Design Thinking Comes of Age

By applying a designer’s thought process, legal entrepreneurs are able to critically assess the client experiencehttps://www.marsdd.com/news-and-insights/lawyers-turned-entrepreneurs-%E2%80%8Athe-times-they-are-a-changin/

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/27/franchisees-fight-back-against-15-wages.html

Seattle recently raised the minimum wage requirement to $15/hour. Franchisees have brought suit claiming that the new legislation unfairly burdens them, and that they should be recognized as small business owners. As cities seem to be enacting laws that make minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage ($7.25/hour), it will be interesting to see the effects. The standard claim against raising wages argues that employers will lay off or not hire as many employees. One market study in this article found that hotels would actually pass the cost over to consumers by raising room rates. Generally speaking, I am inclined to think that companies will not let this effect their bottom line, whether that means less employees or passing the costs to consumers, I’m not sure.

Excellent resource compiled by the smart folks at Stanford Law School on applying design thinking in the legal landscape. Includes slideshows, case studies, and best practices for getting past the buzzwords and into real applications of design thinking.

Open Law Lab

Insights on how design thinking may help lawyers better manage their practice. While this article seems to undervalue the importance of prototyping and client empathy, it does an excellent job in discussing how the existing compensation structures at larger law firms serves as a blockade to the collaboration necessary for design thinking.

Design Thinking in Legal Practice

 

Why the voice of Africa’s informal economy should be heard

Brief article, which describes the opportunity that Africa holds for entrepreneurs. The informal economy provides new and innovative chances for businesses to expand their ideas and technology to a continent looking for growth. Moreover, the author argues that Africa is better equipped to handle growing businesses and this informal economy allows women more career chances.

http://www.wired.com/2016/02/lawyers-fear-that-tech-will-make-their-jobs-too-easy/

Even though they “hate” us, they still need us.

Why Your New Business Needs a Lawyer Yesterday

 

Competition between companies in the “non-traditional business loan” sector is likely going to benefit entrepreneurs looking for financing.  Any concerns?  What kind of interest rates are being charged?  It varies.  Regardless, it’s hard to argue (from an entrepreneur’s perspective) that having alternatives when it comes to borrowing is not great for business.  This, along with peer-to-peer lending, just might be the future of the banking industry.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-08-19/square-wants-to-compete-with-small-business-lenders

 

Quick discussion from the Legal Talk Network on applying lean startup thinking to a law firm setting. While geared for small law firms, much of the advice is applicable in larger settings as well, particularly in how to best qualify client responses into tangible, workable data. The first ten minutes are a primer on lean startup principles, and can be skipped by those already familiar. Afterwards, the discussion really gets going, particularly the bits about how lean startup principles might be applicable for e-discovery or how concepts like the minimum viable product may be conflict with the legal profession’s ethical standards.

The Un-Billable Hour: Applying Lean Startup Principles to a Law Firm