George Beaton

Connect: https://www.lexblog.com/author/george-beaton/feed/
Firm/Organization: Beaton Research & Consulting
Blogs: Dialogue

Latest Articles

Remaking News of the Week: GCs show their colours covers a September 29, 2019 post by Bill Henderson titled ‘General counsel stand up to improve the legal talent supply chain’. Bill reports on an open letter from a group of 12 US general counsel “taking the long view by trying to influence the health and vitality of the legal talent supply chain“. They are looking for other general counsel to join them in their quest to improve…
I re-phrased the headline of this week’s Remaking News of the Week to read Canadian business is turning away from BigLaw because, like some others, I find the reference to ‘alternative legal service providers’ in the source of the news an anachronism. Anita Balakrishnan reported an important trend in her October 2, 2019 Law Times article which she headlined Close to 50% of Canadian businesses will turn to alternative legal service providers within 5 years. In using…
Nashville-cowboy-boots-300x240.jpg
The College of Law Practice Management presents In Tune With the Future, a conference focused on demonstrating how the future of legal practice has already arrived. The conference will take place in Nashville on 24-25 October 2019, featuring 40+ experts presenting examples of the future in practice today. Tim Corcoran is one of the organisers and he writes: We’re excited to be in Nashville – “Music City” – because it provides an excellent backdrop…
In Remaking News of the Week: Cole Silver’s timely statement of the obvious says: “Clients put food on your table and they’re the reason you exist. Having a client centric leadership is the key to driving superior performance and a competitive advantage” (LinkedIn). One might well ask why make a statement like this newsworthy? Answer: Yes, it’s a self-evident truth, but still far from a reality for the majority of clients of BigLaw business…
Mark-Rigotti-future-of-work-300x249.png
In Remaking News of the Week, Mark Rigotti speaks about the future of work in an interview with journalist James Ashton. Mark is the long-standing CEO of Herbert Snith Freehills which is a pioneer of many new ways in a legacy BigLaw business model firm. Today the shape and nature of the workforce are very different from how it was 10, 20 years ago. The prolific rise of mobile technology, the cloud, better forms of…
fullsizeoutput_14e5-225x300.jpeg
The remarkable Andrés Jara is a short story emanating from my recent encounter with Andrés. Within 10 minutes of meeting Andrés Jara when he came to say hello in our Melbourne office, I knew I was privileged to be talking with a remarkable legal services pioneer, a visionary and a ‘doer’. Andrés describes himself as a ‘lawyer, entrepreneur, father and husband’. I’d add ‘global leader’. To quote Andrés, “I’m convinced the legal industry needs to change…
Leaders-in-Legal-Business-cover-233x300.png
Leading thoughts curated by Stephen J. McGarry brings Stephen’s 2019 Leaders in Legal Business to the attention of Dialogue subscribers. The 250 page flipbook is written by 40 leading authors under six main themes, making this a handy, up-to-date and accessible compendium. Leaders in Legal Business is US-centric but in today’s globalising world, the trends are widespread, so there’s value for those outside the US. The themes cover the business of law, structures and business models, technology,…
Cognitive-Bias-cheatsheet-244x300.png
Remaking News of the Week: Jae Um on the state of play in legal innovation features a recent piece in her fabulous analytical style posted on Bill Henderson’s Legal Evolution blog. (1)     “You’ve all seen the headlines, and you’ve all heard the story: 2018 was a watershed year for legal startup funding. Yes, I absolutely agree it was — but I’m not sure we are putting that story in proper context. “In 2014, a search…