Tom Spence

Like so many other professions, law is becoming increasingly influenced by an overwhelming amount of disparate, fragmented and complex data that can both help and hinder business. Data comes from a wealth of different sources, both internal and external, constantly changing, never still. Keeping control of all that data is one challenge; leveraging it to the greater good much harder. Despite the huge amount of data in the average law firm, data-driven decision-making is relatively new and uncharted. With the hugely disruptive changes that have occurred in our ways of working over the last two years, the issue of data is now front and centre. This second edition of Building the Data-Driven Law Firm looks at how the use of data has become inextricably linked with the practice of law; how it can be utilized to the good, and the safeguards that must be put in place to mitigate the bad; how Big Data will revolutionize the way lawyers work, and the cases they will work on; and how new uses for data (including blockchain and the Internet of Things) will influence the law firm of the future. Bringing the book bang up to date, new content features how we can keep data secure in the changing world of work, how data can be used for business development and client satisfaction, the implications of data bias and data theft, and whether the way we use data is even useful anymore.

This volume, Observations and Commentary, is what its title bespeaks. Everything with which we interact daily can be the source of quandary or confusion, of interest, of interrogation, or of insight. The danger, as the poet says is in "...the ritual of postponing rituals, the deception that there is still plenty of time." After all, what finer ritual can one observe than to embrace the mystery, turn it over like a polished pebble in the hand, and wonder if the examiner is examined by his or her own question. If this collection of poetry lives up to its title, it gives voice to unexpected trajectories as ideas carom from impacts with observations often noted ironically, or irreverently, or with occasional insights which startled even the poet. The poet should not be immune from being informed by his or her own poetry.

Many churches never think about recording their history. When a church finally gets around to it, they realize how much has been forgotten. Those mistakes are themselves history. Going forward with eyes to see, this body will capture not only the events but the stories that go with them.

The modern church has conformed to the world in so many ways. We have become transactional, but we are sent into the world to be transformational with the good news of God's love for us in Jesus Christ. My metaphor for our transactional nature is the vending machine. Form in. Food out. No connections made. We must conform to the patterns of the world no more. We must smash the vending machine model as if it were an Asherah pole or an altar to Baal. We take good news to the lost and connect those who have professed Jesus but are disconnected from the body of Christ. We connect the disconnected.

Joey Summer is a boy who loves baseball. Joey challenges ideas that his friends think are unchangeable. Joey believes that he can compete against the older boys. Faced with few places to practice, an older taunting sister, and a passion for the game not shared by his friends, Joey sets his sights on hitting the toughest pitchers in the league. Encouraged only by his silent companion, Tacos the family dog, Joey discovers that he might just have a little more support than he realizes. Tough Day at the Plate is a great read for baseball lovers or anyone who believes that hard work does pay off.

Tell it to the Marines In 1664, King Charles II had been told strange stories of fish that could fly. Before dismissing this story, he summoned an officer of the Royal Marines to his court and the officer verified the existence of such creatures. The king then declared that in all such matters, these stories should be told to the Marines as they have surely been everywhere and seen everything. Since that time Marines have heard some tall tales, verified as many as they have dismissed, and told quite a few of their own. When it's a Marine's turn to tell an unusual tale, it's generally called a sea story. Sea stories distinguish themselves from the ordinary yarn by two basic characteristics. First they are told either by a Marine or a Sailor. Second, their veracity is introduced as incontestable by use of a colorful Aristotelian metaphor, with emphasis on the colorful. Sea stories encompass every variety of experience from stories in a combat zone to events in the home, but are usually marked by humor or an unusual insight. The sea story is a right of passage for a Marine. Enlistment, boot camp, and graduation are all significant events for a young man or woman, but these new Marines know they have joined an elite club when they tell their first sea story. Sea stories sometimes contain what euphemistically might be called colorful language. These stories are told in the full spirit of the events described without most of this language but with the full sea-going color you would expect from a Marine. I hope you will enjoy them.

Time and time again we help people who are struggling by giving money or food or a ride. Time and time again they turn away from the people who helped them, away from God, and away from the church that paid their water bill and go right back to the lifestyle which enslaves them. Are people actually comfortable in their poverty? Is there nothing that we who have been blessed with abundance can do to fix the problem? The problem is that we try to fix the problem without ever addressing the problem. There will always be poverty so long as there is exclusion. Most of the time that we have donated food or money, we have also helped people in need continue to worship their false gods, be they self pity, a mindset of entitlement, or belief that they are a victim. The most valuable thing we can give is the bread of life and living water, and inclusion in the family of faith. In true Christian fellowship there are no outsiders. Finding abundance in this century is centered upon inclusion.