Law Firms Have "To Get" Gen Z - As Clients

 In 2022, in a BusinessInsider interview chair of Paul, Weiss Brad Karp alluded to the generation gap with some Generation Z associates. They're the group born between 1997 and 2010.

Come March 2025 and that issue became almost a cruel joke - on Gen Z. AI, The Disruptor, had come. The Lawyer Monthly headlined with:

"Junior Lawyers Will Be ‘Significantly Replaced’ by AI & Tech Experts, Says Paul Weiss Chair"

But a law firm's concern about a generation gap hasn't ended. AI, along with the cost-efficiency movement, economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, had made entrepreneurship the only real way Gen Zers could make a good living. 

That career route can catapult them into early success. None of that long grunt phase of climbing someone else's ladder. The co-founder of AI Harvey Winston Weinberg was 30 last year. A former junior lawyer, Weinberg has already achieved extreme wealth. Paul, Weiss partnerd with Harvey to be the first law firm to produce a unique AI workflow tool. 

For the tech-savvy Gen Z generation there are bound to be myriad more wildly successful founders who will require the services of law firms. Both for litigation and transactional. 

The tough nut to crack for law firms is understanding Gen Zers. The Wall Street Journal points out the immediate need for "Generation Z translation." It explains:

“'Getting' Gen Z has also been complicated by the death of monoculture, the speed at which youth trends come and go, and the multiplying media channels where brands are now expected to participate. Trawling for timely insights on platforms like TikTok, where trends now live and die in a matter of days, takes time and resources ..."

Fortunately law firms can contract "translation" services. They range from Edelman's Gen Z Lab to Eighty Four. 

Simultaneously they can enter that space directly. For example, access information the way Zers do. That includes reading the comments to articles, op-eds and social media posts. In addition, create formal mechanisms such as "fellowships" for founders, the way venture capitalist Peter Thiel does. That establishes a way into that whole scene. Lobby for favorable legislation for entrepreneurs. Today I published a piece on solopreneurs in Substack. Maybe Universal Basic Income should be temporarily available to founders as a kind of seed funding. 

Meanwhile the elephant in the room is: What do law schools assume they are "producing" in this AI era? 

Confidential tips about Paul, Weiss are welcome. So are bylined articles/op-eds. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com or text 203-468-8579.

Thrown off your game, maybe the first time since you started working? You made all the right moves and then the world moved in another direction.

Intuitive Coaching. Special expertise with transitions, reskilling and aging. Psychic/tarot readings, upon request. Complimentary consultation with Jane Genova (Text 203-468-8579, janegenova374@gmail.com). Yes, test out the chemistry. Zero risk.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AI Power/Mobility Reset: Junior Lawyers Could Shake Up Law Firm Business Model

One of those we-all-know is that last March Paul, Weiss chair Brad Karp stated in The Lawyer Monthly :  "Junior Lawyers Will Be ‘Significantly Replaced’ by AI & Tech"  But now we're getting a fresh perspective on this.  Sure, there'll be reduced demand for junior lawyers. But what about those junior lawyers who become wunderkinds at managing AI tool? Everything from strategy to overseeing operations? Actually it's the CEO of AI Harvey Winston Weinberg who created that new lens for sizing up what could potentially play out in not only the Law of Supply and Demand but also mobility and power. In Lawfuel , Weinberg notes:   "Junior lawyers who can drive AI platforms and handle structured risk will move faster than seniors who treat the tools as decoration. That factor will force firms to rethink how they route work and how they evaluate early career performance." What Weinberg predicts isn't unthinkable. It's already a given that if equity partn...
Read more

Paul, Weiss Rival Kirkland & Ellis - Partner Troubles?

  With so much turmoil in Big Law during 2025 we should be beyond being stunned. Those earlier shocks, ranging from Executive Orders to a US Government Shutdown , should have made us immune to being surprised. But to use the cliche, Never Say Never. Now the legal sector is reeling, primarily with speculation, in response to the news that Kirkland & Ellis isn't disclosing details about the Partner Class of 2025. Traditionally that number, usually large, used to be what K&L gushed about. This year, it is totally closed mouth, claiming the lack of transparency represents a strategic shift. The loudest noise about this development is the hunch that the law firm fears the announcement will be quickly followed by one about the rapid exits of those partners. That's been a pattern.  Media  notes: "Among the 200 names announced in 2024, at least 20 lawyers, or 10%, were not on the firm’s website this week, according to a Law.com analysis ... Among the 205 names announced i...
Read more

Lawyer Talk -The Avenue of the Americas and Main Street

Image
There's that very old joke: Notice those Ivy League seniors who apply to law school. Not to Wall Street. They're high verbal. Likely lousy in math. And down the road as they begin practicing law there'll be another great divide based on talk.  Those in elite firms will adopt sophisticated indirect rhetoric, elegant in language and calm in tone. That's how they'll position and package the firm's services.  In the first go-around, such as the website. That signals what they're about. In contrast, many on Main Street will leverage more direct language, even embedding characteristics of the hard sell. Example: Paul, Weiss, ranking among the top 20 in the Am Law 200, sits in the prime NYC real estate of Avenue of the Americas. One of its practices is listed on its website as White Collar and Regulatory Defense.   No, not White Collar Crime. In contrast, a Main Street kind of law firm lists the practice as White Collar Crime . Oh boy.  Such a negative introductio...
Read more