Sam Pond, Founder & Managing Partner of Philadelphia-based law firm Pond Lehocky Giordano, joins Litify’s Chief Revenue Officer Terry Dohrmann to talk about the current revolution taking place in the legal industry.

Watch the entire conversation, or read the highlights below.

Pond Lehocky Giordano isn't missing a beat

Although this is a challenging time for law firms, Pond says that the firm “is up and running and not really missing a beat,” in large part thanks to Litify.

“Litify is about as relevant as we could possibly have anything be relevant, in this day and age, in regard to working remotely,” Pond says. “So we were lucky to get involved with Litify early on and to have it be the asset that it is.”

Among the steps Pond Lehocky has taken during this unprecedented time:

• Regular Facebook Live streams, videos, and emails
• Daily meetings with management team and partners
• Attorney teleconferences on the weekends
• Productivity monitoring
• Engaging with policymakers

Pond says that they are in constant communication with staff, clients, and their referral network, and that they started planning for the pandemic way back in February.

"We have to look at these crises as opportunities to learn," Pond says. "We’ve learned how effective you have to be while connected remotely."

We’re in the "new normal”

One point Pond emphasized is that many of the reforms that are happening because of the coronavirus crisis are here to stay. "I clearly think we’re in the new normal. The convenience, the efficiency, and the productivity of doing things remotely — what argument do you have against it?"

He cited e-signatures, electronic notarization, and remote hearings as three changes that have been a long time coming that likely will remain after the pandemic is over. “These are things you’d have to be a hell of a trial lawyer to argue against them,” he says.

It doesn’t make any sense to go back and do things the way they were being done in the past.

Pond notes that e-signature in particular has been of huge benefit to Pond Lehocky’s clients, many of whom are disabled. “It’s allowed our clients who are disabled to not have to drive, in some cases over a hundred miles, to a hearing. The judge can assess their credibility remotely.”

"It doesn’t make any sense to go back and do things the way they were being done in the past," he adds.

On Utah's proposed legal reform, which would allow non-lawyers to own and invest in law firms, Pond says it’s only a matter of when — not if — that change will occur.

“Whether it’s in five years or ten years, it’s coming.”

You can’t make good decisions without data

Like many other industries, the legal profession is suffering as a result of the pandemic. Pond says that the firms that will survive are the ones with “good, solid balance sheets” who make sound decisions and run their practices like businesses. To do so, they need data.

”That's the key of the technology and bringing that into bear in regard to efficiencies, productivity, dashboards, data,” he says. “We have so many models, and unless we have good data, we can’t make decisions.”

“What can we project not only from a financial standpoint, but in terms of operations? These are things you’ve got to start thinking about. You can’t think of any of that without data.”

“Believe that you’re going to win the fight”

Pond, who has been boxing since he was a teenager, closes with a boxing metaphor for every company that’s currently taking a beating: “You have to persevere, you have to have resilience, you have to stay in the ring.”

“Be optimistic. Believe that you’re gonna win the fight.”

To get your law firm in shape for a new kind of fight, request a demo and see Litify in action.