Legal Commentary

Inside Counsel Superconference: A Great Learning Experience

By Patrick J. Lamb

As I posted a while ago, I had been asked to participate in a panel on The Future Of Fees at the Superconference put on each year by Inside Counsel, a publication on the regular reading list of informed inside counsel.  This year's conference concluded on May 6th.  It was an extraordinary event.  The discussion with my fellow panelists, Fred Bartlit (Bartlit Beck), Karen Klein (GC of Kayak.com) and David Grumbine (Senior Counsel, Whirlpool) was fascinating on many levels, at least for me.  My great thanks to them for sharing so many insights.

A couple of the presentations I attended were noteworthy.  My friend Dan Hull led a panel on Dealing With Gen Y at work.  Great discussion, great debate, great insights.  Dan did an outstanding job assembling a panel with diverse views, from both inside and outside counsel including boomers and actual Gen Y-ers.  Although Dan and I view this subject differently, I learned a huge amount from the discussion.

Jeff Carr, GC of FMC Technologies, and Paul Lippe, CEO of Legal On Ramp  participated in a panel on Web 2.0 and its impact on the practice of law.  I was able to attend only a portion of the discussion, but I left more firmly convinced than ever that web technology and the development of opportunities such as Legal On Ramp are going to accelerate the pace of change and, ultimately, the way we practice law and price for our services.  The glimpse into the future was exciting.  Even more exciting was the realization that in many respects, the future is here for those willing to take advantage of it.

Great conference.  Kudos to Tom Duggan, publisher of Inside Counsel and the host of the event, and Sheila Brennan, the architect of the event and designer of the content.  Outstanding work by Tom, Sheila and their team.

Full post as published by In Search of Perfect Client Service on May 07, 2009 (boomark / email).