Jerry Lawson discusses how antipathy toward slide shows is understandable but misdirected. A slide show is a tool, an instrument like a hammer, airbrush or violin. Lawson advocates the position that good slide shows can help presenters better educate, persuade, and even inspire.
Jerry Lawson had a conversation with Richard Granat, a lawyer, frequent speaker on legal technology, blogger, and consultant. His professional work has earned many awards, including the ABA’s Legal Rebel Award, the ABA’s Louis M. Brown Lifetime Achievement Award, and the ABA’s James I. Keane Memorial Award. He has long been a leader in using technology to improve access to legal services.
Jerry Lawson rhetorically asks Is anyone in the country better qualified than Renee Knake Jefferson to write about access to justice? Professor of Law at the University of Houston, co-reporter for the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Services, and designated by the American Bar Association as a “Legal Rebel,” she has long been a thought leader in the quest to make legal help available to all, regardless of resources. Her new book, Law Democratized: A Blueprint for Solving the Justice Crisis, does not disappoint.
Jerry Lawson offers his expert advise on how lawyers (and other ambitious people) can profit by publishing. One method is to begin by focusing on your desired result. What are the best publishers for you and your work product? Lawson offers a couple of ways to identify the potential publishers likely to provide the most benefit.
Jerry Lawson writes – So you think you know how to negotiate? You’ve done some deals, maybe a lot, maybe some for big bucks. Maybe attended some classes. Maybe read some books. Surely you can’t have all that much left to learn, right? You may see things differently after reading this book. It’s like no other negotiation book I’ve encountered. It’s different because it has an unusual author and an unusual genesis.
The Internet changed the way lawyers communicate, but it otherwise made only modest changes in the nature of legal work. Generative AI will be a tsunami. Can or should the American Bar Association and other bar associations attempt to influence the development and regulation of AI, to steer it in particular directions? Since the past can be prologue, it’s worth considering a previous attempt by the organized bar to grapple with another revolutionary technology. Jerry Lawson benchmarks this discussion using his participation in the American Bar Association’s eLawyering project that attempted to help lawyers use the Internet to achieve social benefits. The project tried to influence various governmental entities as well as the actions of lawyers. How well did these efforts work? How can the organized bar better steer the use of AI to benefit society?
Colin Levy’s extensive experience makes him well qualified to write about lawyer use of technology, and Jerry Lawson’s assessment of this new book is that it provides a clear-eyed view of how lawyers are using technology today and how they should use it tomorrow.
High emotions generated by the Israel-Hamas conflict make this a time of wild claims and counterclaims. Few subjects are timelier and more critical than the Law of Armed Conflict, (LOAC), frequently referred to as the Law of War, (LOW). The concept is sometimes referred to by a better name, International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Researching LOAC/LOW/IHL can challenge U.S. researchers and lawyers. There are no codified statutes or well-organized case law of the types familiar to most U.S. researchers. This guide to the ongoing war, by Jerry Lason and Sabrina I. Pacifici, identifies significant applicable documents and relevant resources and will be updated moving forward.
With our new Israel-Hamas War Project – read the first article here – we are doing what we can to help Truth catch up with Falsehood. Our goal is to document accurate, timely and actionable resources for researchers. We hope that providing this guide will assist policymakers, diplomats, analysts, journalists, scholars, and the public. Improved understanding of the law of war should raise the level of public discussion and facilitate better decision-making at this critical time.
Jerry Lawson recommends the new book, Design Your Law Practice: Using Design Thinking To Get Next Level Results, to any law firm or lawyer interested in innovation that will make their practice more profitable and attract more clients.