MANAGING PARTNER ROUNDTABLE

Transcription

1 725 S. BROADWAY #10, DENVER, CO WEEK ONLINE.COM $6 DECEMBER 19, 2016 MANAGING PARTNER ROUNDTABLE READY FOR WHAT COMES NEXT Managing partners close 2016 with a discussion on the changes they ve seen in their practice areas and their hopes for the New Year. (From left: Tim Scull, Merchant & Gould; Jennie Wray, The Harris Law Firm; Andy Spielman, WilmerHale; Mike Rollin, Rollin Braswell Fisher) PAGE 11

2 725 S. BROADWAY #10, DENVER, CO WEEK ONLINE.com $6 DECEMBER 19, 2016 MOVING FORWARD Managing partners discuss observations from last year and expectations for 2017 Law Week on Nov. 16 gathered managing partners from law firms around Colorado to give their take on the significant developments and overall outcome of 2016 as well as their guesses for what will matter most to the legal market in The group included Mike Rollin, managing partner of Rollin Braswell Fisher; Andy Spielman, co-partner in charge of WilmerHale s Denver office; Tim Scull, Denver office managing partner of Merchant & Gould; and Jennie Wray, Evergreen office managing partner of The Harris Law Firm. Tony Flesor, managing editor of Law Week Colorado moderated the discussion, and Hunter + Geist reported it. LAW WEEK: It s hard to believe it s the end of the year. In this discussion, we ll be focusing on trends from 2016 that you ve seen play out, as well as what you re looking forward to for next year. I am curious if you would mind sharing your assessments of how things have gone for you in Do you have any retrospective on how things have been this year? And I m also going to ask about any resolutions that you might have for next year. TIM SCULL: As far as a little bit of background, if you aren t familiar, we re a patent law firm, IP boutique. One of the things that we ve noticed is there s a real uptick in patent filings, and I think that s a real positive thing. It s showing that the economy is there and that businesses are confident and investing in the future. I feel like that s just one of our major trends. So in the end, we re really busy. JENNIE WRAY: I work at the Harris Law Firm, and we are a family law boutique firm. And I guess we are finding that a lot of people are attempting to represent themselves pro se nowadays. You ve probably heard from former Chief Justice Michael Bender with regard to the accessto-justice system. And as a family law attorney, we re finding that approximately 70 percent of people are filing pro se in the court system in domestic law. So it s a huge swing. We re just trying to help people have better representation attempting to represent themselves better in court if they are choosing to do it on their own. MIKE ROLLIN: 2016 couldn t have been more exiting for us. We opened our firm, RBF Law, in October We re all trial lawyers who came from different firms, and an old group of friends came together to form our firm. We started with five partners and an associate in October of 15. We have 13 lawyers now, and we re working hard to find great, talented people so we can continue to grow. It s been very busy, our clients have all stuck with us, all of our matters with all of our clients have grown. It s been an exciting and very fun and interesting year, to say the least, to go from being in a law firm to running a law firm. And that s what 16 has been like for us. ANDY SPIELMAN: Along with Natalie Hanlon Leh, I m the co-partner in charge of WilmerHale s Denver office was a great year for WilmerHale Denver. In 2015, we were one attorney, and we ll close out 2016 with 25 professionals in the office: 14 attorneys and 11 nonattorneys. We opened the door with a business plan that had a few very specific practices in mind. We have two fairly well filled out here in Denver and hope to have some very thoughtful and planned growth in LAW WEEK: I d like to open things up a little bit more to a broader focus on the industry at large. We did a similar discussion last year at this time; some of the things that came up looking forward to 2016 talked about attorney staffing and using alternative fee arrangements, also looking at analytics for business uses as well as using it in litigation. Starting with those, some of the things that people were looking forward to for this year, how have you seen those put in use? Maybe alternative fee arrangements would be a good starting point. Have you seen any change in how those have been implemented? SCULL: I would say that more and more and more, clients are trying to figure out some sort of alternative fee arrangement when they can. On the patent filing area of almost everything that I do is on some sort of flat fee and planned amount. And so that allows the clients to budget very well and figure out what they re going to do. We ve been doing that for a long time. I would say as far as trends, we re just sort of seeing it now in other clients and other areas in the patent litigation space. Clients are often asking for different alternative fee arrangements and how we might be able to structure it, and so I expect to see more of that. ROLLIN: I think it went from maybe 09, 10, 11, 12, certainly things were constricting, and the in-house lawyers were feeling it. And they were still trying to figure out what is an alternative fee arrangement: can you help me figure out what this is to now where I think we are is, We re going to have an AFA, and it s up to you, Mike, to figure out how we re going to get this done. And in litigation, fixed fees are a little tough, because you don t really know all of the twists and turns. We ve become very good at figuring out what we think it might cost, and we ve been pretty successful in doing that, but certainly the trend has been from something that would be nice to something that we better get our heads around. WRAY: I touched on it a little bit earlier. As I mentioned with more people asking for unbundled legal services, we re seeing that quite a bit, and so we ve certainly developed a new program here at my firm called the Self-Represented Resource Center with retired Judge Angela Arkin, she will assist parties coming in under a Rule 11(b) basis and certainly speaking to them and attempting to help with documents and whatnot. And it s a completely different fee arrangement than if we re going to represent them. So we certainly have catered to that access-to-justice type system. That s been new for this year. SPIELMAN: I think I m going to answer the question by putting two together, if you don t mind. We re also very much seeing requests for AFAs or demands for AFAs. Our clients want predictability. They re running a business the same as, frankly, we are and all others are. Our technology focus in 2016 has really been on what we call legal matter management. We use software tools to budget a matter up front, run real time current, up-to-date status checks against where we are and be able to provide the client real time feedback as to where we are with regard to a given budget. And if unforeseen circumstances arise, we can talk about an adjustment. But that s been a big push for us, or maybe a broadening across matters and across practitioners at the firm, to avail oneself of these technology tools in order to accomplish the client s needs for predictability. LAW WEEK: Sure. And so it seems like from what both of you (Andy and Mike) have said, it s now an expectation that you re going to be offering that and not just something new that might be in a trial phase; it s now to the point that your clients are specifically looking for that. ROLLIN: If you have a traditional law firm model and a client comes and asks for an AFA, what you re doing is you re really discounting what you otherwise would collect or bill on a particular matter. What we ve tried to do, and I think firms are going to this more, is to try to structure themselves differently.i think the example that you (Jennie) gave is a good one. It is a structural plan, so you re not just cutting something off the bill, but you re changing the way you do business. WRAY: Right. ROLLIN: We do that in our structure. We have a very flexible group of

3 725 S. BROADWAY #10, DENVER, CO WEEK ONLINE.com MIKE ROLLIN, MANAGING PARTNER AT THE NEWLY OPENED ROLLIN BRASWELL FISHER, SAYS HIS FLEDGLING FIRM HAS A THINK TANK. SPIELMAN: That s a great point. We did something similar, but that flexible space is at our business services center in Dayton, Ohio. We have discovery support attorneys on a contract basis, or many are full-time. E-Discovery tools and sort of centralizing and making more flexible the critical support teams for major litigation matters has helped us in exactly what you re describing and finding a different way to do that business. WRAY: The attorneys actually want to, which is great, because it gets their name out there even more. It s just even just a little more self-promotion, which is important in my line of work, in domestic relations. LAW WEEK: Anything else? SPIELMAN: You know, the term gets kicked around a bit, but the virtual law firm is something that we have a tremendous amount of experience in. I think it s out of a respect for clients relationships with providers. There are some places where we can supplement an existing team, and we re brought in to do that as co-counsel, but the other firm is the primary counsel, and we are brought in to assist with a particular matter. And I think that is as much the rule as the exception these days. Frankly, I think it adds more $6 DECEMBER 19, 2016 of waiting to see how that was going to shake out and whether or not more business was going to come because of it, and how that interaction would be between the lawyers and the patent office itself. The one thing that s been a little bit disappointing is the fact that the examiners are all not housed there, and we re not able to do a lot of in-person interviews. And, in fact, the trend at the patent office is to allow their examiners to hotel, and so now they re all basically working from home, and it s eliminated our ability to really get in front of them and have inperson interviews. So we have to learn to use and adopt and make the best out of the videoconferencing technology or just plain old telephone. I m a little bit disappointed that we re not able to just walk across the street and have in-person interviews whenever we want. I m looking forward to them actually starting hopefully to have more IPR hearings here in Denver, so that will actually be a real help. LAW WEEK: And so IPR is the inter partes review? PHOTOS: LAW WEEK, HANNAH SKEWES support attorneys that we use, and we actually build our space around this concept. We would have our core group of 11 or 12 or 13, or however many lawyers it is, but then have a flex space in the middle, and as a matter, if we needed more people power, then we would put more people power on it with our support attorneys. But when we didn t need them, we didn t have to carry that overhead. And so different firms have different ways of approaching it. But I think it is and has to be and has become more structural so the firm can stay profitable with that and still provide that service to the client that they re asking for and those forms of efficiencies. opportunities for us to assist clients with their work in accepting the right piece of it, as opposed to needing the whole pie. ROLLIN: Absolutely right. I think you don t have to have the whole pie. A lot of us have expertise in particular areas, and it makes sense for us to be involved or take the lead, or whatever the case may be, and it makes sense for us to partner with others, and we do that all of the time, and it s very effective. I think it s more efficient for the client. The client gets exactly who they want doing exactly what they want them to do. LAW WEEK: Are there any other trends that you ve picked up on? Is there anything else that s been on your radar in the past year? SCULL: Well, I can speak to one thing. We ve all been happy that they opened the (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) here in Denver, and we were sort SCULL: Yeah. That s part of the (process) to challenge the validity of a patent, without going to the district court. That s a huge trend in the industry, and it s been going for a while now, but it s big. It s a major change in how parties will come together in the beginning to figure out the validity of the patent. It s cheaper than going to district court for both sides. I mean, for the longest time, they just were invalidating patent after patent. It looks like there s going to be a pendulum swing the other way. There s going to be some patents that are going to be upheld as valid after IPRs, and if that happens, I think hopefully it will move more to a 50/50 and not be so one-sided as it is right now. SPIELMAN: I know we haven t talked about a trend. Can I ask a question of everybody? LAW WEEK: Please do. SPIELMAN: We haven t talked ROLLIN: That s excellent. LAW WEEK: What have you all seen as far as other trends that caught on in the last year? Is there anything that s been new that you ve been trying out or seeing other people try out that you re looking at? WRAY: We see in the domestic relations world a lot of content marketing on social media. Social media has just been outrageous in my practice, so we constantly see that. I think that that s certainly grown, even just from last year alone. LAW WEEK: Within that, are you seeing you have to exist in that way? You have to be putting out the content marketing in order to stay relevant? WRAY: I believe so. I believe that, at least certainly it gets the information out there, and that s been successful with us. LAW WEEK: Is that also something that the attorneys are writing, or are you outsourcing? JENNIE WRAY, MANAGING PARTNER OF THE HARRIS LAW FIRM S EVERGREEN OFFICE, EXPLAINS UNBUNDLED LEGAL SERVICES AND HER FIRM S NEW SELF-REPRESENTED RESOURCE CENTER.

4 725 S. BROADWAY #10, DENVER, CO WEEK ONLINE.com about the generational trend in our workforce and corresponding space and communications tools and technology. I ve been told there are, in some offices, are now five generations. What s called the Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, and the Millennials. And very shortly, there will still be four generations. And they are used to a very different work style, communication style. We rebuilt our new space to reflect what we thought was how the majority, or at least the newer part of our workforce, wanted to work. So collaboration spaces, the flexible space you re talking about, Mike, whiteboards everywhere, lots of videoconferencing, some different levels of technology there, but just a more flexible, collaborative environment is, frankly, what we were told to do when we toured other workspaces, including Merchant & Gould. It s what we saw elsewhere in the market. And I m fairly certain our folks like it and are utilizing the different types of workspaces. I assume we re not alone and others are seeing this as well? ROLLIN: No question. We have a room we call the think tank. It s the whiteboard and chairs, or however we decide to configure it for that particular use. It s such a small firm, we have two conference rooms and a think tank, so that there s lots of open space and places to meet. We always joke that the only reason we have offices is so that we have a place to hang our art, because we re never in the office. That is one of the ways to respond, but I certainly think there are others. There s a question it s not really work/life balance. It s sort of work/other-good-things balance that are seem to be more and more important to the younger group of lawyers. I think it s fantastic. We support it completely. I m sure your firms do as well, and it s great to see them out in the community making a difference, interacting with other lawyers and non-lawyers, working in the schools, doing other good works. WRAY: Absolutely. We did the same thing. That s partly the reason why we broke into four offices, to make it easier for not only our clients, but our employees $6 DECEMBER 19, 2016 as well. And we even hotel offices as well. It s working out great. I mean, even just the morale, you can see that it s flexible and you can work remotely, and we ve really had success with it. SCULL: I think going forward there s going to be even more of that. We ve definitely built, what we were talking about, the collaborative space. That was a big focus when we built out our space, if you really think about it that way. The whiteboards and things like that and prepare for the technology and have all of this available. We spent a lot of time thinking about that. And, in fact there were some people that wanted to even go more open than what we did. There was a split. I m not sure what that age line was, but I was on the wrong side of that. So anyway, I see that as just going more and more and paying attention to what everybody is wanting and needing. LAW WEEK: And even if that s kind of being driven or accommodating that younger generation, does it seem like it s being adopted by the rest of the office as well? ROLLIN: Yeah, I think so. For some of us, we had to open our minds a little bit. I was raised at a very big firm where you work from the moment you wake up until the moment you crash and can t work anymore, and there wasn t balance, and that wasn t good. I m still a little bit of that model. But I think, more and more, people are adapting to what I think is just a better way of working and a better way of living. And there s something to learn from the priorities that that newer group brings. WRAY: I think it makes me a more effective attorney having that balance. I ve certainly learned that for myself. I m of a similar nature oh, all there is is work and having that balance is very important to me, too. LAW WEEK: Does having that balance affect the way you approach the legal work? Is it more of a struggle to bill all of the hours you need to? Are you having to staff more? SPIELMAN SPEAKS ON GENERATIONAL TRENDS IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION AND THEIR IMPACT ON OFFICE OPERATIONS. ROLLIN: I think the lawyers are incredibly conscientious. The lawyers get the work done. And I say lawyers, and we talk about lawyers all of the time, but it s not just the lawyers, it s the paralegals, the e-discovery folks. Everybody that s involved in making it work are incredibly conscientious people. And if they have to work in the middle of the night to get their work done, they get their work done in the middle of the night. But when they don t have to, they find time for the other things that are priorities in their lives, so I don t think so. Sometimes, I do find you want to staff a little bit more to create that room, because there s always more work and more work and more work, so you want to staff to create that room for them, but I don t feel like they re forcing us to do it. They re conscientious, and they get their work done. LAW WEEK: Within the past year, have there been any practice-specific things that have changed anything for you? As you were mentioning, your interactions with the patent office. Has there been anything else that s been happening that s changed in your own specific worlds? SPIELMAN: Well, I m a regulatory lawyer, and in our energy environmental resources practice, the regulatory landscape can change fairly dramatically in any given year, and in an election year when the transition with a new congressman and new administration and the existing administration that s still got some business to do. We ve already seen tremendous change, we re going to see more, and we re excited about that. Most of us have been through many such transitions, and our clients look to us to help figure out what these changes are, what does the process look like, what is the opportunity to weigh in on process for a proposed regulatory change. It might even be changes that the next Congress is going to do on the intellectual property side on copyright law or energy regulation. We think we re going to see a pretty significant series of changes, and that gives us the opportunity to be creative, to be nimble and to help, again, navigate and then take maybe some of the concern and put a little more certainty into the changing times. LAW WEEK: Any other thoughts on any of the things you ve seen shake things up a little bit for what you do? ROLLIN AND SPIELMAN CONSIDER QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT S DRIVING WORKSPACE TRENDS IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION. PHOTOS: LAW WEEK, HANNAH SKEWES ROLLIN: It s not really industry specific, per se, but I think a point that you made at one point was that you see somewhat of a decrease in the number of those midsize firms. I certainly see that in the litigation space, but I don t know if it s true in other

5 725 S. BROADWAY #10, DENVER, CO WEEK ONLINE.com $6 DECEMBER 19, 2016 It will shift in time a little bit, but it does change how we look at that. SPIELMAN: I think there s still headwinds from the professional services and legal service industries, and we don t take anything for granted, and I think our 2017 is about maintaining what we hope our clients see as excellence, continuing this growth in a very deliberate way. At the same time, we expect significant changes in many areas of the law in 2017, so we will balance everything I just said with flexibility and hopefully identifying new areas potentially. I guess with some discontinuity we ll hope there s opportunity for our clients success and for us to be a part of it. TIM SCULL, WHO HELMS MERCHANT & GOULD S DENVER LOCATION, SAYS THERE WAS A SPLIT AMONG HOW MUCH COLLABORATIVE SPACE TO INCLUDE IN THE OFFICE. spaces that you turn toward large firms and sometimes mega firms now in a continuing merger environment, and then some of the more midsize firms in town have downsized, and we certainly see that as an opportunity space for us to fill that particular niche. And so you do see some movement in the legal community in town, which, obviously, we re continuing to watch. And as you do that and you re trying to run and grow a business and find your right place, you keep a close eye on those types of things and see where you fit in. LAW WEEK: This was obviously in the BigLaw world, but with the increases in the associate entry-level salaries to me that just looks like there s much more fierce competition for those talented, younger lawyers. Are you seeing that play out in the local market? Maybe not on the level of $140,000 salaries, but would you say the competition is pretty fierce here in the local market? ROLLIN: I think that dovetails with something we talked a little while ago Millennials, and in my experience that has been that they re not looking for the biggest paycheck they can find, necessarily. When I got out of law school, that s what we were looking for. What was the biggest firm you could work for, and what was the biggest paycheck you could get? I think that group of lawyers is looking to be mentored. I think they re looking for opportunity. Maybe in big firms there are fantastic opportunities in big firms, but it isn t necessarily in big firms. So I have not experienced that race after dollars so much as that race after the mentorship, the environment, the collaboration, the diversity and diversely inclusive environment as being higher priorities. LAW WEEK: So maybe still competitive, but using different tools to attract them? ROLLIN: Yes. WRAY: I d completely agree with that. And that plus even time off to spend doing the things that they hold dear to them. I think that it s not necessarily about the dollar, but it certainly helps to be able to go do those things that everyone enjoys, but I would completely agree. SCULL: I would just add on top of that that it is competitive in the patent space for people with the right technical background, as we look for them and try to bring them in and make it work. If we re looking for someone with a particular background, I can pretty much guarantee you that there are other people looking for that same thing, and so it s competitive for sure. SPIELMAN: I think the good news is we have an embarrassment of riches in terms of the talent that not only already is in our legal market, but folks who want to be part of the economic surge or vibrance and diversity that s taking place in Colorado right now. So we are all attracting top talent. And the other thing I noticed, I think, present company included, there is more fluidity or movement in the lateral partner world in addition to the historic lateral associate world in this market, and I think that s a good thing, too. It enables us to bring together lessons learned and experiences from elsewhere and reconfigure it. One of the things I didn t even talk about is what else are the Millennials looking for. We had the doors open with one lawyer 24 months, but we ve been 18 months as presently configured. Not only have we never had a partners meeting, we ve never had an attorneys meeting in Denver. We just have our office meetings, and they re over breakfast burritos or an adult beverage at the end of a Friday, but that seems to be as much of the experience that people are looking for, or a big part of the experience people are looking for. We seem to have high morale and, knock on wood, perfect retention thus far. and bring them in whether it s lateral or just maybe more homegrown, but we re going to have to grow. WRAY: Same. LAW WEEK: Is there any shift in what those clients demands are in terms of how you re going about in meeting that? SCULL: Yeah, there s one that we re feeling right now. There was a change in the law a while back that we went from the first event to first to file. And so clients are getting their arms around that. It s been a while, and some of them immediately started filing faster than others, they re trying to get us to file our patent applications sooner or file some other form of provisional-type patent application in order to preserve the date. So we re seeing that different demand from the clients. Probably not a big thing. ROLLIN: We re still very much a work-in-progress, and it s a lot of fun, but everybody who works there and every client we work with and every new client and every new hire gets a chance to mold that a little bit. I think we will enjoy 2017 as continuing to be a work-in-process and constantly evolve into whatever we become, or maybe we ll just continue to evolve as we progress even beyond. It seems to me that s the most likely. LAW WEEK: Is there anything that you would like to add on that? WRAY: Yeah. We re again, looking, of course, to grow in Due to the divisiveness of the country, as it is now, I believe that that certainly will trickle down to families and we re certainly expecting to be very busy in 2017 moving forward. Rather if that s fortunate or unfortunate, but certainly we re looking forward to it, depending on how you look at it. LAW WEEK: Right. With those national changes being the big topic right now anyway, is there anything in terms of regulatory changes or legal changes that you re keeping an eye on with the new administration? LAW WEEK: And looking into our crystal balls for 2017, is there anything that you are expecting? Maybe starting off with a business focus within managing law firms, is there anything that you re looking at in terms of the way other firms are doing things that you re going to try out or that you think is going to be a big deal in the next year? SCULL: I think, for me, when I m looking at it, I want to grow to meet the demand for some of our clients. So to the extent that there s a focus for us, it s really going to be to try to find the right people WRAY TALKS ABOUT ACCEPTING THE IMPORTANCE OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE.

6 725 S. BROADWAY #10, DENVER, CO WEEK ONLINE.com $6 DECEMBER 19, 2016 I was surprised, really, to see how many people would use it. We just did it as part of the plan when we built out, and we just built out two years ago. Almost everybody is standing at some point. WRAY: Us, too. Many of us have the odometers and are challenging each other, and it s just fantastic. Of course, attorneys are competitive, so it s great. SPIELMAN: I think a lot of the changes are pretty exciting and pretty fun. LAW WEEK: And lastly, are there any resolutions that anyone has as far as business, as far as goals for the firm or for yourselves professionally? ROLLIN: I m reminded that we lawyers, as a profession, although we don t all necessarily believe the same thing, have always played a role and had the responsibility and the access to play a role in social events, and we certainly view it as a responsibility and an opportunity to ensure that we re available to people who may need the lawyer s skill set and passion as things evolve with the administration. We take that responsibility seriously. I think we all have an obligation, to the extent we believe in that, to ensure that justice prevails. SPIELMAN: I really like, Mike, how you put that. You know, there s a responsibility for us as members of our profession to be a productive part of that change and to ensure the best outcomes and justice where possible. LAW WEEK: You (Andy) were talking about some regulatory shakeups maybe. Is there anything that you re keeping tabs on? SPIELMAN: We expect significant developments, still in the time after this goes to your readers and before inauguration day. And then the new administration and the new Congress will have an agenda, and it will certainly affect many industries in our state. And I think the first part is helping understand what those changes are, and the second part is helping those who want to be a part of the process and navigate those administrative processes, or legislative processes, and I think the third piece is there will be some who will be unhappy and will challenge new laws. And we may be in the challenge or the defense mode, but we anticipate you know, all of that comes with change. LAW WEEK: In addition to that, I was wondering if there were any technological trends that you are keeping an eye on or that you think are going to play a bigger role next year? ROLLIN: I m interested in artificial intelligence and legal research. There s been a little bit of that out, and we ve experimented a little bit, but the bodies of law that are currently available aren t great yet for us to test. But I m very interested in seeing how the legal research platforms change, and I think they re going to change a lot, and I think that they re going to change fast, and how can we be more efficient in that particular space. I think the industry has done a good job on e-discovery. There s still a lot of work to do there, but that s one way in which we ve become more efficient. And, again, I speak like a litigator. Everybody has different experiences based on their practice areas. That s been good. I think AI is next. LAW WEEK: Are there any specific areas within that that are being put to use as to what you re seeing as especially important? ROLLIN: I ve seen a little bit. I m familiar with one platform, that is intellectual property, that is supposed to be out very shortly, if it s not out already. I haven t seen it yet. One that we had experience with had to do with bankruptcy law, and while I practiced a lot in bankruptcy court, I d litigate regular cases in bankruptcy court, and so that was interesting, but I m ready to see what comes out next. SCULL: Did you like the results? ROLLIN: I didn t get enough experience with it to know how much I liked it and to really see how far it could go, but I really do feel like that industry is just about to break through, and I m looking forward to see how it works. SPIELMAN: Cybersecurity is on our minds, and it s on the menu of offerings, and we are in our market in Colorado we re helping clients do proactive audits of their own cybersecurity protocols and response management, and then we have a strategic response practice across the street. And some of that work entails subject matter, experts here and in our other offices who can assist clients in the event of the unfortunate. But it s evolving faster. I ll get out of my depth quickly on the technical side on that. But we re following it closely, we re actively involved, and we, for better or for worse, are ready to SCULL MENTIONS A SHIFT IN PATENT LAW AND HOW IT AFFECTS THE PRACTICE AND THE FIRM S BUSINESS. PHOTO: LAW WEEK, HANNAH SKEWES counsel others on preparing and responding to cyber attacks. LAW WEEK: It seems like now cybersecurity has gotten to the point where any mid- to large-size full-service firm pretty much has to offer that, right? SPIELMAN: I think it s part of the world we live in. More of us are vulnerable to it, and I m sure more professionals will be offering services to assist. LAW WEEK: Anything else in that realm? WRAY: Well, again, it s quite different in domestic relations. I mean, in litigation, I m used to practicing with hard copies, but we re seeing a trend moving toward ipads, which that certainly is something that many of us aren t exactly looking forward to moving to. But, I mean, we re seeing a trend moving that way. It s super interesting. ROLLIN: This has changed my life, this ipad. I carry every document in every case I have. WRAY: It s fascinating. Yeah, absolutely. And passing out three other ipads at trial and asking to turn to Exhibit 4. It s great. LAW WEEK: Absolutely. Any other new ideas that you are looking forward to using? SPIELMAN: Well, you might not know it by looking at me, but we are focused on wellness in our team. We ve installed sit-stand desks, and people are standing, and we re, in some cases, working on our core. I m trying to find mine. We have a 3:30 plank break everyday. It s just what it sounds. We all go out in the hallway and we plank for a couple of minutes and go back to what we were doing. I think all of the generations are participating. We re having fun with that. ROLLIN: You look great. SCULL: We did the same thing. We put sit-stands in all of our offices. And ROLLIN: What we did is very intentional. Some of us who started together and have been together for a while have a very New York-centered practice in securities-related litigation, and particularly litigation arising out of the mortgagedback securities crises. We ve been doing it for 10 years, and the overwhelming majority of our work is there. We were very deliberate, however, about bringing in some colleagues who have good local practices, because we wanted to merge those two and allow them to support and complement each other. And now our focus really is growing more in the local area, using a lot of runway that we have from the out-of-state practice, but the good relationships already that our partners have. SPIELMAN: I m a scuba diver. And there s an old scuba diver saying, plan your dive and dive your plan. So we have a plan for how we fit in this awesome legal community, and we re executing it. And part of the plan is and I ll say I m very proud of the progress we ve made we want to build the inclusive diverse office of an international law firm here in our community. And I think we ve already made great strides. Well over half of the workforce are women and/or are diverse, 40 percent are partners, half of our lawyers are women. Again, more than half of the lawyers are women or diverse. And then this market in the international law firm peer community, I think we ve already made great strides, and so we talk about goals. We re going to keep executing this plan and continuing to build out excellence and diversity of inclusion. SCULL: We re looking to grow as well. And one thing that we focus on is we have a lot of national and international clients, and we re always happy to grow our Colorado base clientele as well. And so what you re saying, it just sounds very familiar. It s something that we constantly work on. We re always trying to improve on that. WRAY: Very similarly, I, too, am very happy with how 2016 has treated us. And, you know, certainly we d like to keep going and continue to grow and continue to grow our client development maybe further into the state. Most of our clients are here in the Denver Metro area. Being family law, we re specifically usually located right here in Colorado. Although many of us are licensed in other states, too, but our practice is focused here in Colorado. But we d like to get further into the state and further west. We broke into four different offices in 2015, and they are going extremely well. And yeah, we just wish to keep growing.