Is Axiom a game-changer? I thoroughly enjoyed reading the recent piece on Adam Smith, Esq. about an interview with Mark Harris, Axiom’s CEO and founder. The law firm places its lawyers on temporary assignment inside corporate law offices. With a focus on working better and smarter, it’s grown rapidly in recent years. Here’s an excerpt of Harris talking about the firm’s strategy:
Phase 1 was the client’s problem and the client’s solution, but using Axiom resources. Phase 2 is the client’s problem but with Axiom’s solution and Axiom’s resources. When Axiom owns the solution, then we lead the solutions design, working with our clients to apply process innovation, technology, and tools to improve both risk mitigation and cost. Throughout, the intent is for Axiom to assume the burden of creating efficiencies, because we have the benefit of scale and the ability to apply best practices codified across experience with multiple client engagements.
Phase 2 sounds really exciting. Makes me wonder about Phase 3.
Making the most of your greatest resource. As a young associate I was puzzled that management invested substantial resources in recruiting the best law school graduates they could find while at the same time doing very little to develop young lawyers or motivate them to spend the bulk of their career at the firm. Most associates left for greener pastures within four years, yet little was done to address the causes of attrition. In Law Firms Need to Take Care of Their Talent, Lauren Stiller Rikleen points out the value of attorney engagement and encourages law firm leaders to nurture their lawyers. What she has to say rings true.
Binding emails. Anyone who’s aware of ESIGN and the UETA, which provide for the enforceability of electronically-signed contracts, knows that electronic communications can form binding agreements. I’ve written about court cases involving claims that electronic communications should be binding in Contracting by Clicking Send and “NO LIMIT” + “Awesome” = Contract Modification. Think That Email Isn’t a Contract? Think Again on the Small Business Support blog discusses a couple of other cases where electronic communications resulted in binding contractual obligations.
Not every startup is meant for venture capital. VC Chris Dixon has words of wisdom regarding venture capital. It’s “a heavy burden that only makes sense in certain cases,” and “[e]very startup has its natural source of financing”, which often isn’t venture capital. Very true.
Olympic memes. When images from prime time TV explode onto the Interwebs, entertainment can be had for all. A great recent example is Angelina Jolie’s leg cleavage pose at the Oscars. The leg showed up in images all over the internet, including on the moon landing and the Statue of Liberty. This week in the ladies’ Olympics gymnastics meet, U.S. vault specialist McKayla Maroney became one of the most memed Olympic athletes, first for a vault that literally made the judges gasp, and the next night for apparently pouting during the medal ceremony after she won the silver medal.
