Stay
on
the
streets
of
this
town
And
they’ll
be
carvin’
you
up,
alright
They
say
you
gotta
stay
hungry
“Dancing
in
the
Dark,”
Bruce
Springsteen,
1984
Years
ago,
our
team
was
invited
to
take
part
in
a
“beauty
contest”
for
a
major,
national
piece
of
“bet
the
company”
litigation.
Our
competition
was
all
New
York
and
Chicago
Am
Law
50
law
firms.
Here
we
were,
a
small
player
in
a
small
venue
far
removed
from
where
the
case
was
filed.
Yet
we
got
the
work.
After
the
litigation
was
successfully
concluded,
I
asked
the
main
client
rep
why
we
got
picked.
He
shrugged
and
said,
“Well,
you
know
every
firm
we
met
with
was
competent.
But
if
we
had
to
be
in
a
foxhole
with
someone
for
a
few
years,
it
might
as
well
be
with
people
we
liked.
Which
was
you
guys.”
But
this
didn’t
happen
by
accident.
We
cultivated
that
client
for
a
long
time
before
the
litigation.
We
got
to
know
them.
We
spent
time
with
them.
Our
team
leader
made
it
a
point
to
pick
out
a
book
for
the
client
every
year
as
a
Christmas
present.
That
took
time
and
getting
to
know
the
client
well
enough
to
know
what
they
would
like
and
be
interested
in.
We
were
entrepreneurs:
we
worked
on
creating
both
trusted
and
collegial,
well-liked
relationships
with
our
clients
because
that
satisfied
the
needs
they
had.
I
was
thinking
about
that
very
client
when
I
listened
to
Jordan
Furlong’s
remarkable
opening
keynote
at
ABA
TECHSHOW.
The
Jordan
Furlong
Keynote
Thesis
According
to
Furlong,
in
the
AI-driven
future,
the
successful
lawyers
will
be
those
who
can
supply
sound
advice
to
clients,
who
will
be
their
advocate
through
thick
and
thin,
and
who
will
accompany
them,
being
with
them
through
every
step
of
the
matter.
In
short,
being
a
“human
lawyer”
whose
value
is
not
in
what
they
know
but
who
they
are
and
how
they
enhance
value
through
their
relationships.
In
short,
to
be
someone
they
like
and
trust
in
the
foxhole,
and
to
be
the
lawyer
they
know
has
their
back,
just
like
our
client
said.
But
this
isn’t
necessarily
new;
it’s
what
the
most
successful
lawyers
have
always
done.
And
always
will
do.
The
only
difference
is
that
in
the
future,
the
lawyers
who
don’t
do
this
may
find
it
tough
sledding.
To
understand
Furlong’s
thesis,
it’s
important
to
look
at
his
analysis
and
then
how
we
get
young
lawyers
where
they
may
need
to
be.
What
Hath
AI
Wrought?
Furlong
identified
three
long-term
“gains”
to
the
legal
profession
that
AI
will
bring.
First,
legal
services
in
the
age
of
AI
will
be
commoditized.
It
will
no
longer
be
enough
to
be
able
to
“think
like
a
lawyer”
because
that
ability
will
be
on
every
device.
As
a
result,
legal
services
will
expand
and
cost
decline.
Second,
legal
products
and
services
will
become
mechanized.
The
amount
of
work
a
human
lawyer
can
do
will
no
longer
limit
what
can
be
provided.
AI
will
fill
the
gap.
Again,
more
services
can
and
will
be
delivered
at
lower
costs.
The
third
“gain”
identified
by
Furlong
is
the
reconfiguration
of
law
firms.
According
to
Furlong,
law
firms
“will
become
professional
businesses
that
will
also
feature
lawyers,”
instead
of
being
lawyer
centered.
This
will
help
those
who
need
service
to
get
it
faster
and,
again,
at
less
cost.
But
there
is
a
catch,
says
Furlong.
The
“gains”
will
not
necessarily
inure
to
the
lawyers
of
today.
Instead,
the
benefits
will
go
to
those
who
need
the
services.
And
that
scares
lawyers
to
death.
Furlong
believes
GenAI
will
dramatically
change
the
legal
profession
and
move
lawyers
away
from
their
traditional
roles
of
being
“task
performers
and
overseers,”
which
is
how
so
many
perceive
themselves.
Instead,
as
pointed
out
above,
the
future
lawyers
will
be
the
human
lawyers
who
thrive
on
building
and
maintaining
relationships.
Training
the
Next
Generation
of
“Human”
Lawyers
It’s
tempting
to
say
that
this
idea
is
not
new.
Afterall,
it
was
a
formula
our
team
and
I
followed.
But
it
does
beg
the
question,
says
Furlong,
of
how
we
get
the
next
generation
of
lawyers
to
become
the
kind
of
lawyers
who
are
able
to
provide
that
kind
of
value.
It’s
a
question
I
and
others
have
been
struggling
with.
Traditional
law
firms
supplied
the
training
to
young
lawyers
on
how
to
be
lawyers
and
serve
clients.
Furlong
noted
that
firms
were
happy
to
provide
that
kind
of
training
since
they
were
able
to
bill
the
training
time
of
the
associates
to
clients
and
enhance
profit.
That,
according
to
Furlong,
is
about
to
change
as
GenAI
takes
over
more
and
more
the
tasks
typically
done
by
associates
and
by
which
they
learned.
In
the
future,
Furlong
believes
that
training
will
need
to
be
provided
by
first
assembling
a
competence
profile
and
defining
what
it
means
to
be
a
good
lawyer,
a
subject
I
have
discussed.
Secondly,
firms
will
need
to
create
a
learning
environment
like
that
in
teaching
hospitals
through
more
robust
mentorships,
an
idea
I
have
also
mentioned.
Finally,
the
profession
will
need
to
provide
a
mechanism
by
which
readiness
can
be
assessed;
performance
standards
that
need
to
be
met.
Not
a
bar
exam
but
real
standards
about
what
it
means
to
serve
clients.
I
agree
with
Furlong
on
almost
all
of
these
points.
But
there
is
something
more
we
need
to
teach
young
lawyers
if
we
want
them
to
be
that
kind
of
human
lawyer
Furlong
envisions
and
clients
want
to
be
in
a
foxhole
with.
It’s
the
spirit
of
entrepreneurship
that
drove
our
team
to
form
the
kind
of
relationship
with
our
client
that
got
us
big
cases.
It
was
the
spirit
that
drove
my
partner
to
take
the
time
to
pick
out
special
books
as
Christmas
gifts
every
year.
When
I
meet
with
law
students,
the
first
thing
I
tell
them
about
the
successful
practice
of
law
is
to
think
of
yourself
as
an
entrepreneur,
no
matter
if
you
are
going
to
practice
as
a
solo
or
in
an
Am
Law
100
firm.
I
didn’t
become
a
mass
tort
defense
lawyer
by
osmosis.
I
defined
it
as
an
area
in
which
I
wanted
to
practice
and
then
became
an
entrepreneur
to
get
there.
I
found
a
mentor
in
the
area,
sunk
my
fangs
in
his
ankle,
and
hung
on
for
dear
life.
I’m
not
sure
he
wanted
the
role,
but
I
made
damned
sure
he
wasn’t
getting
out
of
it.
I
saw
how
he
cultivated
clients.
I
saw
how
he
won
their
trust.
He
was
Furlong’s
proverbial
human
lawyer.
And
by
hard
work
and
some
good
luck,
I
like
to
think
I
became
one
too.
How
Do
We
Get
There?
I
agree
we
need
to
make
more
of
the
human
lawyers.
But
I
don’t
think
just
saying
that,
defining
what
that
is,
setting
standards,
and
assessing
performance
will
get
us
there.
What
we
first
need
to
impart
is
the
need
to
do
what
my
mentor
and
our
team
did.
To
instill
that
spirit
of
entrepreneurship
in
young
lawyers.
Entrepreneurs
who
don’t
become
successful
by
mastering
a
subject
but
by
seeing
the
needs
of
others
and
doggedly
pursuing
a
solution
to
satisfy
those
needs.
I
believe
Furlong
is
absolutely
right
that
the
lawyers
who
will
succeed
in
the
future
will
be
masters
of
relationships
and
cultivate
trust
and
confidence.
I
believe
this
because
that
is
exactly
what
has
set
the
really
successful
lawyers
apart
from
those
that
merely
push
paper
and
bill
hours,
at
least
throughout
my
career.
But
that
suggests
a
final
reality.
Not
every
lawyer
had
that
desire
and
spirit
in
the
past
and,
no
matter
how
hard
we
try,
not
everyone
will
have
it
in
the
future.
Like
everything
else,
there
will
be
those
who
get
it
and
there
will
be
those
who
either
can’t
or
don’t.
But
given
that
GenAI
will
inevitably
mean
less
need
for
lawyers,
it’s
all
the
more
reason
to
look
at
why
clients
have
always
trusted
successful
lawyers
and
wanted
to
work
with
them.
It’s
all
the
more
reason
to
impart
that
need
and
skills
to
do
so.
And
it
all
starts
with
cultivating
the
notion
of
entrepreneurship
in
our
younger
lawyers.
The
spirit
of
staying
hungry.
Want
to
be
a
successful
lawyer
in
the
future?
Listen
to
Jordan
Furlong.
And
be
an
entrepreneur.
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.
