I
had
a
friend
who
recently
applied
for
a
second
mortgage.
There
was
a
minor
title
issue
that
anyone
could
see
was
irrelevant
to
the
approval.
Yet
the
lender’s
AI
system
spotted
it
and
spit
out
an
email
saying
the
loan
officer
couldn’t
approve
the
loan.
When
my
friend
contacted
the
(human)
loan
officer,
he
quickly
noted
the
error
and
approved
the
loan.
But
this
is
the
danger
we
face
in
the
age
of
AI:
LLMs
and
bots
making
decisions.
An
overreliance
on
metrics
and
AI
summaries.
And
mistakes
that
humans
would
have
easily
thought
through
and
not
made.
And
it’s
a
particular
problem
for
law
which,
as
I
recently
wrote,
thrives
on
ambiguity
and
nuance.
More
experienced
lawyers,
at
least
the
good
ones,
understand
this.
The
trick
is
to
impart
that
knowledge
and
training
on
younger
lawyers
and
those
they
supervise.
For
this,
the
answer
isn’t
focusing
on
AI.
It’s
creating
better
lawyers
and
having
partners
pay
attention
to
how
the
younger
ones
are
working.
Perhaps
it’s
time
to
reinstitute
and
reemphasize
the
old
managing
by
walking
around
concept.
Managing
by
Walking
Around
Years
ago,
there
was
a
management
concept
known
as
managing
by
walking
around.
It
was
based
on
the
notion
that
managers
who
leave
their
offices
and
spend
informal
time
talking
with
those
they
supervise
will
yield
greater
productivity
and
better
work
product.
It
drew
upon
the
practices
at
Hewlett-Packard
where
leaders
were
expected
to
be
visible,
accessible,
and
engaged.
It
involved
asking
questions,
listening,
and
face-to-face
communications.
The
idea
and
its
soundness
were
reiterated
to
me
in
a
recent
MacSparky
blog
post
by
David
Sparks.
Sparks
is
a
real
thought
leader
in
the
tech
and
Apple
space.
And
because
he
is
a
former
practicing
lawyer,
he
understands
the
practice
and
the
impact
of
technology
on
it.
In
his
recent
post,
Sparks
talked
about
the
fact
that
Walt
Disney
was
at
Disneyland
constantly,
walking
around
checking
on
anything
and
everything.
Including
painters
freshening
up
various
areas
in
the
early
morning.
As
Sparks
put
it,
“Walt
wasn’t
checking
a
spreadsheet
or
reading
a
report
from
a
middle
manager.
He
was
standing
over
a
painter
at
7
AM
because
the
paint
mattered
to
him.”
Sparks
mentioned
this
and
other
CEOs
to
demonstrate
how
passionate
they
were
about
their
company’s
product
instead
of
the
business.
To
me,
it’s
the
similar
concept:
managing
and
supervising
by
walking
around
demonstrates
how
supervisors
should
care
about
the
product
being
produced.
The
Practice
Group
Leader
I
once
had
a
practice
group
leader
who
every
day
would
walk
the
halls
in
the
late
afternoon.
The
rumor
always
was
Charly
was
checking
to
see
who
was
working
and
who
had
left
early.
In
hindsight,
while
Charly
wanted
to
see
who
was
working,
he
was
really
doing
more.
Charly
didn’t
just
look
in
your
office,
he
stopped
by
and
chatted
a
few
minutes
about
what
his
team
was
working
on
and
what
cases
we
were
prioritizing.
He
asked
questions
and
gave
his
ideas.
Charly
wanted
to
be
sure
we
were
handling
our
cases
correctly
and
making
good
decisions
because
he
cared
about
the
product
we
were
producing
for
the
firm’s
clients.
It
took
time
and
energy
on
his
part
to
do
that
when
he
could
have
been
sitting
in
his
office
billing
time.
He
was
being
a
mentor.
And
we
all
benefitted.
My
work
got
better
with
his
guidance.
My
business
development
skills
sharpened
as
I
listened
to
his
ideas
and
got
to
ask
questions.
And
every
now
and
then,
he
would
learn
something
from
me
and
say,
“That’s
a
good
idea
I
hadn’t
thought
of.”
It
was
from
those
6
p.m.
discussions
that
I
got
my
best
ideas.
Charly
made
me,
and
all
of
us,
better
lawyers.
MBWA
Will
Matter
Even
More
Than
Ever
The
whole
concept
of
managing
by
walking
around
(MBWA),
however,
has
become
a
bit
lost.
Remote
work,
doing
more
by
Zoom,
increased
emphasis
on
billable
hours
and
revenue,
and
less
emphasis
on
listening
and
guidance
by
older
lawyers
have
resulted
in
the
concept
fading
from
view.
But
add
to
all
this
the
temptation
to
use
AI
to
make
decisions
and
you
have
all
the
more
reason
to
do
more
walking
around,
listening,
and
chatting.
Relying
on
LLMs
to
make
strategy
decisions
and
prioritize
tasks
and
work
results
in
potentially
bad
and
costly
decisions
like
the
loan
decision
that
almost
cost
my
friend
a
loan.
And
as
we
move
away
from
time-based
billing
to
value-based
billing,
maximizing
that
value
is
essential.
And
that’s
what
managing
by
walking
around
can
do.
All
the
more
reasons
we
need
more
Charlys
in
the
legal
world
and
less
reliance
on
dashboard
non
thinking.
We
need
senior
lawyers
who
take
time
to
ask
and
listen.
Who
themselves
understand
how
to
use
AI
and
its
benefits
and
risks.
Who
can
ask
how
their
team
is
using
AI
and
make
sure
it’s
done
to
enhance
the
work
and
not
a
mere
shortcut.
Who
care
about
the
team,
and
its
work
product.
So,
let’s
get
the
old
managing
by
walking
off
the
shelf,
dust
it
off,
and
apply
it
to
today’s
new
reality.
Before
it’s
too
late
and
we
end
up
with
lawyers
who
know
how
to
prompt
but
not
how
to
practice.
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.