Taking advantage of the current economic downturn is growing to require that we up our innovation abilities. And not just because the economy is on the rocks, but because our entire industry is undergoing a structural change the likes of which most of us have never before experienced. The good news is, so is almost every other industry, so we're all in this together and can learn from the experiences of others.

Some commentators have started to call this period the Great Disruption, in part to differentiate it from the Great Depression of the 1930's. But the name also reminds us that this period is not just a cyclical economic downturn but a full-on business shift resulting from the cumulative impact of the new technologies introduced over the last 10+ years.

We've been chronicling some of that shift as it impacts the practice of law in Susan Beck's series on "The Innovation Agenda" in the Amlaw Daily, and in the December issue of the American Lawyer. I imagine that we'll be doing a lot more reporting on this topic in the years to come as law firms and lawyers adjust to the forces around them, including the loss of big financial services clients, outsourcing, more cost-conscious in-house counsel, etc. etc.

The Harvard Business Review has a good article on the subject, "Innovating in the Great Disruption". http://tinyurl.com/9nwkqz It affirms my belief that now is not the time to hunker down and "wait out the storm", because this storm is not going to pass. We need to get comfortable with change, and move faster to implement it. More to come, I'm sure, on that topic.