I’m a lawyer, speaker, industry analyst, and consultant based in Ottawa, Canada. I’m a principal with the global consulting firm Edge International and a senior consultant with legal web development company Stem Legal Web Enterprises. I specialize in delivering dynamic and thought-provoking presentations to law firms, practice groups, and legal organizations at a time of unprecedented marketplace change.
After graduating from Queen’s University Faculty of Law in 1993, I began my legal career as an articling student at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP in Toronto. I then went on to serve as an award-winning editor of three top Canadian legal periodicals: the Canadian Bar Association’s National magazine, the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association’s CCCA Magazine, and The Lawyers Weekly newspaper.
I’m a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management, I served as editor of its 2006 Innovaction e-zine on innovation in law practice, and I’m Past Chair of the College’s InnovAction Awards, which recognize and reward creativity and innovation in legal services delivery. In 2012, I was named one of Canada’s 25 Most Influential Lawyers by Canadian Lawyer magazine.
I’m the author of Evolutionary Road (published by Attorney At Work) and Content Marketing and Publishing Strategies for Law Firms (co-authored with Steve Matthews, published by The Ark Group). This blog, Law21: Dispatches from a Legal Profession on the Brink, has been named six straight years by the ABA Journal as one of the 100 best law blogs in North America.
Today, we’re facing extraordinary changes in how legal services are created, priced and delivered throughout the world. My presentations focus on how lawyers and law firms can respond to, and take advantage of, these extraordinary changes. I canvass the state of the market, forecast the next steps in its development, and apply these trends to the future of the firm, group or organization to which I’m presenting.
Lawyers who attend my presentations come away with the following benefits:
- A deeper appreciation of the unprecedented market forces at work in the legal sphere.
- A clear vision of how and where the legal marketplace will evolve in the future.
- A customized portrait of the impact of these changes on their firm or practice group.
- An opportunity to collaboratively and interactively explore the ramifications of change.
- A practical grasp of ways in which they can respond to and profit from this new era.
Over the past few years, I have delivered presentations and facilitated discussions for many law firms, legal businesses and legal organizations, including:
- The American Bar Association
- The American Bar Association’s Bar Leadership Institute
- The Association for Continuing Legal Education (ACLEA)
- The Canadian Bar Association Managing Partners’ Conference
- The Chief Justice of Ontario’s Colloquium on Professionalism
- The Faculty of Law at Queen’s University
- The Federation of Law Societies of Canada
- The Georgetown University Law Center for the Study of the Legal Profession
- The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System
- The International Legal Technology Association (ILTA)
- The Law Society of British Columbia
- The Law Society of Upper Canada’s Solo & Small-Firm Conference
- The Legal Marketing Association (LMA)
- The Minnesota Strategic Solutions for Solos and Small Firms Conference
- The National Association of Bar Executives (NABE) (February 2013)
- The National Association of Law Placement (NALP)
- The Private Law Library Summit @ the American Association of Law Librarians
- The Oregon State Bar House of Delegates Annual Meeting
- Numerous law firm retreats, ranging from regional firms to the
AmLaw 100
Please contact me today for more information about my services or to inquire about availability and rates for presentations and other consulting engagements. You can find me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Legal OnRamp and Google Plus, as well as at the coordinates below.
Jordan Furlong
Phone: 613.729.7171
Cell: 613.869.2021
Email: jordan@law21.ca