> Atrium had attempted a pivot back in January, laying off its in-house lawyers to become a more pure software startup with better margins. Some of its lawyers formed a separate standalone legal firm and took on former Atrium clients. But Kan tells me that it was tough to regain momentum coming out of that change, which some Atrium customers tell me felt chaotic and left them unsure of their legal representation.
It's hard to detect my own bias of course, but this seems like a really cynical move. I understand the need to improve margins but essentially trying the train our processes so we can fire you is off-putting and borderline offensive to workers. For positions closer to the furnace of automation and jobs that are generally dangerous that people don't take pride in it can be minimally destructive but law is not one of those professions.
It's preferable to get into businesses that don't screw over anyone, but if you're going to screw over someone maybe don't screw over smart highly paid professionals that are providing your core value proposition.
When I worked there a few years back, the spin was that it'd be letting the lawyers themselves get more done, by automating or easing rote but necessary tasks like reviewing company documents &etc. I think the story around what paralegals would do was more nebulous, though.
It's hard to detect my own bias of course, but this seems like a really cynical move. I understand the need to improve margins but essentially trying the train our processes so we can fire you is off-putting and borderline offensive to workers. For positions closer to the furnace of automation and jobs that are generally dangerous that people don't take pride in it can be minimally destructive but law is not one of those professions.
It's preferable to get into businesses that don't screw over anyone, but if you're going to screw over someone maybe don't screw over smart highly paid professionals that are providing your core value proposition.