CHICAGO, Feb. 15, 2023 — A new book from the American Bar Association, “Design Your Law Practice: Using Design Thinking to Get Next Level Results,” is a resource to learn design thinking and apply it in legal practice. The book features practical use cases and tools so that readers can immediately take their learnings off the page and into action.
“Design Your Law Practice” is a one-stop resource to learn the basics of design thinking, gain insight into how design thinking principles have been successfully applied in the legal services sectors and equip the reader to immediately apply different design thinking approaches to gain tangible improvements and increased lawyer and client happiness. The book introduces each of the key design thinking steps, with expert contributors demonstrating how each step can be adapted to address challenges faced by lawyers, law firms and our justice systems. “Design Your Law Practice” also provides real, practical case studies of how design thinking has been successfully used in a range of law firm and legal services contexts. With action-oriented summaries and downloadable design tools this resource will enable you to directly apply the principles to your practice
About the editors:
Jessica Bednarz is the director of legal services and the profession at the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS). In this role, she is responsible for overseeing IAALS’ work in the delivery of legal services and the legal profession. Prior to working at IAALS, Bednarz was the associate director of innovation and the Justice Entrepreneurs Project (JEP) for the Chicago Bar Foundation. The JEP helps lawyers launch socially conscious and innovative law practices targeting the underserved middle market. Earlier in her career, Bednarz specialized in family law, both as a solo practitioner and as an associate at O’Connor Family Law, P.C. A graduate of Indiana University and DePaul University College of Law, she resides in Denver, Colorado.
Catherine Sanders Reach is director of the Center for Practice Management at the North Carolina Bar Association, providing practice technology and management assistance to lawyers and legal professionals. Formerly she directed the Chicago Bar Association’s Law Practice Management and Technology and the American Bar Association’s Legal Technology Resource Center. She has a master’s degree in Library and Information Studies from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, and in 2011 was selected to be one of the inaugural Fastcase 50, celebrating 50 innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders in the field of law. In 2013 Reach became a fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and in 2015 was selected to be part of the ABA LTRC Women of Legal Tech. She served for many years on the board of the ABA TECHSHOW.
Juda Strawczynski is a lawyer, frequent speaker and writer on legal services regulation and legal practice. He is the CEO and registrar of the College of Patent Agents & Trademark Agents, the independent public interest regulator of patent agents and trademark agents in Canada. He was previously the director of practicePRO, LAWPRO’s claims prevention and risk management initiative. Before joining LAWPRO, Strawczynski was a policy counsel at the Law Society of Ontario, where he advised on key issues facing the legal profession, including access to justice, professional regulation and consumer protection issues. Strawczynski previously practiced at two litigation boutique law firms, served as volunteer president of Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights, a fellow at Physicians for Human Rights, a law clerk at the federal court, and a director of the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. Strawczynski has a B.A. from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and a J.D. from the University of Toronto.
Title: “Design Your Law Practice: Using Design Thinking to Get Next Level Results”
Publisher: ABA Book Publishing
Pages: 174
Product Code: 5110853
ISBN: 9781639052592
Size: 7 x 10 inches
Binding: Softcover
Price: $79.95
Orders: https://www.americanbar.org/products/inv/book/429020101/
What industry leaders are saying about “Design Your Law Practice”. . .
“They taught us how to think like a lawyer in law school—but the most successful attorneys know how to think like a client. That’s the key to ‘design thinking,’ a leading-edge, client-centered discipline that has helped thousands of lawyers to identify clients’ true needs, brainstorm creative solutions and refine them into the most optimal outcomes. Featuring an all-star cast of contributors, Design Your Law Practice provides you with structured guidance, practical insights and inspiring success stories from across the legal profession. This book can literally transform the way you practice law.”
— Jordan Furlong, legal sector analyst, Law21
“After reading this book, I’m more convinced than ever that lawyers who deploy design thinking as a mindset will have the edge as our profession evolves. Design thinking is core to everything that makes the business of law run smoothly. How different would lawyering look if this book were required reading on every law school curriculum?”
— Darlene Tonelli, founder, Inter Alia Law and co-founder/co-host, Lawyer Life Podcast
Editor’s note: Review copies are available by sending an email to Jeffrey Salyards at [email protected]. If you publish a review of this book, please send tear sheets or a copy for our files to Jeffrey Salyards, ABA Publishing, 321 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60654.
The ABA is the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.