Every generation has its “defining moment.” For my parents it was the Beatles’ appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show or the assisination of John F. Kennedy. For Generation X, it was Madonna’s Like a Virgin or the fall of the Berlin Wall. For millenials, 9/11 or the election of Barack Obama. For my generation, I guess it was . . . Oregon Trail(?).
I’ve been watching the legal technology and innovation for seven or eight years – my defining moment being following ReInvent Law Silicon Valley via my relatively newly-created Twitter account in 2013.
At least, it was until September 4, 2019. That’s the day that law practice management leader Clio announced a whopping $250 million dollar Series D funding from TCV and JMI Equity.
The implications of this fundraising event are pretty staggering. Is Clio the legal technology sector’s first unicorn? What are we to make of Mark Britton, former Avvo CEO, joining the Clio board? Should we soon expect the launch of Clio Legal Services? How much better can the Clio Conference get with $250 million cool ones?
My point is this: $250 million is a lot of money. While we’ve seen other legal technology companies raise large sums before (see here or here), this deal represents the largest growth investment in Canadian history and probably in legal as well. With this investment, Clio is poised to dramatically reshape the legal ecosystem.
And that reshaping will almost certainly mean that the transformation we have seen and continue to see in legal employment will only increase. In a post-Clio world, the evolution of the professional in the 21st century legal ecosystem will probably only accelerate. And with that acceleration comes a need to unpack, discuss and prepare for the future.
That’s where we come in. On November 15, 2019 Above The Law, my event co-chairs, Bill Henderson and Bernadette Bulacan, and I will host the second ever Law Jobs for Humans event in New York City. This half-day event – part symposium, part job fair – is designed to create a space where those interested in exploring a 21st century legal technology career or those who increasingly feel the need to explore how to future-proof their legal careers can meet, learn, and prepare.
With legal renegades taken from a variety of different roles and areas in the law, Law Jobs for Humans is an attempt to capture the zeitgeist of a rapidly changing legal professional landscape.
It’s true that the defining moments for this decade of legal technology may have already past – with ReInvent Law and the Clio Series D in the rearview, they feel like they certainly may have for me – but the question about what to do remains very much in front of us.
So, join us at Law Jobs for Humans on November 15, 2019 in New York City. We’ve put together an amazing slate of speakers surrounded by an audience that, if ticket sales are any measure, already exceeds the audience for the first version of Law Jobs for Humans in Chicago in the spring. And speaking of ticket sales, early bird prices end this Sunday (October 27th), so make sure you grab those before the offer expires!
We won’t guarantee that Law Jobs for Humans will represent a huge cultural shift for the legal sector, but for us, the event will not be measured from the outside but by those who attend. If we can create that defining moment for just one or two people, if only one or two decide to stand up and explore the new frontier of legal employment, we’ll call it a success.