Good firms fail quietly

Good firms fail quietly. Not from bad lawyering, but from hiring wrong, focusing on a marketing strategy that stops at a website, and relying on a bench that can't evaluate AI evidence. This week we look at all these pressure points. Plus, we’ve got a short list of short podcasts that will keep you up to speed on what’s going on in the world. 

But first, it’s time to whip up a batch of Justice John Marshall Harlan’s favorite cocktail for Derby Day. A julep cup bearing the SCOTUS seal is optional.

Nightmare fuel.
The Eighth Circuit just upheld the conviction of a guy who stole a co-worker’s identity for decades. The victim was previously jailed for trying to set the record straight.

Paging Popcorn Sutton.
Moonshine is one step closer to being legal. 

Cartoon break.
If you like New Yorker cartoons, Asher Perlman and Paul Noth have both posted round-ups of their recent legal ones on their Instagram accounts.

May the 4th be with you.
Monday’s the Met Gala (and Star Wars Day), which makes it the perfect time to read up on… John Jay II? The prominent civil rights attorney (and yes, that John Jay’s son) gave a speech in Paris for America’s 90th birthday and wound up founding the Met. The first item in the collection was a fancy coffin. 

“Just keep livin', man, L-I-V-I-N.”
Matthew McConaughey and Taylor Swift are trying to trademark themselves in order to stop AI deepfakes. 

Firms that want to actually grow, not just spin their wheels in pursuit of growth, need to focus more on supporting talent than finding it. That’s the takeaway from this opinion piece for Reuters, authored by David Maurer, an Executive Director at Major, Lindsey & Africa’s Partner Practice Group. In it, Maurer says firms that focus more on adding people, practice areas, or offices without thinking about whether the firm’s existing structure and culture can successfully support those additions are setting themselves up for failure. 

Why this matters: Maurer is one of the top legal recruiters in the country, and his argument is worth sitting with: talent isn't an input to growth, it's the mechanism. Adding laterals without the structure to support them doesn't accelerate growth. It just accelerates the problems you already have. (Reuters)

The newly launched Judicial AI Consortium has 300 members. The judge-founded, judge-led and judge-exclusive group is trying to help the bench get serious about analyzing AI evidence. Digital forensics expert Lars Daniel hopes more judges will join up and get educated about what is going on, since he sees different courts treating similar evidence in different ways. His article includes several examples of this. 

Why this matters: Inconsistent rulings aren't the product of bad judges. They're the product of technology that moves fast and attorneys who assume the bench is keeping up. (Forbes)

If checking in on the news always turns into you doomscrolling for an hour, listening to a short news podcast can be a good, time and sanity-saving alternative. 

Bloomberg Law is a half-hour podcast that covers one or two of the day’s top legal stories in some depth. You can easily speed it up to 2x and not miss anything.

Up First from NPR, The Daily from the New York Times, and 5 Things from CNN each cover the need-to-know news each morning. NPR also releases its top-of-the-hour, five-minute news break as a podcast each hour of the day.  

If you are looking for a broader perspective on what important things are happening, the BBC’s Global News Podcast has you covered. 

Why this matters: Keeping up with what’s going on in the world, without being consumed by it, is trickier than ever. Short, to-the-point podcasts can keep you informed, not overwhelmed.

Most firms don’t have a PR strategy. That used to be okay. But in a world where AI tools like ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews are taking over traditional search, it’s a mistake. Most AI tools don’t pull answers from firm websites or social media accounts when a potential client asks them a question; they instead spit out a recap of information that has appeared in traditional media and other trusted third-party publications. Lawyers who build an earned media presence become the names AI associates with their subject matter. 

Why this matters: A single quote in a reputable publication can reach hundreds of thousands of readers, keeps generating search visibility long after it runs, and, perhaps most importantly, signals to AI systems that other people think you are a credible source. The more consistently you're quoted, the more likely AI surfaces your name when someone asks a question you're equipped to answer. (Business of Law Digest)

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Raise the Bar is written and curated by Emily Kelchen and edited by Bianca Prieto.