Jordan Furlong
@jordanfurlong.com
Legal sector analyst, consultant, author, speaker, and reformer (he/him). I publish a free bi-weekly Substack newsletter: https://jordanfurlong.substack.com/ "We have the chance to turn the pages over." Luke 12:24-32.
A terrific and important article about AI's impact on lawyer formation. "Becoming, Doing, Being: GenAI and the Promise of Professional Identity in Law." lthj.qut.edu.au/article/view... HT @julianinoz.bsky.social
Law, Technology and Humans
Law, Technology and Humans provides an inclusive and unique forum for exploration of the broader connections, history and emergent future of law and technology through supporting research that takes s...
lthj.qut.edu.au
November 25, 2025 at 6:01 PM
A terrific and important article about AI's impact on lawyer formation. "Becoming, Doing, Being: GenAI and the Promise of Professional Identity in Law." lthj.qut.edu.au/article/view... HT @julianinoz.bsky.social
Don't wait around for corporate law departments to lead meaningful change in the commercial legal market. 48% of in-house survey respondents don't track internal legal spend. 72% don't track time to resolution. 88% don't track outside counsel performance metrics. www.law.com/legaltechnew...
In-House Teams Are Struggling to Measure Impact of Gen AI| Law.com
Everlaw and the ACC's “The Role of Generative AI in Proving Corporate Law Department Value” report found that in-house teams see potential in gen AI but are not tracking its impact on in-house team pe...
www.law.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Don't wait around for corporate law departments to lead meaningful change in the commercial legal market. 48% of in-house survey respondents don't track internal legal spend. 72% don't track time to resolution. 88% don't track outside counsel performance metrics. www.law.com/legaltechnew...
Top-line numbers for BigLaw look great. But demand up only 1.9%, productivity down 0.6%, collection cycles increasing 1.2%, and expenses (more senior income-partner salaries and AI investments) up 9.1%, collectively is cause to tread with some caution here. www.law360.com/pulse/modern...
Law Firm Revenue, Demand Are Up, But So Are Expenses - Law360 Pulse
U.S. law firms saw an average of double-digit growth in both revenue and inventory during the first nine months of 2025, signifying they're on pace to end the year on a positive note, according to the...
www.law360.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Top-line numbers for BigLaw look great. But demand up only 1.9%, productivity down 0.6%, collection cycles increasing 1.2%, and expenses (more senior income-partner salaries and AI investments) up 9.1%, collectively is cause to tread with some caution here. www.law360.com/pulse/modern...
"It's challenging for law firms to house products and services under one roof. Aosphere, the firm’s online derivatives advisory business, was recently sold to private equity. Running a products business often requires more upfront capital and different management skills." www.ft.com/content/f94a...
AI brings fixed-priced future nearer for law firms
The legal services conversation is increasingly about ‘products’. Plus: the top 50 innovative law firms ranked
www.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:31 PM
"It's challenging for law firms to house products and services under one roof. Aosphere, the firm’s online derivatives advisory business, was recently sold to private equity. Running a products business often requires more upfront capital and different management skills." www.ft.com/content/f94a...
See, this is exactly the wrong road for lawyers to go down. I'm prepared to hear arguments in favour of inviting private equity to invest in your law firm, but "I want to be rich" will cut no ice with me.
Private equity can help lawyers grow as rich as their clients on.ft.com/4pw4Wvx | opinion
Private equity can help lawyers grow as rich as their clients
Curbs on outside capital are just another problem to be solved for the smartest legal and financial minds
on.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:29 PM
See, this is exactly the wrong road for lawyers to go down. I'm prepared to hear arguments in favour of inviting private equity to invest in your law firm, but "I want to be rich" will cut no ice with me.
You know, if I were the private equity industry looking for a headline law firm to carry the banner for PE's legal investment efforts in the US, I'm not sure the firm that represented Ghislaine Maxwell would be at the top of my list.
Law firm Cohen & Gresser in talks to sell stake to private equity on.ft.com/49CS8Pr
Law firm Cohen & Gresser in talks to sell stake to private equity
New York firm that represented Sam Bankman-Fried and Ghislaine Maxwell would be among first to bring in investors
on.ft.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:59 PM
You know, if I were the private equity industry looking for a headline law firm to carry the banner for PE's legal investment efforts in the US, I'm not sure the firm that represented Ghislaine Maxwell would be at the top of my list.
You're a mean one, Charlie Brown.
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold, Charlie Brown
I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure, Charlie Brown
November 24, 2025 at 3:28 PM
You're a mean one, Charlie Brown.
Something we should take away from the latest “Ukraine peace plan” fiasco is that all the men in charge in both Russia and the United States are incompetent cretins. There’s no hidden plan or secret strategy. There’s no clever misdirection or 3D chess. They’re all idiots.
November 23, 2025 at 1:58 AM
Something we should take away from the latest “Ukraine peace plan” fiasco is that all the men in charge in both Russia and the United States are incompetent cretins. There’s no hidden plan or secret strategy. There’s no clever misdirection or 3D chess. They’re all idiots.
Law firms are just so bad at simple business practices. Their initial cost estimates to clients are lowballed and unrealistic; their engagement terms are poorly scoped and sloppy; and a lack of discipline in matter execution leaks value. Maddening stuff. www.legalfutures.co.uk/blog/pitch-p...
Pitch perfect? Why law firms lose margin before work even begins
What has long struck me is how often the gap between projected and realised profit has very little to do with the client being ‘unprofitable’. More often, it’s about the process.
www.legalfutures.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Law firms are just so bad at simple business practices. Their initial cost estimates to clients are lowballed and unrealistic; their engagement terms are poorly scoped and sloppy; and a lack of discipline in matter execution leaks value. Maddening stuff. www.legalfutures.co.uk/blog/pitch-p...
Important and thought-provoking critiques of overly simplistic "AI will fix A2J" takes, along with two good suggestions for how to ameliorate the challenges in this area, by @profmarkovic.bsky.social: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Equal Justice & Generative AI
The United States has long suffered from unequal access to justice, with countless low-and middle-income Americans forced to navigate the legal system alone. Re
papers.ssrn.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Important and thought-provoking critiques of overly simplistic "AI will fix A2J" takes, along with two good suggestions for how to ameliorate the challenges in this area, by @profmarkovic.bsky.social: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
You no longer need to read historical fiction to know the answer to, “What would America look like today if the Confederacy had won the Civil War?”
November 20, 2025 at 6:54 PM
You no longer need to read historical fiction to know the answer to, “What would America look like today if the Confederacy had won the Civil War?”
New from me at Substack: What happens when private equity meets artificial intelligence in the legal sector? The profit engine of law firms changes address -- and lawyers get a chance to rethink their purpose. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/the-migrat...
November 20, 2025 at 3:36 PM
New from me at Substack: What happens when private equity meets artificial intelligence in the legal sector? The profit engine of law firms changes address -- and lawyers get a chance to rethink their purpose. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/the-migrat...
Reposted by Jordan Furlong
Far too much credibility is being given to the new ‘Trump peace plan’ that would be tantamount to Ukraine’s capitulation. Here I explain why this new plan is far less than it seems and is unlikely to lead to anything. (£/free trial), open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/y...?
Yet another peace plan?
What's going on with leaked proposals for a new US/Russia deal
open.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Far too much credibility is being given to the new ‘Trump peace plan’ that would be tantamount to Ukraine’s capitulation. Here I explain why this new plan is far less than it seems and is unlikely to lead to anything. (£/free trial), open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/y...?
Just call it a “surrender plan,” because that’s all it is. Keep “peace” out of it.
The proposal envisions major concessions from Ukraine, and the Trump administration and Russian officials have urged President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept it. on.ft.com/47OH5RZ
November 19, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Just call it a “surrender plan,” because that’s all it is. Keep “peace” out of it.
Man, the more I look at this "private equity buying law firm MSOs" thing, the more questions I have, and the answers I'm coming up with are not encouraging.
November 14, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Man, the more I look at this "private equity buying law firm MSOs" thing, the more questions I have, and the answers I'm coming up with are not encouraging.
Private equity in the AmLaw 100? Not a possibility most people took seriously until this news from Will McDermott: news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and... | Includes comments and analysis from me.
McDermott’s Outside Investor Talks Augur Big Law Transformation
The possibility of outside investors taking a stake in McDermott Will & Schulte nudges rivals to consider a similar step and possibly change the way the legal industry operates.
news.bloomberglaw.com
November 14, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Private equity in the AmLaw 100? Not a possibility most people took seriously until this news from Will McDermott: news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and... | Includes comments and analysis from me.
You could set your clock by it.
November 13, 2025 at 11:07 PM
You could set your clock by it.
Reposted by Jordan Furlong
America has long feared it would suffer the same fate as the Roman republic, but never quite truly appreciated how utterly absurd Roman elites had become by the time of the late republic.
November 12, 2025 at 11:23 PM
America has long feared it would suffer the same fate as the Roman republic, but never quite truly appreciated how utterly absurd Roman elites had become by the time of the late republic.
New from me at Substack: My analysis of the surging wave of private equity activity in the legal sector. My message to lawyers and legal regulators: Be very, very careful here. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/private-eq...
November 13, 2025 at 1:59 PM
New from me at Substack: My analysis of the surging wave of private equity activity in the legal sector. My message to lawyers and legal regulators: Be very, very careful here. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/private-eq...
I just read a comment by an interviewee in a legal news article that 100% looked to be written by ChatGPT. The clever analogy, the "it's not this; it's that" structure, etc.
One of the side effects of working with ChatGPT as much as I do is recognizing its cadence. (Also, it uses "cadence" a lot.)
One of the side effects of working with ChatGPT as much as I do is recognizing its cadence. (Also, it uses "cadence" a lot.)
November 12, 2025 at 3:53 PM
I just read a comment by an interviewee in a legal news article that 100% looked to be written by ChatGPT. The clever analogy, the "it's not this; it's that" structure, etc.
One of the side effects of working with ChatGPT as much as I do is recognizing its cadence. (Also, it uses "cadence" a lot.)
One of the side effects of working with ChatGPT as much as I do is recognizing its cadence. (Also, it uses "cadence" a lot.)
"FinTRAC identified 4,300 suspicious transaction reports that totalled $7.99-billion ... and 67,500 electronic funds transfer reports with a collective value of $13.8-billion." Lawyers' unwillingness to deal with money laundering will do them in someday. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...
Opinion: Lawyers are the ‘black hole’ of money laundering. Why is Canada turning a blind eye?
Canada’s 2025 national risk assessment rates lawyers and Quebec notaries as having a ‘high vulnerability’ to money-laundering risks
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:19 PM
"FinTRAC identified 4,300 suspicious transaction reports that totalled $7.99-billion ... and 67,500 electronic funds transfer reports with a collective value of $13.8-billion." Lawyers' unwillingness to deal with money laundering will do them in someday. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...
"The ultimate beneficiaries of this new industrial revolution may not be the providers of the general-purpose technology itself, but those that apply it. ... The fact that Nvidia is financing its customers to buy its products is not a supportive signal." spencea.substack.com/p/double-dou...
Double Double Toil & Trouble
AI & General Purpose Technologies
spencea.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:32 PM
"The ultimate beneficiaries of this new industrial revolution may not be the providers of the general-purpose technology itself, but those that apply it. ... The fact that Nvidia is financing its customers to buy its products is not a supportive signal." spencea.substack.com/p/double-dou...
Nvidia's CEO meets two other Korean tech CEOs for fried chicken -- and chicken-related stocks immediately increase, including a company that makes chicken-frying robots.
The bubble is going to burst, and a whole lot of chaos will follow. Get yourself as mentally and financially prepared as you can.
The bubble is going to burst, and a whole lot of chaos will follow. Get yourself as mentally and financially prepared as you can.
The AI bubble has reached its ‘fried chicken’ phase ft.trib.al/VGyrH8K
The AI bubble has reached its ‘fried chicken’ phase
This is nuts. When’s the crash?
ft.trib.al
October 31, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Nvidia's CEO meets two other Korean tech CEOs for fried chicken -- and chicken-related stocks immediately increase, including a company that makes chicken-frying robots.
The bubble is going to burst, and a whole lot of chaos will follow. Get yourself as mentally and financially prepared as you can.
The bubble is going to burst, and a whole lot of chaos will follow. Get yourself as mentally and financially prepared as you can.
It's interesting to think how history might have unfolded differently if nuclear technology had been developed first as a clean power source and later used as a weapon, rather than the other way around. Much of the world might now be powered by nuclear stations.
October 31, 2025 at 6:15 PM
It's interesting to think how history might have unfolded differently if nuclear technology had been developed first as a clean power source and later used as a weapon, rather than the other way around. Much of the world might now be powered by nuclear stations.
"Trump’s personal worth has increased by $3.4 billion over just the first eight months of his presidency, to say nothing of the wealth funnelled into the accounts of his party, sycophants, and allies. And he’s just getting started."
Essential reading (especially for Americans) right now.
Essential reading (especially for Americans) right now.
I tried to cobble together a narrative of the industrial-scale corruption of the Trump state, and to think about why it's not breaking through.
www.bugeyedandshameless.com/p/guide-to-d...
www.bugeyedandshameless.com/p/guide-to-d...
A Guide To Donald Trump's Kleptocracy
Donald Trump is getting richer. That's a threat to democracy.
www.bugeyedandshameless.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:38 PM
"Trump’s personal worth has increased by $3.4 billion over just the first eight months of his presidency, to say nothing of the wealth funnelled into the accounts of his party, sycophants, and allies. And he’s just getting started."
Essential reading (especially for Americans) right now.
Essential reading (especially for Americans) right now.