Do You Sell Yourself Enough?

Have you ever updated your LinkedIn or website profile and asked yourself this question:

Am I overselling, or underselling myself?

Well here is, let’s say, an inspirational tool showing you how a profile can transform from “Less Hard Sell” to “More Hard Sell,” using a slider you can move around at the bottom of the page.

Some of the phrasing in here is gold.

In the words of it’s creator, British copywriter Joe Coleman:

“I started in the middle—the page you land on—and worked through the progressively more hard-sell messages… Then I went back and did the soft-sell end of the spectrum.”

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LexisNexis Drafts Five Startups into its LegalTech Accelerator

Here's a quick wrap of the 5 startups LexisNexis just drafted into its new 12-week LegalTech accelerator in Silicon Valley.

The program will be led by Lex Machina CEO Josh Becker with support from the LexisNexis crew, including Jamie Buckley, Vice President of US Product Management who explained their aim:

"... to identify some of the best and brightest legal tech startups, contribute to their early success, and then watch as their innovative technologies and vision transform the business and practice of law.”

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Facebook GC Mandates Diversity for Outside Counsel

Fresh on the heels of HP's General Counsel announcing that they'll withhold up to 10% of fees invoiced by firms that fall short on diversity, Facebook has mandated that women and ethnic minorities must make up at least 33 per cent of external legal teams working on its matters.

Here's Facebook GC, Colin Stretch:

"... we want to see them win our cases and create opportunities for women and people of colour. We think the firms are ready – our articulation gives not just permission, but a mandate.”

And that's not all – on 20 April, MetLife’s General Counsel Ricardo Anzaldua will host up to 75 of its outside law firms for a summit where he plans to deliver an ultimatum: create a formal plan to retain and promote your diverse talent by next year, or don’t plan to work with MetLife much longer.

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Aussie RegTech Startups Form Industry Association

The who's who of Aussie RegTech gathered at Allens last week to launch the RegTech Association, founded by Red Marker CEO, Matt Symons and chaired by GRC Solutions CEO, Julian Fenwick (who also chairs an existing 224-member LinkedIn Group of the same name).

Joining them as foundation members are Arctic Intelligence, Verifier, Dynamic GRC, Dysrupt Labs, Meetig8, Simple KYC, Cynopsis Solutions, AML Accelerate, Complii and identitii.

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Flipping the Legal Profession

On Tuesday eve, the New South Wales Law Society released it’s flip Report into the Future of Law and Innovation in the Profession.

Quite a herculean feat I must say, boiling down the testimony of 103 witnesses over a six month period into 12 key findings and 19 recommendations within its 116 pages.

To sum up the disruptive forces at play, here’s Lawlab co-founder, Richard Bootle:

“Disruption to me seems to be something that everyone thinks happens to someone else – we’ve all sort of said [that] in the smug, snug complacency of the back seat of an Uber while watching the beginning of the end for [the taxi] industry.”

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"You Don't Need to Do this In-House"

Here's a "solution for GCs, designed and delivered by GCs” – now backed by a 20% stake from Pinsent Masons, this NewLaw outsourcing startup, Yuzu takes over part (or all) of your in-house legal work, freeing up your team to focus on the meaty stuff.

In the words of co-founder and former Colt GC, Robin Saphra:

"You don't need to do this in-house, I can provide a better service at a lower cost and give more investment to this in order to achieve that. And you can focus your activity on the top 10% - 30% of work which is really strategic and really important."

Examples of work that could be outsourced include commercial contracts, employment work or property transactions – not the type of work typically done by LPOs – but work that's still core to an in-house legal team.

And given that Yuzu proposes to take on that part of the team doing this work, keeping them either onsite with the original crew or shipped to a new location, it's sure to raise a few eyebrows in the junior-mid ranks of in-house counsel.

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Planning is Guessing

We all love a good plan, but we worry when things things don't go to plan. So here's a hot tip from Basecamp CEO, Jason Fried: replace “plan” with “guess” and take it easy. Because all plans really just guesses.

Taking it further:

"So next time you’re working on a business plan, call it a business guess. And that financial plan? It’s a financial guess. Strategic planning? Call it with it really is: a strategic guess. 5 year plan? You mean 5 year guess."

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ASIC Releases Regulatory Assessment 'Tool' for Blockchain Services

ASIC has released a regulatory assessment 'tool' for blockchain services.

But don't get too excited and jump in looking for a user-friendly Q&A platform that guides you through ASIC criteria to evaluate to your blockchain application - the 'tool' is actually a list of questions in table format, linking to "Information Sheet 219" for further reading.

Not exactly cutting edge (by design I suspect), but necessary know-how any aspiring FinTech, lawyer or blockchain enthusiast.

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Data Breach Confessions of a Reasonable Person

A little trivia:

Q: How many times do the words "reasonable" or "reasonably" appear in the new data breach notification laws?

A: 38, according to lawyer, Peter Moon serving up his take on a recent panel including Telstra's Chief Privacy Officer, Jason Holandsjo and the Australian Information Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim, where Holandsjo:

"doubted that either he or the nation's top privacy watchdog could stand in the shoes of that mythical character the law calls the ordinary, reasonable person."

If not them, then who?

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How to Work From Home and Get Stuff Done

Here’s a great tip sheet for all the work-from-home warriors out there (or those aspiring to be), from the founder of freelanship, Lauren err… Holiday.

Before you get the wrong impression:

“… don’t let this phenomenal benefit fool you, remote work is a lot of work. Not to mention, it’s a very different way of work. While awesome, working from home presents challenges around communication, productivity, and company culture.”

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