Get Excited For An Innovative Virtual Conference That's Sure To 'Transform The Practice Of Law, For Good'

The pandemic has changed just about everything related to the legal profession, and the Clio Cloud Conference is no different. Easily the largest and most popular conference in the legal technology sector, Clio is bringing all of its exciting offerings online this year, from October 13 through October 16, and their team has been working hard to pull out all the stops. From compelling keynote speakers to carefully curated panelists — each thoughtfully selected to challenge the ways you think about your practice, operate your business, and engage with your clients — this will not be just another online meeting. This is an event that you will not want to miss.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Jack Newton, founder and CEO of Clio, about what people can expect to happen at the virtual Clio Con and how the legal profession has changed, much for the better, during the coronavirus crisis. Here’s a write-up of our lively conversation.

Staci Zaretsky (SZ): What would you like people to know about the 2020 version of Clio Con? What makes this different from any other year, aside from the obvious fact that it’s all online?

Jack Newton (JN): This is the most accessible Clio Con ever, in every sense of the word. It’s the lowest cost that it’s ever been. You don’t need to invest in a plane ticket or a hotel. You don’t need to take the entire day off. We’re spacing it out over the course of four days in very digestible chunks. And you can dip your toe into the pieces of content that you’re most interested in. What’s exciting is that if you’ve heard great things about Clio Con, and you want to get a flavor of what it’s like, this virtual conference is a really exciting opportunity to do that. I think when you look at the speakers, you’re getting unbelievable value for your money. It’s going to be an opportunity to interact with your peers, and it’s going to be more than just a Zoom conference. It’s going to be an opportunity to connect with people that you maybe never met, but you’re going to be joining a really important community.

SZ: Clio always does a fantastic job of thinking outside of the legal tech box when it comes to its slate of speakers. This year’s keynote speakers include Seth Godin, Angela Duckworth, and Ben Crump. What do you hope they’ll impart to your audience?

JN: I think Clio Con has always been about more than just Clio. We think about it as being something that is much bigger than just a legal technology conference or just a Clio user conference. In the eight years we’ve been doing Clio Con, it’s grown into something that is truly about creating what the future of the legal practice looks like and what the future of being a productive lawyer that is engaging clients in completely new and innovative ways looks like. That’s really the frame that we look at with Clio Con and think about it as a conference where we’re co-creating what the future of the legal industry will look like with forward-thinking legal professionals. And to that end, we try to bring speakers to the conference that offer a perspective around what innovation and excellence look like outside the legal industry and to offer perspective that will help lawyers walk away from the conference richer in their knowledge about how ideas from outside legal might inform what’s happening inside legal.

This year, we’re thrilled to have Angela Duckworth, author of the bestseller Grit, talk about adopting a growth mindset and how to persevere and overcome obstacles through difficult times and different difficult situations, which is an apt keynote for 2020. Seth Godin, one of the foremost thought leaders on marketing and the bestseller of so many books on the topic, will share how legal professionals can think differently about their practices, clients, and careers in a digital world. And finally, Ben Crump, known for his landscape-changing civil rights cases, will speak about access to justice and equality within the justice system. I think Ben will offer a really inspirational and powerful perspective on how lawyers, and legal professionals more broadly, can help drive the change that’s needed in our society today. So just a few examples of the speakers of a much larger slate of speakers, both from inside and outside of the legal industry, who will inspire the attendees of Clio Con.

SZ: I know Clio wants to transform the practice of law, for good. So what does that mean for you going forward with regard to diversity and inclusion and access to justice? Where’s Clio going in the future?

JN: I think part of what we see as our mission is to drive that transformation within an industry that is so fundamental to society. And there’s obviously a massive access to justice gap. The World Justice Project data that tells us that 77 percent of consumers with legal issues did not see those legal issues solved by lawyers. Our Legal Trends Report data tells us that 80 percent of lawyers tell us the number one thing they need is more clients. So there’s this clear disconnect between legal demand and legal supply, and they’re not able to meet and connect effectively. We see that as a massive opportunity for Clio to help bridge that gap. We think that a foundational component of improving access to justice and improving access to legal services is built on the foundations of technology, and we’ll be able to better connect consumers with lawyers through technology. We see in the future more and more legal services being delivered over the internet. We see that as being a democratizing force for access to legal services. We see it as a model where lawyers will be able to deliver legal services much more efficiently and improve their reach.

“If you really think about it in broad terms, the law is the operating system of society and lawyers help administer that operating system, help represent citizens that need justice.”

And when we talk about transforming the practice of law for good, we really see a win-win-win scenario where we can improve access for consumers. We can make consumers happier and more satisfied with their legal experience and maybe even on a more foundational level, able to access legal representation at all. I believe we’re able to make lawyers happier and more satisfied and more fulfilled. And finally, the third win is we’ll be able to improve access to justice.

We think that’s a really noble mission to pursue and helping paint a vision of what we think that looks like is one of the big reasons we put on Clio Con. Because this conference is about more than software. Technology alone will not solve the access to justice problem. There is a really profound and seismic mindset shift that needs to happen in the legal industry in terms of how lawyers and legal professionals think about delivering legal services, how they think about the market opportunity, and how they think about product market fit in the legal sphere. And that’s really at the heart of what we’re trying to build is with Clio Con.

And finally, a big part of improving access to justice is providing access to equal outcomes and better outcomes. And there’s a huge amount of work to be done on that front. The legal industry should be one of the most diverse and inclusive professions around, and unfortunately, it’s the complete and utter opposite. We all know the legal profession is one of the least diverse, least inclusive professions in the world. And we think that needs to change. I think a big part of that can be realized by improving diversity and inclusion within the broader justice system.

SZ: Do you think that the legal industry is finally heading in the right direction when it comes to matters of diversity?

JN: I think we’re seeing improvement and I think that the events of 2020 have helped catalyze a large amount of change around the world. And thankfully, the legal industry is not isolated from that sea of change that we’re seeing around the world. So I believe there’s certainly cause for optimism on that front. A huge amount of work is still needed, but we’ve seen good progress over the course of 2020. I think it’s important that the industry as a whole goes into 2021 with eyes wide open, realizing that the real work has just begun and a lot of hard work that will need to last years remains to be done. So, my hope is that the conviction around this being truly a multi-year effort exists within the profession.

SZ: What do you think is the greatest challenge currently facing the legal industry in terms of technology? After all, 2020, because of the pandemic, has been a year where lawyers have been forced to adopt some technologies they never would have considered using before.

JN: I think the biggest threat to some law firms may be in believing that the technological adaptations they and their clients have made  will be transitory and that everything will return to “normal” as soon as the pandemic passes.

“I think what is really important to recognize is that we have seen a profound and permanent shift in how consumers want to use technology.”

I think lawyers need to realize, for example, that the days of the brick-and-mortar office, while they’re not over, are certainly numbered. The brick-and-mortar law office does not need to exist in the same way it did in January 2020, and that will not change post-pandemic.

I think when we look at the kinds of permanent shifts in consumer preferences, for example, most consumers would rather be interacting with their lawyer, according to our Legal Trends Report data, over a Zoom call rather than driving to their brick-and-mortar office downtown and meeting with them in person. Save for a fairly limited number of use cases, those consumer preferences will prevail beyond COVID-19. Lawyers that are expecting to be able to return to some of their previous client acquisition strategies in six or 12 months — for example, networking at the local Chamber of Commerce meeting — are likewise going to be in for an unpleasant surprise. We’ve reached a new equilibrium in terms of how the world is operating and the technological changes that we’ve seen are going to be permanent.

I do think, though, that the pendulum will swing part of the way back. It’s not that this pandemic reality will necessarily be the new normal. But I do think we’re going to see a better normal in a lot of ways in the long term — lawyers are going to be more accessible thanks to the internet, thanks to video conferencing. We’re going to be able to see lawyers working out of their homes or coworking spaces on a more permanent basis when we’re on the other side of the pandemic. We’ll be able to see more lawyers working out of rural locations, for example, at a lower cost overhead while still being able to serve clients in those areas. I think those are some of the structural changes and some of the technological changes that we’ve seen consumers and law firms embrace that are going to be permanent changes.

There are certainly law firms out there that have battened down the hatches and kept things running more or less the way they did pre-pandemic, hoping that things will return to normal soon. The uncomfortable reality for those law firms is that the world is changing permanently around them and they need to adapt to survive.

SZ: What is the most salient point from the Legal Trends Report that you think people need to know about prior to Clio Con, where the full report will be released?

JN: I think for me, one of the most surprising data points from the Legal Trends Report and the real time statistics we released  on COVID-19’s impact on the legal industry is that many consumers believe law firms are effectively closed for business and that 30+ percent of consumers believe that law firms aren’t operating. And I believe there’s some very off-base and incorrect perceptions due to court closures and other headline news that made consumers believe that legal services aren’t actually available during the pandemic. So one of the simplest and most powerful marketing messages that individual law firms and law firm organizations like bar associations could be putting out there is simply, hey, we’re open for business.

The most surprising finding in this year’s Legal Trends Report is the rate of technology adoption across both consumers and law firms. If you asked me what year those statistics were from in January 2020, I probably would have guessed the year 2030. It is literally a decade’s worth of technological transformation that’s happened in a handful of months.

On behalf of everyone here at Above the Law, we’d like to congratulate Jack Newton on what’s sure to be the most innovative Clio Cloud Conference yet. Click here to purchase your passes today. Use the promo code JACK-ATL to get 50% off Clio Cloud Conference passes. We hope to see you there!

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.