We are the first firm to study cyber-violence as a tool for silencing women in leadership separately from domestic incidences. This is becoming increasingly critical to women in positions of high visibility. It does us no good to fight for a seat at the table if we are driven away from it once we arrive, and that is exactly what these campaigns of cyber-violence are designed to do. 

They purposefully damage women in influential roles economically, professionally, and reputationally, and the continual advancement of tools such as Deep Fake push the need to adapt laws protecting women at a more rapid pace.  Given that we chose an emerging area as our focus it has required us to spend a great deal of our early resources bringing the legal community up to speed.

The issue of cyber-violence in the professional realm was really diminished and deflected at an alarming level until now and we are leading on the topic at a time when interest has increased.

The barriers we face are those inherent in a closed system. Many attorneys and legal support staff are reluctant to work in collaboration with an ABS for fear of breaching ethical rules barring non-attorney ownership. 

We work with a number of active and retired senior leaders in the federal government, forensic investigators, trial specialists, and legal talent domestically and globally.

We are very open to collaboration with attorneys dedicated to access to justice who are unafraid to tackle socially important issues. We are primarily a business law firm with a social impact focus and we are fierce advocates for innovation and regulatory reform.

The focus should be on protecting a democracy, not a monopoly, and we are building in-roads in a resistant system given the current landscape. Opposing forces have simply caused us to strengthen our approach and improve our adaptability—both vital elements to innovation.

This is a critical time in our culture for legislators to embrace forward-thinking and advancements in regulatory reform. 

I believe the legal industry has moved into a priority focus on the bottom line over the rule of law. The problem with this approach is it exacerbates the weaknesses in our legal system and limits access to justice. This approach is inherently a short game strategy that benefits the few and is unsustainable in the long run.

The underpinnings of our democracy rest on an equitable justice system and are not built on capitalism alone. The legal industry has priced justice out of the market, and innovation levels the playing field. 

Most statutes affecting lawyers were written to protect a profession, but in today’s environment, they simply protect a monopoly. Boards given oversight in the legal industry are rapidly being exposed for failure to govern attorneys and issues of biases benefiting attorneys over ethics are systematically revealed. 

All of this creates a hotbed for dissension as those who benefit by a structure slanted in their favor do not want their position challenged. Bringing non-lawyers and lawyers together to focus on access to justice and drive sustainable progress is exactly what is needed to ensure the protection of our long-held beliefs as a country built on “liberty and justice for all.” 

We are collaborators by design, and that propels us all forward. This is an exciting time for those who are dedicated to continual growth in their practice—we are not for those who are standing still.  Working together, we drive solutions to pivotal challenges in areas that are rapidly outpacing the laws that govern them. This is a market that requires a nimble craft, not a barge. We need to team up to keep up.

Law firms can be highly profitable and enjoy long term sustainability by building on innovation, and part of that is embracing non-attorney owners and advancing legal tech. 

The use of AI to improve productivity and efficiency is a great example. We all realize there have been challenges in matters where these tools were not used properly, but that should not deter us from learning from those incidences and improving our performance. The same can be said new law firm ownership models. Challenges reflect an opportunity for improvement; they don’t justify stymied progress.