Who are you? What firm are you with? What is your role?
Ernie Svenson. I'm a solo lawyer in New Orleans, practicing commercial litigation like I did when I was with the large firm that I was with for 20 years. Actually, I practice the same kind of law, but much differently thanks to inexpensive technology and the Internet.
What is your firms’ specialty/niche?
My speciality depends on your viewpoint. To people who need a box to check, I specialize in business lawsuits, many of them related to franchise issues. I also handle legal issues involving the Internet and general intellectual property disputes. From my perspective, I specialize in figuring out how to manage information more effectively so that I can create leverage for my clients. Many lawyers aren't interested in processing information more intelligently and when I encounter an opponent with that approach I find that there are often opportunites to create a lot of leverage.
What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the legal technology industry now and in the upcoming year?
The biggest challenge for the legal tech industry is the same one it's always had, and the same one it's going to have until the next generation comes into the workforce: even though legal technology can help lawyers do a better job (sometimes even at a lower cost to the client), many lawyers resist embracing technology. Lawyers are, by trade, a backward looking profession that values precedent more than innovation. And we're risk-averse. So that's the insidious challenge for folks who provide technology to lawyers.
How can the legal vendor community work with you best?
I'm easy to work with. I usually know what I want, and when I don't I know how to find the right folks to ask questions of. Other lawyers need to develop a bond of trust with legal vendors, and unfortunately a few bad experiences only makes lawyers less inclined to embrace technology. Kind of like that old saying: "it's better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." Except in the world of tech vendors lawyers would probably say: "It's better to do it the old-fashioned way and be thought a dinosaur, than to try to work with a vendor who pushes some new technology that winds up making you look like a complete idiot."
What advice would you have for legal vendors trying to compete in this crowded marketplace?
Speak softly and don't make any sudden moves or you'll frighten the squirrels. Building trust with lawyers is harder than building trust with any other group. Lawyers are hyper-suspicous for lots of reasons, not the least of which is formal training. When lawyers feel like they might be drawn into a position of weakness (i.e. not knowing about tech and talking to someone who does), they avoid that situation. They're good at creating seemingly plausible reasons for that avoidance, and they won't be drawn in easily.
Lawyers need to see the benefits of technology in a way that they understand, and they are more inclined to trust other lawyers. And even though lawyers are the supreme masters of incomprehensible jargon, they don't react favorably to it when some tech-vendor foists it on them.
What associations are you active in?
Inns of Court (which is a traditional legal association), and various online social media groups that are populated with folks who are looking for new ways of doing things.
What online resource (website, blog, etc.) is most useful to you (i.e., you use it everyday)?
There is no one website that I favor. I'm a big believer in pulling trusted information from several sources, and then reading it in my RSS newsreader (which is Google Reader). Last January I wrote a blog post called "Where I get my information" that describes a few of the sites I think are most useful.
What are you speaking about at ABA TECHSHOW?
I'm speaking on a couple of panels about how to be paperless: Developing The Paperless Habit (which is about the institutional and personal impediments to becoming paperless, and strategies for overcoming those impediments), and Acrobat for Power Users (about using Acrobat in advanced ways to manage information better, and --of course-- achieve greater leverage and benefit for your client. All of this tech stuff is useful only to the extent that we can do a better job of helping our clients. I love TECHSHOW because I think it's the best "one stop shop" for lawyers who want to learn about technology, and make contacts with lawyers and vendors who can help them do that quickly and with as little stress and drama as possible.
Ernie Svenson
643 Magazine St., Suite 102, New Orleans, LA 70130
504.208.5199
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Ernie's Blog - Ernie the Attorney
Twitter @ernieattorney
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