I couldn’t put it down. I had to keep reading it, turn the pages. That doesn’t happen to me that often, in particular not when reading law firm management-related literature. Yet Avoiding Extinction: Reimagining Legal Services for the 21st Century1 by Mitchell Kowalski, was different. The Toronto real estate lawyer-turned innovative thinker, writer, speaker, and entrepreneur manages to entertain and challenge his readers. Karl Chapman, CEO of Riverview Law, gave me the book in London. He urged me to read it right away, remarking that I will probably have finished the book by the time I land in JFK. It was that good. Yeah, right, Karl.

Well—I was wrong. I finished the book well ahead of the “crosscheck and prepare for landing,” earmarks and highlights and all. Just published by the American Bar Association, Avoiding Extinction provides “a vivid, believable account of everything a law firm could be. The fictional firm of Bowen, Fong & Chandri (BFC) represents the cutting edge of how a law firm can deliver top-notch legal services, build business and satisfy clients, end reliance on the billable hour, leverage technology, and constantly enhance and improve its performance—all while attracting and retaining top talent.… Avoiding Extinction makes a case for how the law firm of the future will succeed, with a laser-like focus on delivering high-quality legal services better, faster and cheaper.” [How clever…BFC!] The firm performs “legal services that differ from those of its rivals or similar legal services, but in a very different way.”