{"id":133146,"date":"2025-09-11T15:18:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T23:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/09\/11\/thriving-as-a-small-law-firm-is-all-about-tiny-adjustments\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T15:18:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T23:18:57","slug":"thriving-as-a-small-law-firm-is-all-about-tiny-adjustments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/09\/11\/thriving-as-a-small-law-firm-is-all-about-tiny-adjustments\/","title":{"rendered":"Thriving As A Small Law Firm Is All About Tiny Adjustments"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a new day at 8am<\/a>. That\u2019s true generally, but in this case, we\u2019re talking about tech provider we used to call AffiniPay<\/a>. Fresh off its name change, the company hosted its inaugural user conference last week in Austin, Texas. While everything is usually bigger in Texas \u2014 the wide-open skies, the slabs of slow-cooked brisket, the scale of the failed education system<\/a> \u2014 8am\u2019s Kaleidoscope conference clocked in on the cozier side. But that\u2019s the nature of first-time shows. There will always be a slice of the prospective audience who sits it out, keeping their powder dry until they hear back that it\u2019s really worth it.<\/p>\n

It was worth it.<\/p>\n

One would be hard-pressed to point to anything that betrayed a rookie conference. A convenient venue, excellent food, superb panels, and an exhibitor layout that maximized visibility without feeling like running a gauntlet. In a subtle stroke of genius, the programming broke from the customary cookie-cutter schedule and embraced breakout sessions of varying lengths. Some subjects just don\u2019t merit an hour, but that doesn\u2019t make them less important. Kaleidoscope had a \u201ccontent-first\u201d approach to panel selection<\/a> and built a schedule to accommodate that. From ethical approaches to texting clients<\/a> to using AI to automate small firm legal marketing, the panels covered a wide range of practical topics.<\/p>\n

Even the one mistake that anyone could point out \u2014 a recurring typo on some of the signage \u2014 morphed into 8am\u2019s opportunity to hand out more swag. They couldn\u2019t even make a mistake without turning it around.<\/p>\n

Olympian Gabby Thomas headlined the second day of the show. Celebrity speakers tend to lean into tortured metaphors to connect their careers back to the legal industry. Instead, Thomas saw an opportunity to talk about her own profession and\u2026 ran with it? Which, paradoxically, made it far more relevant to the job of lawyering than any square-peg-round-hole analogies. Describing the life of an elite track star, she stressed that the average spectator watching at home doesn\u2019t understand that everyone in those high-profile races are all nearly identical in ability. Success on that stage, Thomas explained, comes down to small adjustments for fractional gains. And a heavy dose of perspective that you can\u2019t control the competition, but you can control your own process. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s\u2026 pretty good advice for running a legal practice. And especially important to lawyers willing to keep an open-minded approach to legal technology. Securing that fractional improvement \u2014 either in the substantive practice of law or in taking some of the administrative tasks off your plate \u2014 is largely a function of tech adoption.<\/p>\n

Figuring out which tech is the challenge. Thomas provided some insights there too, explaining that she breaks down races into micro-moments, visualizing everything from the walk up to where exactly she wants to be positioned on the blocks to where she wants to be at the finish line. Legal tech is moving at a breakneck pace, and if Biglaw firms with dedicated tech professionals struggle to stay on top of it, how can solo practitioners fit it into the already overloaded schedule? <\/p>\n

One solid strategy \u2014 which I outlined on one of the panels I sat on at the show \u2014 is to stop trying to find the one-size AI solution and begin researching products that target specific use cases. To borrow from the visualization discussion: map out the day. Take some time to consciously consider the steps in all those workflows. Now, where do you see opportunities to automate that, in a way that you find professionally comfortable? Thomas also talked about the next-level analytics she gets about every running movement, but stressed that while she considers it all, she won\u2019t accept changes that she\u2019s not comfortable with. The tasks you\u2019re ready to turn over to technology might not be where everyone else is\u2026 and that\u2019s fine. But figure it out.<\/p>\n

Silicon Valley may run on groupthink \u2014 and these days, that groupthink is mostly very weird<\/a> \u2014 but legal technology doesn\u2019t have to. There\u2019s plenty of room to disagree, especially given how quickly the landscape is evolving. I joined several other legal tech writers in a live version of our weekly webcast<\/a> and\/or podcast<\/a> on the main stage and we had several actual arguments about the future of the billable hour and whether or not \u201cagentic AI\u201d is an empty buzzword (it is<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

And, of course, there was plenty of talk about the 8am product too (which Stephen Embry covered in more depth here<\/a>). And partner demos. And all the stuff a user would expect of a conference. A user show is a delicate balance between sales, in-person customer service, actionable general knowledge, and entertainment. 8am \u2014 and, more to the point, the various companies who now all live under the 8am banner \u2014 have been in this business a long time. But with Kaleidoscope, the company signaled that it\u2019s ready to move into a new vector of client engagement. Beyond just providing a quality suite of products, the company wants to move into becoming a staple appointment on their clients\u2019 calendar. <\/p>\n

I mean, if the conference was good enough for John Steinbeck<\/a>, it should be good enough to bring out even more users next year.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Thriving As A Small Law Firm Is All About Tiny Adjustments<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a new day at 8am<\/a>. That\u2019s true generally, but in this case, we\u2019re talking about tech provider we used to call AffiniPay<\/a>. Fresh off its name change, the company hosted its inaugural user conference last week in Austin, Texas. While everything is usually bigger in Texas \u2014 the wide-open skies, the slabs of slow-cooked brisket, the scale of the failed education system<\/a> \u2014 8am\u2019s Kaleidoscope conference clocked in on the cozier side. But that\u2019s the nature of first-time shows. There will always be a slice of the prospective audience who sits it out, keeping their powder dry until they hear back that it\u2019s really worth it.<\/p>\n

It was worth it.<\/p>\n

One would be hard-pressed to point to anything that betrayed a rookie conference. A convenient venue, excellent food, superb panels, and an exhibitor layout that maximized visibility without feeling like running a gauntlet. In a subtle stroke of genius, the programming broke from the customary cookie-cutter schedule and embraced breakout sessions of varying lengths. Some subjects just don\u2019t merit an hour, but that doesn\u2019t make them less important. Kaleidoscope had a \u201ccontent-first\u201d approach to panel selection<\/a> and built a schedule to accommodate that. From ethical approaches to texting clients<\/a> to using AI to automate small firm legal marketing, the panels covered a wide range of practical topics.<\/p>\n

Even the one mistake that anyone could point out \u2014 a recurring typo on some of the signage \u2014 morphed into 8am\u2019s opportunity to hand out more swag. They couldn\u2019t even make a mistake without turning it around.<\/p>\n

Olympian Gabby Thomas headlined the second day of the show. Celebrity speakers tend to lean into tortured metaphors to connect their careers back to the legal industry. Instead, Thomas saw an opportunity to talk about her own profession and\u2026 ran with it? Which, paradoxically, made it far more relevant to the job of lawyering than any square-peg-round-hole analogies. Describing the life of an elite track star, she stressed that the average spectator watching at home doesn\u2019t understand that everyone in those high-profile races are all nearly identical in ability. Success on that stage, Thomas explained, comes down to small adjustments for fractional gains. And a heavy dose of perspective that you can\u2019t control the competition, but you can control your own process. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s\u2026 pretty good advice for running a legal practice. And especially important to lawyers willing to keep an open-minded approach to legal technology. Securing that fractional improvement \u2014 either in the substantive practice of law or in taking some of the administrative tasks off your plate \u2014 is largely a function of tech adoption.<\/p>\n

Figuring out which tech is the challenge. Thomas provided some insights there too, explaining that she breaks down races into micro-moments, visualizing everything from the walk up to where exactly she wants to be positioned on the blocks to where she wants to be at the finish line. Legal tech is moving at a breakneck pace, and if Biglaw firms with dedicated tech professionals struggle to stay on top of it, how can solo practitioners fit it into the already overloaded schedule? <\/p>\n

One solid strategy \u2014 which I outlined on one of the panels I sat on at the show \u2014 is to stop trying to find the one-size AI solution and begin researching products that target specific use cases. To borrow from the visualization discussion: map out the day. Take some time to consciously consider the steps in all those workflows. Now, where do you see opportunities to automate that, in a way that you find professionally comfortable? Thomas also talked about the next-level analytics she gets about every running movement, but stressed that while she considers it all, she won\u2019t accept changes that she\u2019s not comfortable with. The tasks you\u2019re ready to turn over to technology might not be where everyone else is\u2026 and that\u2019s fine. But figure it out.<\/p>\n

Silicon Valley may run on groupthink \u2014 and these days, that groupthink is mostly very weird<\/a> \u2014 but legal technology doesn\u2019t have to. There\u2019s plenty of room to disagree, especially given how quickly the landscape is evolving. I joined several other legal tech writers in a live version of our weekly webcast<\/a> and\/or podcast<\/a> on the main stage and we had several actual arguments about the future of the billable hour and whether or not \u201cagentic AI\u201d is an empty buzzword (it is<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

And, of course, there was plenty of talk about the 8am product too (which Stephen Embry covered in more depth here<\/a>). And partner demos. And all the stuff a user would expect of a conference. A user show is a delicate balance between sales, in-person customer service, actionable general knowledge, and entertainment. 8am \u2014 and, more to the point, the various companies who now all live under the 8am banner \u2014 have been in this business a long time. But with Kaleidoscope, the company signaled that it\u2019s ready to move into a new vector of client engagement. Beyond just providing a quality suite of products, the company wants to move into becoming a staple appointment on their clients\u2019 calendar. <\/p>\n

I mean, if the conference was good enough for John Steinbeck<\/a>, it should be good enough to bring out even more users next year.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Thriving As A Small Law Firm Is All About Tiny Adjustments<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a new day at 8am. That\u2019s true generally, but in this case, we\u2019re talking about tech provider we used to call AffiniPay. Fresh off its name change, the company hosted its inaugural user conference last week in Austin, Texas. While everything is usually bigger in Texas \u2014 the wide-open skies, the slabs of slow-cooked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133146\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}