inflation,
cuts
for
new
union
members
and
the
real
daily
impact
these
conditions
have
on
patient
care,”
the
group
said
in
a
statement.
The
union
also
pointed
out
that
Kaiser
has
consistently
increased
its
insurance
rates
over
the
years,
regardless
of
the
status
of
its
labor
contracts
—
arguing
that
these
raised
rates
are
caused
by
underlying
cost
pressures
within
the
healthcare
system,
such
as
skyrocketing
drug
prices
and
excessive
coverage
denials.
Additionally,
UNAC/UHCP
highlighted
the
fact
that
Kaiser
holds
$66
billion
in
reserves,
saying
that
it
is
“fighting
for
resources
to
go
to
patient
care,
not
Kaiser
executives
or
company
reserves.”
The
union
says
it’s
not
about
the
money
UNAC/UHCP
said
it
rejects
Kaiser’s
mischaracterization
of
the
dispute
as
one
that
is
just
about
wages.
“The
employer
is
putting
out
these
messages
—
a
false
narrative,
an
untruth
—
about
why
we
are
outside
the
hospital,
outside
the
workplaces,
outside
the
clinics,
when
we
should
be
inside.
They’re
telling
the
public
that
it’s
about
the
money,
it’s
about
the
wages.
That’s
the
farthest
from
the
truth.
This
is
about
respect.
This
is
about
dignity.
This
is
about
ensuring
quality
patient
care,”
Charmaine
Morales,
a
Kaiser
nurse
and
president
of
UNAC/UHCP,
said
on
Tuesday
while
speaking
to
a
crowd
of
healthcare
workers
on
strike
outside
Kaiser’s
hospital
in
Baldwin
Park,
California.
She
acknowledged
that
the
strike
is
a
personal
sacrifice
for
employees
and
their
families,
given
Kaiser
doesn’t
pay
workers
on
strike
—
but
to
her
and
the
others
gathered
outside
the
picket
line,
it
is
a
necessary
step
to
secure
a
better
future
for
healthcare
workers.
Another
employee
—
Cameron
Cook,
a
nurse
anesthetist
at
Kaiser’s
hospital
in
Redwood
City,
California
—
said
that
he
and
the
other
nurses
in
his
unit
can
no
longer
tolerate
the
strain
that
chronic
understaffing
places
on
themselves
and
their
patients.
“We
lost
about
25%
of
our
colleagues
from
the
Kaiser
system
to
other
systems
within
the
Bay
Area.
We
are
now
seeing
more
workloads,
longer
patient
wait
times,
and
we
unionized
two
years
ago
to
elevate
our
voice
to
hopefully
force
Kaiser
to
address
these
issues.
In
response,
they
have
spent
the
last
18
months
at
the
bargaining
table
—
stalling,
delaying
and
essentially
retaliating
against
us
for
organizing,”
Cook
declared
during
a
Wednesday
morning
phone
interview
he
took
from
the
picket
line.
While
the
strike
may
disrupt
patient
care
in
the
short
term,
it
alerts
the
public
that
patient
care
is
already
being
compromised
and
could
continue
to
deteriorate
further
if
staffing
shortages
don’t
get
solved,
he
added.
In
his
view,
the
strike
is
meant
to
push
Kaiser
to
formally
acknowledge
the
staffing
and
patient
care
issues
in
a
contract
rather
than
making
informal
promises.
“Patients
suffer
when
there
are
gaps
in
care,”
Cook
remarked.
“Maybe
we
stay
extra
to
fix
that,
or
we
come
in
extra
tomorrow
to
help
out
our
colleagues.
Kaiser
has
taken
advantage
of
that
compassion.
They
have
taken
advantage
of
our
vigilance,
and
we
simply
have
recognized
over
the
last
two
years
that
we
cannot
continue
to
keep
doing
extra
to
float
Kaiser
so
that
they
can
continue
to
dole
out
million-dollar
bonuses
to
their
executives.”
Post-pandemic
labor
tensions
go
deeper
than
this
This
strike
fits
into
a
broader
post-pandemic
trend
of
labor
unrest
among
healthcare
workers,
driven
primarily
by
understaffing,
burnout
and
uncompensated
administrative
work,
noted
Gerald
Friedman,
a
labor
union
expert
and
economics
professor
at
the
University
of
Massachusetts.
Nurses
and
physicians
are
dealing
with
heavier
workloads
than
ever
before
due
to
increasingly
complex
administrative
requirements
and
a
lack
of
employees,
yet
their
pay
is
failing
to
keep
up
with
inflation.
While
this
is
going
on,
executives’
salaries
are
getting
higher
and
higher
on
both
the
health
system
and
payer
sides.
All
of
this
is
a
sure
recipe
for
a
labor
movement,
Friedman
explained.
He
also
noted
that
Kaiser’s
strike
will
have
a
small
immediate
financial
effect
on
the
health
system.
“Healthcare
often
has
to
be
done
in
time.
For
building
cars
or
something,
before
the
strike,
you
stockpile,
and
after
the
strike,
you
speed
up,
maybe
do
a
little
overtime.
But
healthcare,
if
you
aren’t
taking
patients
in,
they
either
don’t
get
care
or
go
someplace
else,”
Friedman
remarked.
The
financial
impact
won’t
be
very
damaging,
though,
he
pointed
out,
as
the
strike
will
only
last
five
days.
Friedman
said
that
short-term
strikes
like
this
don’t
hurt
the
employer’s
pockets
that
much,
but
they
do
signal
the
seriousness
of
labor
demands.
In
his
eyes,
strikes
like
the
one
happening
across
Kaiser
facilities
this
week
will
continue
to
have
a
ripple
effect
across
the
U.S.
healthcare
system.
“There’s
a
lot
of
unrest
boiling
beneath
the
surface,”
he
declared.
A
signal,
not
a
shutdown
To
one
former
health
system
executive,
the
strike’s
brief
duration
indicates
that
the
union
is
likely
close
to
resolution
but
wants
to
show
how
serious
it
is
about
its
demands
to
both
Kaiser
and
its
own
members.
“When
the
union
announces
a
five
day
strike,
what
does
that
tell
you?
I
think
it
tells
you
that
they’re
probably
pretty
close
to
solving
the
issues,”
said
Chris
Olivia,
retired
former
executive
at
health
systems
including
Bon
Secours
Mercy
Health
and
Allegheny
Health
System.
He
has
been
on
both
sides
of
healthcare
labor
disputes
throughout
his
career
—
as
a
health
system
C-suite
leader
as
well
as
a
physician
and
former
union
member
himself.
He
thinks
a
new
contract
will
be
reached
within
the
next
week
or
so.
While
short-term
strikes
like
this
week’s
tend
to
disrupt
elective
procedures
because
resources
get
shifted
toward
critical
patients,
hospitals
can
typically
manage
these
operational
impacts,
Olivia
noted.
Kaiser
has
been
keeping
its
hospitals
and
medical
offices
open
during
the
strike,
though
it
is
moving
some
appointments
to
virtual
care
and
rescheduling
certain
elective
visits.
The
health
system
said
it
is
onboarding
up
to
7,600
temporary
staff
members
to
work
during
the
strike,
the
majority
of
whom
have
worked
at
Kaiser
before.
Olivia’s
number
one
piece
of
advice
to
health
system
leaders
going
through
contract
negotiations
with
their
workers
is
to
be
honest.
“One
of
the
strategies
I
used
was
to
be
brutally
honest
with
union
leadership
as
to
where
you
are
economically.
And
if
you
have
the
ability
to
give
the
increase,
ultimately,
you
want
to
show
that
you
are
a
good
fiduciary
and
steward
of
the
assets
in
a
hospital.
As
a
hospital
leader,
you
have
to
take
care
of
your
people
in
the
end,”
he
remarked.
He
highlighted
the
importance
of
transparency
and
partnership
with
unions,
including
integrating
union
input
into
some
of
the
health
system’s
leadership
decisions,
to
maintain
trust
and
achieve
outcomes
that
feel
more
fair.
Overall,
Olivia
believes
the
strike
taking
place
at
Kaiser
this
week
is
a
measured
action
to
send
a
signal
—
one
that
reflects
the
larger
struggle
across
the
U.S.
healthcare
system
to
retain
workers
and
ensure
safe,
quality
care.
As
with
many
things
AI,
a
new
study
shows
big
changes
on
the
horizon,
with
incremental
movement
in
the
current
day-to-day.
A
survey
of
law
department
professionals
by
Everlaw
and
the
Association
of
Corporate
Counsel
titled
“Generative
AI’s
Growing
Strategic
Value
for
Corporate
Law
Departments”
reveals
that
most
organizations
(61%)
are
“somewhat”
or
“very”
likely
to
push
back
on
law
firm
pricing
models.
But
59%
report
being
unaware
of
whether
their
law
firms
are
currently
using
GenAI
for
their
matters,
and
80%
are
not
currently
encouraging
or
requiring
their
firms
to
use
the
technology.
Law
departments’
own
use
of
the
technology,
meanwhile,
has
more
than
doubled
in
the
past
year,
allowing
in-house
counsel
to
take
on
more
work
themselves.
“Momentum
is
building
against
the
billable
hour,”
Everlaw’s
Petra
Pasternak
writes
in
a
summary
of
the
report.
“Firms
that
connect
GenAI-enabled
efficiency
to
fair,
transparent
pricing
will
differentiate
themselves
as
modern,
client-first
partners.”
The
data
draws
on
responses
from
657
in-house
professionals
in
30
countries.
Third-party
cookies
have
dominated
digital
advertising
for
decades.
Developed
initially
to
help
protect
the
privacy
and
anonymity
of
web
browsing
activities,
in
the
2010s
cookies
became
virtually
synonymous
with
digital
surveillance.
“Big
data”
collection
allowed
the
development
of
increasingly
granular
audience
segmentation,
which
in
turn
facilitated
the
creation
of
ever-more-carefully-targeted
advertising
strategies,
generating
legitimate
privacy
concerns.
In
a
less
sinister
vein,
the
analytics
capabilities
of
third-party
cookies
also
became
important
tools
in
tracking
conversions,
helping
businesses
learn
what
“worked”
and
what
failed
in
their
online
outreach,
so
that
they
could
refine
their
digital
marketing
strategies
accordingly.
Concerns
about
the
consumer
privacy
implications
of
third-party
data
collection
grew
through
the
second
half
of
the
2010s,
prompting
a
number
of
attempts
at
reform
(both
corporate
and
regulatory)
since
the
beginning
of
this
decade.
Given
the
uncertain
future
of
third-party
analytics,
law
firms
have
begun
looking
for
ways
to
track
user
activity
and
calculate
conversions
via
other
mechanisms
that
may
have
more
longevity.
Here
are
the
latest
developments
and
what
law
firms
can
expect
to
see
working
well
over
the
next
few
years.
What
Are
Third-Party
Cookies?
Third-party
cookies
are
small
bits
of
data
that
are
placed
on
users’
devices
when
they
visit
a
website.
They
are
distinguished
from
first-party
cookies
by
the
fact
that
the
website
does
not
add
the
files
to
the
user’s
device
directly;
instead,
the
cookies
are
placed
on
the
user’s
device
by
a
third
party,
most
often
an
advertising
or
analytics
service.
How
Do
Third-Party
Cookies
Help
Track
Conversions?
Cookies
may
serve
a
variety
of
functions,
but
one
of
the
leading
uses
of
third-party
cookies
has
traditionally
been
to
act
as
a
sort
of
digital
trail
of
cookie
crumbs,
allowing
the
third
party
service
to
“track”
the
user’s
online
activity.
The
cookies
are
used,
in
many
cases,
to
help
advertisers
track
specific
actions
that
users
take
while
visiting
a
website,
such
as
navigation
between
pages
and
the
time
spent
on
each
page.
One
of
the
most
useful
pieces
of
information
for
law
firms
has
often
been
rate
of
“conversions”:
Essentially,
the
ratio
of
site
visitors
who
go
from
browsing
your
pages
to
taking
an
action
that
demonstrates
what
marketing
professionals
usually
call
“purchase
intent”
(for
law
firms
it
will
usually
be
not
be
an
immediate
purchase),
such
as
filling
in
a
contact
form,
booking
a
consultation,
or
even
(for
some
law
firms)
downloading
a
free
e-book.
Some
analytics
services
will
also
provide
conversion
data
from
off-site
ad
placements
(e.g.,
on
social
media).
Tracking
conversions
makes
it
easier
to
see
which
marketing
strategies
are
performing
most
efficiently
and
make
adjustments
accordingly.
Why
Are
Third-Party
Cookies
at
Risk?
Because
third-party
cookies
often
allow
their
installers
to
track
users’
activity
across
other
websites,
consumer
privacy
concerns
have
been
raised
from
a
number
of
regulatory
bodies
and
advocacy
groups.
Certain
types
of
data,
particularly
when
protected
behind
logins,
are
not
normally
transmitted,
but
for
much
of
the
Web
2.0
era
many
third-party
cookies
have
allowed
digital
marketing
professionals
to
track
users
across
multiple
websites
and
social
media
platforms.
While
the
specifics
of
these
visits
to
other
websites
may
not
always
be
delivered
in
great
detail,
often
the
data
collected
can
be
used
to
help
develop
“ad
targeting”
strategies
that
aim
to
show
specific
ads
to
users
whose
online
activity
matches
targeting
parameters
set
by
the
marketing
team.
In
some
cases
the
targeting
itself
has
been
subjected
to
scrutiny,
out
of
concerns
that
it
has
potential
for
abuse.
Does
Ad
Targeting
Violate
Attorney
Ethics?
Since
many
of
the
concerns
that
have
led
the
fate
of
third-party
advertising
cookies
to
fall
under
a
cloud
of
uncertainty
relate
to
potential
consumer
privacy
vulnerabilities,
it
is
normal
for
attorneys
to
have
questions
about
whether
they
can
or
should
use
third-party
cookies
in
their
digital
marketing,
even
if
the
technical
capabilities
remain
available
in
some
form
beyond
2025.
Whether
third-party
cookies
will
be
permitted
long-term
or
not
is
a
question
too
jurisdiction-dependent
for
a
blanket
answer
to
apply
to
all
circumstances.
We
will
see
what
Google
does
and
how
regulatory
bodies
respond,
but
assuming
third-party
cookies
are
still
an
option
for
business
marketing
in
the
broader
sense
then
the
two
main
areas
law
firms
will
want
to
keep
their
eyes
on
are:
Data
privacy
laws:
Consumer
data
privacy
protections
can
vary
widely
from
one
jurisdiction
to
another.
If
your
law
firm
handles
any
work
involving
international
trade
or
IP,
you
will
need
to
keep
in
mind
the
European
guidelines,
which
tend
to
be
stricter
than
those
in
the
United
States.
Within
the
U.S.,
there
are
sometimes
significant
differences
in
regulatory
requirements
between
states,
so
that
the
kind
of
information
law
firms
are
allowed
to
collect
about
their
website
visitors,
and
the
required
disclosures,
may
be
stricter
or
narrower,
depending
on
the
state
or
states
in
which
you
are
admitted
to
practice.
State
bar
association
guidelines:
At
a
national
level,
the
American
Bar
Association
(ABA)
continues
tracking
the
intersection
of
attorney
ethics
and
online
advertising.
For
a
variety
of
reasons,
state
bar
association
guidelines
may
be
updated
more
regularly
(some
state
bars
have
adopted
updates
as
recently
as
2025).
If
you
practice
in
more
than
one
state,
you
may
want
to
discuss
with
your
law
firm
marketing
team
some
strategies
for
adhering
to
the
strictest
standard
that
applies.
Another
obvious
factor
to
consider
is
what
a
law
firm
does
with
consumer
data
once
collected,
whether
the
information
comes
via
third-party
cookies
or
by
any
other
means.
If
the
communications
themselves
are
illegal
or
unethical,
then
the
data
collection
methods
that
facilitated
those
communications
may
become
a
secondary
consideration.
Are
Third-Party
Cookies
Going
Away?
Google
has
wavered
on
its
policy
for
handling
third-party
cookies
in
the
company’s
Chrome
browser.
Some
of
the
options
put
forward
in
2025
could
require
additional
technical
capabilities
from
websites
that
use
third-party
cookies.
Even
if
third-party
cookies
continue
to
be
allowed
in
Chrome,
the
browser’s
customization
features
increasingly
emphasize
settings
on
the
user’s
end
that
make
it
easier
to
reject
third-party
cookies.
The
rise
of
LLM
search
options
is
another
factor
law
firms
need
to
consider.
Because
AI
search
tools
change
the
ways
users
find
websites
and
in
many
cases
the
way
they
navigate
the
web,
analytics
cookies
that
have
previously
been
effective
at
tracking
user
activity
across
multiple
websites
may
decline
in
their
usefulness,
making
it
important
for
law
firms
to
develop
alternative
strategies
for
measuring
the
effectiveness
of
their
online
advertising
efforts
and
website
conversions.
What
Are
Effective
Alternatives
to
Third-Party
Cookies
for
Law
Firm
Websites?
While
the
current
status
of
third-party
cookies
depends
on
the
regulatory
framework
in
which
a
law
firm
and
its
potential
clients
are
situated,
the
clear
trend
in
digital
advertising
is
away
from
a
reliance
on
third-party
cookies
and
toward
“cookieless”
methods
for
increasing
online
visibility
and
generating
leads.
Amid
the
rapid
changes
seen
in
digital
marketing
over
the
past
few
years,
a
few
viable
alternatives
to
third-party
cookies
have
begun
to
take
shape.
These
offer
varying
degrees
of
capabilities
for
tracking
engagements
and
conversions,
but
in
many
cases
they
also
hold
the
promise
of
greater
consistency
and
warmer
lead
generation
compared
to
conventional
tracker-based
advertising
strategies.
Tracking
and
Targeting
Based
on
First-Party
Data
Collection
Cookies
installed
and
managed
by
a
website
directly,
rather
than
by
a
third-party
service
provider,
are
considered
“first-party”
cookies.
Many
of
these
cookies
are
primarily
functional,
used
for
such
features
as
building
shopping
carts
for
product-based
businesses
and
registering
logins
(a
feature
law
firm
websites
may
or
may
not
offer).
Other
first-part
data
collection
conduits
include
dedicated
apps
and
CRM
(customer
relationship
management)
systems.
The
ad
targeting
possibilities
of
the
cookies
in
particular
may
be
limited,
but
although
ad
targeting
based
on
first-party
data
has
less
breadth
than
the
options
facilitated
by
an
analytics
service
that
tracks
activity
across
multiple
digital
surfaces,
it
also
tends
to
have
a
relatively
higher
conversion
rate,
as
it
usually
means
placing
suggestions
or
other
“nudges”
in
front
of
users
who
have
already
consented
to
the
use
of
their
information
and
indicated
some
level
of
interest.
The
appropriateness
of
the
suggestions
and
framing
of
the
nudges
can
make
a
significant
difference
in
the
ROI
factors
of
advertising
based
on
first-party
data,
so
law
firms
will
want
to
put
some
strategy
weight
into
setting
up
a
logical
framework
for
structuring
these
communications.
Ad
Targeting
Based
on
Zero-Party
Data
Zero-party
data
is
not
collected
through
cookies
as
such,
although
cookies
may
be
used
to
“remember”
the
data
for
purposes
of
providing
a
smooth
user
experience
(UX)
in
navigating
a
website.
Instead,
zero-party
data
is
entered
by
the
user
directly,
often
through
such
collection
surfaces
as
polls
and
surveys.
Social
media
polls
seeking
user
preferences
in
the
topics
they
would
like
to
see
a
law
firm
address
in
its
content,
for
instance,
can
provide
extremely
valuable
data,
often
at
little
to
no
cost,
and
result
in
not
only
improved
ad
targeting
methods
but
opportunities
to
refine
content
strategy
to
align
with
the
interests
of
a
specific,
local
audience.
Depending
on
the
collection
surface,
you
may
have
the
opportunity
to
request
contact
information
and
ask
users
to
indicate
their
areas
of
greatest
interest,
both
of
which
can
be
highly
useful.
If
you
do
choose
to
collect
users’
contact
information
or
other
potentially
identifying
details,
be
sure
your
law
firm
has
a
carefully
developed
data
privacy
policy
in
place,
along
with
strict
internal
controls
for
maintaining
the
security
of
the
information
you
collect.
Any
plan
you
establish
will
need
to
consider
data
in
transmission
as
well
as
how
it
is
stored,
and
should
also
address
the
purposes
for
which
users’
information
may
be
used.
You
will
obviously
need
to
disclose
these
privacy
practices
to
users;
consider
utilizing
the
disclosure
as
an
opportunity
for
your
law
firm
to
invite
users
to
select
“opt-in”
consent
for
newsletters,
blog
updates,
or
other
communications.
Including
opt-ins
and
other
prompts
in
the
presentation
of
your
privacy
policy
can
have
the
double
benefit
of
streamlining
data
collection
for
the
law
firm
while
at
the
same
time
clarifying
for
users
how
their
information
will
be
used.
Contextual
Advertising
Contextual
advertising
is
one
of
the
most
exciting
possibilities
for
replacing
tracker-based
targeting.
Instead
of
attempting
to
reverse-engineer
prospective
customers’
interests
based
on
their
online
activity,
contextual
advertising
places
ads
where
they
are
relevant
to
the
content
of
the
page.
This
technique
offers
a
notable
“warm
lead”
advantage
in
that
the
ads
will
necessarily
appear
in
front
of
users
who
have
already
self-selected
for
interest.
In
some
ways,
contextual
advertising
works
on
principles
similar
to
those
that
drove
ad
strategy
during
the
heyday
of
print
publishing:
Brands
would
(and
to
some
extent
still
do)
choose
the
publications
in
which
to
purchase
ads
based
on
the
perceived
overlap
between
each
publication’s
primary
audience
and
the
brand’s
core
consumers.
However,
contextual
advertising
can
go
a
step
further
because
conditional
programming
allows
for
the
topical
relationship
between
page
content
and
ad
content
to
be
much
more
closely
tailored
than
is
possible
in
the
context
of
print
layouts,
where
ads
must
typically
be
purchased
long
before
the
topics
covered
in
a
specific
edition
are
even
decided.
In
addition,
digital
surfaces
allow
a
much
greater
degree
of
interactivity,
which
means
visitors
who
are
interested
in
the
ads
displayed
on
a
page
can
often
act
on
them
immediately,
via
buttons
or
input
fields.
This
immediacy
eliminates
the
“gap”
between
encounter
and
action
in
which
potential
sales
are
often
lost.
After
Cookies:
Direct
Engagements
Third-party
cookies
may
not
have
vanished
entirely,
but
overall
trends
point
away
from
their
continued
dominance
of
online
advertising.
The
shift
toward
more
first-party
and
zero-party
data
collection
has
coincided
with
the
rise
of
AI
search
modalities,
creating
the
conditions
for
potentially
fewer
views
and
lower
website
traffic,
but
at
the
same
time
significantly
higher
conversion
rates.
Despite
the
very
real
causes
for
concern,
the
evolving
digital
search
landscape
offers
important
opportunities
for
“warm”
lead
generation
via
interactive
surfaces
such
as
social
media
polls
and
strategically
placed
interactive
ads.
As
we
move
into
2026
and
beyond,
law
firms
can
expect
to
see
more
and
more
chances
for
customizing
user
experience
and
appealing
to
local
audiences
with
greater
precision.
Think
about
seizing
this
period
of
change
as
your
sign
for
growth,
and
work
with
your
digital
marketing
professionals
to
outline
a
strategy
that
will
position
your
law
firm
as
a
leader
in
fostering
high-engagement,
high-conversion
points
of
connection
with
your
audience.
Annette
Choti,
Esq.
is
the
founder
of Law
Quill,
a
legal
digital
marketing
agency
that
helps
growth-minded
law
firms
increase
their
online
visibility
and
convert
more
clients.
She
is
also
the
author
of
“Click
Magnet:
The
Ultimate
Digital
Marketing
Guide
for
Law
Firms”
and
Click
Magnet
Academy.
Annette
used
to
do
professional
comedy,
which
is
not
so
far
from
the
law
if
we
are
all
being
honest.
The
13th
annual
Clio
user
conference
kicked
off
this
week
with
the
traditional
opening
keynote
by
Jack
Newton,
Clio
CEO.
Newton
delivered
what
may
have
been
the
most
consequential
keynote
in
the
company’s
history
and
one
that
signals
a
shift
by
Clio
from
a
traditional
practice
management
provider
to
a
comprehensive
platform
that
essentially
does
everything
for
the
business
and
practice
of
law.
The
Announcements
Newton
walked
through
a
number
of
updates
and
enhancements
to
Clio’s
core
products
of
Manage,
Grow,
and
Accounting.
He
also
announced
a
move
by
Clio
to
go
after
the
large
firm
market,
firms
with
over
200
employees.
(Clio
has
historically
served
solo,
small,
and,
more
recently,
midsize
law
firms).
Clio
recently
acquired
ShareDo
to
facilitate
this
addition.
ShareDo
offers
practice
and
management
software
for
many
large
firms.
But
That’s
Not
the
Big
Story
Clio
also
earlier
this
year
acquired
vLex,
the
heavy-duty
AI
legal
research
player.
The
acquisition
is
pending
regulatory
approval.
It
is
the
vLex
acquisition
that
is
powering
the
Clio
transformation
that
Newton
described
in
his
keynote.
vLex
has
a
huge
amount
of
legal
data
in
its
wheelhouse
to
power
sophisticated
legal
AI
research.
On
top
of
this
data,
vLex
developed
Vincent,
a
powerful
AI
tool
to
work
with
this
data
and
enable
all
sorts
of
actions
and
work.
This
means
a
couple
of
things.
First,
by
acquiring
vLex,
Clio
can
now
offer
its
customers
AI
legal
research
tools.
Clio
customers
will
no
longer
have
to
go
one
place
for
its
practice
management
needs
and
a
second
place
for
its
substantive
legal
work,
like
research.
It
makes
what
Clio
can
provide
much
more
comprehensive
and
all
inclusive.
Second,
by
getting
access
to
vLex’s
powerful
AI
tool,
Clio
can
allow
its
customers
to
apply
Vincent
to
a
firm’s
internal
documents.
Clio’s
tools
can
thus
offer
a
whole
range
of
automated
AI
work
across
the
firm.
In
essence,
it’s
marrying
internal
and
external
data
upon
which
AI
can
run.
So
Clio
can
now
offer
such
things
as
a
transactional
and
automated
document
drafting
which
Newton
described
as
a
drafting
teammate.
It
can
offer
tools
that
manage
workflows.
Clio
can
automate
client
intake
almost
completely,
even
determining
whether
an
engagement
should
be
accepted
in
the
first
place.
It
can
calendar
dates
and
then
automate
compliance.
It
can
write
briefs.
It
can
take
actions
and
steps
in
matters
to
automate
a
huge
amount
of
work
throughout
the
life
of
a
matter
from
billing
to
collections.
It
can
do
sophisticated
legal
work
like
complex
contract
analysis,
legal
research,
or
brief
writing.
From
back-office
work
to
preparing
the
Supreme
Court
brief,
Clio’s
tools
will
be
embedded
and
central
to
what
law
firms
and
lawyers
do.
The
vLex
acquisition
also
means
that
Clio
is
no
longer
a
practice
management
company.
It’s
much
more
of
a
comprehensive
provider
of
all
needs
of
its
customers
big
and
small.
To
the
extent
it
wasn’t
before,
Clio
is
now
a
legal
AI
company.
No
one
else
in
the
market
can
offer
such
a
monolithic
set
of
service
powered
by
internal
and
external
data.
It’s
now
the
proverbial
one
stop
shop
that
other
vendors
have
been
trying
to
figure
out
by
either
offering
integration
with
other
vendors
or
even
loose
partnerships.
But
those
arrangements
can
be
complicated
and
not
allow
for
nimbleness
and
centralized
decision
making
which
matters
now
more
than
ever.
But
There
Are
Dangers
Newton
took
a
few
moments
during
the
keynote
to
walk
through
what
a
day
in
the
life
would
look
like
for
a
lawyer
using
a
full
set
of
Clio
AI
tools.
He
showed
the
tools
doing
virtually
everything
that
needed
to
be
done.
But
then
it
hit
me.
Much
of
what
many
lawyers
and
legal
professionals
do
every
day
can
now
be
done
by
AI
tools.
With
AI
doing
so
much,
what
will
lawyers
do
all
day?
What
will
paralegals
and
administrative
staff
do??
At
several
points
during
the
keynote,
Newton
referred
to
the
AI
tools
as
a
“teammate.”
He
even
described
Vincent
as
a
“brilliant
junior
associate.”
That’s
great
but
what
happens
to
all
the
work
the
human
“teammates”
were
doing?
How
do
you
become
that
brilliant
human
junior
associate
when
the
so
many
legal
answers
can
be
found
through
AI?
It’s
often
said
that
AI
will
enable
lawyers
to
do
the
more
sophisticated
legal
work
that
they
don’t
have
time
to
do
now.
But
is
there
really
enough
need
for
that
kind
of
work?
(Not
to
mention
the
fact
that
not
every
lawyer
is
good
at
the
vision
thing.)
And
where
will
these
sophisticated
thinkers
come
from
in
the
future
if
we
don’t
need
as
many
associates?
Which
raises
an
even
bigger
question:
how
will
we
train
and
develop
younger
lawyers
to
be
future
lawyers
and
thinkers?
How
will
we
develop
younger
lawyers
to
be
strategic
thinkers?
The
truth
is
pretty
clear:
the
legal
profession
as
we
know
it
is
going
to
be
different
and
perhaps
even
downsized.
We
have
to
face
the
possibility
that
lawyers
and
legal
professionals
may
need
different
skills.
It’s
an
inevitability
and
reality
that
few
in
the
legal
business
are
preparing
for.
I
talked
to
Ed
Walters,
vLex’s
Chief
Strategy
Officer,
after
the
keynote
and
he
made
a
very
good
point:
“We
need
to
be
teaching
younger
lawyers
things
like
judgment,
discernment,
counseling,
and
how
to
assess
the
outputs
of
AI.”
Those
that
do
will
prosper,
those
who
don’t
won’t.
As
William
Gibson
famously
said,
“the
future
is
already
here,
it’s
just
not
evenly
distributed.”
We
also
need
to
recognize
that
there
will
certainly
be
smaller
administrative
staffs,
who
are
composed
of
people
who
will
be
hurt
the
worst
by
job
displacement.
While
it’s
true,
as
John
Foreman,
Clio’s
Chief
Product
Officer,
put
it,
“AI
is
really
good
at
administrative
work
and
a
lot
of
administrative
work
just
isn’t
getting
done.”
But
that
still
means
that
some
job
functions
that
humans
are
doing
will
be
replaced
creating
the
risk
of
job
displacement.
You
can’t
blame
Clio
for
these
risks.
It’s
doing
what
other
vendors
are
trying
to
do
and
it’s
doing
it
more
responsibly
than
most.
But
I
saw
maybe
for
the
first
time
how
disruptive
AI
can
and
will
be.
And
there’s
another
danger
when
one
company
provides
all
the
necessary
services.
Enshitification
Once
Clio
can
provide
soup
to
nuts
needs
of
law
firms
such
that
other
vendors
are
rendered
irrelevant,
the
temptation
to
increase
prices
and
decrease
services
will
always
be
there.
Once
you
are
in
a
walled
garden
and
a
company
like
Clio
can
provide
the
kind
of
wall-to-wall
service
you
can’t
get
anyplace
else,
it’s
tough
to
leave
the
garden.
Even
if
it
ultimately
costs
more
to
get
less.
It’s
the
enshitification
syndrome
that
Cory
Doctorow
waxes
eloquently
about
in
his
book
titled
Enshitification:
Why
Everything
Suddenly
Got
Worse
and
What
to
Do
About
It.
Again,
Clio
shows
no
indication
under
present
leadership
of
going
this
route.
As
I
said
before,
it’s
one
of
the
more
responsible
players
in
legal
tech.
But
things
can
change.
Leadership
can
change,
economic
forces
can
shift.
All
of
which
points
to
the
risks
of
a
single
provider
being
able
to
meet
every
need.
Make
no
mistake,
being
able
to
serve
the
majority
of
customers’
needs
with
one
provider
is
good
for
lots
of
reasons.
But
customers
also
need
to
recognize
that
there
are
risks.
Divorcing
a
provider
is
not
easy,
particularly
where
you
have
to
replace
one
vendor
that
supplies
your
every
need
with
six
or
seven
separate
ones.
You
need
to
have
an
exit
plan
out
of
the
walled
garden.
The
Big
Story
So
the
big
story
from
the
keynote
is
not
the
new
and
shiny
AI
products
Clio
introduced
and
Newton
discussed.
It’s
Clio’s
transformation
from
practice
management
provider
to
comprehensive
legal
services
platform,
one
capable
of
handling
sophisticated
legal
work
across
every
aspect
of
a
firm’s
operations.
For
customers,
it’s
undeniably
powerful.
Whether
it
proves
to
be
a
blessing
or
a
curse
will
depend
on
how
both
Clio
and
the
legal
profession
navigate
the
profound
disruption
ahead.
Time
will
tell.
Stephen
Embry
is
a
lawyer,
speaker,
blogger,
and
writer.
He
publishes TechLaw
Crossroads,
a
blog
devoted
to
the
examination
of
the
tension
between
technology,
the
law,
and
the
practice
of
law.
Few
things
bump
up
law
application
numbers
like
a
volatile
political
environment
and
how
absurdly
difficult
it
is
to
get
a
job
right
now.
Deciding
to
go
to
law
school
is
choosing
to
bet
on
yourself
under
normal
circumstances,
but
our
rapidly
changing
circumstances
will
make
it
hard
to
know
what
you’re
getting
yourself
into
three
years
from
now.
Despite
that
uncertainty,
there’s
been
a
huge
jump
in
the
amount
of
people
applying
for
law
school.
Reuters
has
coverage:
The
current
pool
of
applicants
to
American
Bar
Association-accredited
law
schools
is
33%
larger
than
it
was
this
time
last
year,
according
to
newly
released
data
from
the
Law
School
Admission
Council. … “In
my
26
years
of
staring
at
the
[council’s]
volume
summary
report,
I’ve
never
seen
a
cycle
starting
this
much
up,”
said
law
school
admissions
consultant
Mike
Spivey,
who
predicted
that
the
applicant
pool
will
further
expand
through
November
before
tapering
down
to
an
increase
of
about
20%
over
last
year’s
total
count.
If
this
trend
continues,
it
could
lend
itself
to
higher
law
school
tuition
costs.
Say
you
get
an
acceptance
letter
from
The
School
You
Actually
Want
To
Go
To
(W2G
for
short)
and
a
similarly
ranked
school
you’re
Willing
To
Go
To
If
You
Must
(IYM).
Once
upon
a
time,
it
may
have
been
a
good
idea
to
leverage
your
IYM
acceptance
against
W2G
—
make
up
some
sob
story
about
how
much
you’d
rather
go
to
W2G
but
IYM
is
offering
a
better
scholarship
package
to
see
if
W2G
could
match
or
exceed
what
they
were
offering.
Back
when
W2G
schools
were
competing
for
top
talent,
the
leveraging
may
have
worked.
But
if
this
keeps
up,
W2G
could
just
tell
you
to
kick
rocks
—
there
will
be
a
bunch
of
students
who
are
willing
to
take
your
spot
with
less
fuss
and
more
funding
because
the
number
of
applicants
keeps
ticking
upward.
As
reasonable
a
response
to
uncertainty
is,
applying
to
law
school
is
still
a
gamble.
Will
these
future
lawyers
enter
a
job
market
that
finally
dealt
with
the
AI
in
hiring?
Or
will
people
still
be
using
AI
to
craft
cover
letters
and
resumes
only
to
get
assessed
by
some
companies’
AI
filtration
system
to
no
avail
until
heat
death
comes
for
us
all?
Bracketing
aside
the
AI
screening
issue,
competing
against
other
highly
qualified
candidates
won’t
stop
at
getting
into
law
school
—
they’ll
have
to
compete
for
jobs
with
those
same
high
performers
when
they
all
graduate.
As
much
as
students
may
risk
while
kicking
the
job
search
can
down
the
road
for
three
years
by
going
to
law
school,
the
time
was
going
to
pass
anyway.
Setting
yourself
up
to
succeed
is
generally
preferable
to
waiting.
Best
of
luck!
Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s
.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
is
learning
to
swim, is
interested
in
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected]
and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.
For
many
lawyers,
billing
is
the
most
uncomfortable
part
of
the
job.
You
do
great
work,
solve
complex
problems,
and
deliver
real
value,
yet
when
it
comes
time
to
follow
up
on
an
unpaid
invoice,
things
suddenly
feel
awkward.
In
my
conversation
with
legal
business
strategist
Matt
Darner
on
the
“Be
That
Lawyer”
podcast,
we
unpacked
why
that
discomfort
exists,
how
it’s
costing
firms
more
than
they
realize,
and
what
lawyers
can
do
to
change
it.
Get
Out
of
Your
Own
Head:
Reframing
Client
Communication
Matt
discusses
the
mindset
lawyers
often
have
when
following
up
with
clients
about
invoices.
Instead
of
feeling
like
you’re
harassing
or
bothering
clients,
the
approach
is
reframed:
sending
an
invoice
is
an
opportunity
to
showcase
the
value
and
work
you’ve
delivered.
The
follow-up
isn’t
about
pestering
for
payment,
but
about
reinforcing
the
relationship
and
reminding
clients
of
the
progress
made
on
their
behalf.
Matt
explains
how
training
your
team
to
approach
these
calls
with
confidence
and
helpfulness
can
turn
a
potentially
awkward
moment
into
a
positive
touchpoint.
The
Confidence
Erosion:
Why
Systems
Matter
in
Law
Firms
Matt
explores
how
initial
client
confidence
can
erode
over
time
due
to
system
failures
and
lack
of
communication.
Even
when
attorneys
start
a
case
with
high
energy
and
optimism,
things
can
go
wrong,
cases
stall,
communication
lapses,
and
clients
are
left
in
the
dark.
This
leads
to
clients
building
negative
narratives
and
justifying
delayed
payments.
The
takeaway:
Consistent
communication
and
robust
systems
are
essential
to
maintaining
client
trust
and
ensuring
timely
payments.
Stop
Having
Lawyers
Chase
Invoices
Why
are
top-performing
lawyers
—
people
billing
at
the
highest
levels
—
spending
hours
chasing
down
unpaid
invoices?
It’s
a
misallocation
of
talent
and
time.
Drawing
from
his
background
in
sales,
Matt
emphasized
that
the
most
successful
client
relationships,
including
some
of
his
largest
deals,
all
began
the
same
way:
with
clear
expectations.
When
you
start
off
by
setting
and
then
meeting
those
expectations,
everything
from
communication
to
collections
becomes
smoother.
Firms
need
to
rethink
their
structure
and
support
systems
so
that
lawyers
focus
on
high-value
legal
work,
not
collections.
“If
you’re
not
invoicing
regularly,
it
is
communicating
something
is
wrong
with
your
business,
whether
you
know
that
or
not,”
Matt
says.
Steve
Fretzin
is
a
bestselling
author,
host
of
the
“Be
That
Lawyer”
podcast,
and
business
development
coach
exclusively
for
attorneys.
Steve
has
committed
his
career
to
helping
lawyers
learn
key
growth
skills
not
currently
taught
in
law
school.
His
clients
soon
become
top
rainmakers
and
credit
Steve’s
program
and
coaching
for
their
success.
He
can
be
reached
directly
by
email
at [email protected].
Or
you
can
easily
find
him
on
his
website
at www.fretzin.com or
LinkedIn
at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevefretzin.
The
simple
reason
why
lawyers
like
Alex
Spiro
can
charge
so
much
is
that
the
work
they
do
is
valuable.
—
Professor
Jonathan
Choi
of
the
Washington
University
School
of
Law
in
St.
Louis,
in
comments
given
to
Business
Insider,
on
Quinn
Emanuel
partner
Alex
Spiro’s
ever-increasing
hourly
rate.
Business
Insider
notes
that
Spiro’s
rate
has
nearly
doubled
to
$3,000
over
the
last
four
years.
As
noted
by
Choi,
“litigants
think
it’s
worth
it
to
have
the
best
lawyer
they
can“
—
and
Spiro
is
one
of
the
best
there
is.
Staci
Zaretsky is
the
managing
editor
of
Above
the
Law,
where
she’s
worked
since
2011.
She’d
love
to
hear
from
you,
so
please
feel
free
to
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
comments,
or
critiques.
You
can
follow
her
on Bluesky, X/Twitter,
and Threads, or
connect
with
her
on LinkedIn.
Ed.
Note:
A
weekly
roundup
of
just
a
few
items
from
Howard
Bashman’s
How
Appealing
blog,
the
Web’s
first
blog
devoted
to
appellate
litigation.
Check
out
these
stories
and
more
at
How
Appealing.
“‘Slaughter’-ing
Humphrey’s
Executor;
The
Supreme
Court
will
decide
whether
to
overturn
long-standing
precedent
that
protects
independent
agencies
in Trump
v.
Slaughter“: Nick
Bednar
has this
post at
the
“Lawfare”
blog.
“I
resigned
from
the
military
because
of
Trump;
I
could
not
swear
to
follow
a
commander
in
chief
who
seems
so
willing
to
disregard
the
Constitution”: Doug
Krugman
has this
essay online
at
The
Washington
Post.
“Trump
Names
More
Foes
He
Wants
Prosecuted
as
Bondi
and
Patel
Look
On;
Top
officials,
unwilling
to
fight
for
the
independence
of
their
institutions,
watched
on
Wednesday
as
President
Trump
continued
his
pursuit
of
controlling
law
enforcement”: Glenn
Thrush
of
The
New
York
Times
has this
news
analysis.
