A move towards less litigation and more collaboration

Two articles that scream the need for creativity in the world caught my eye in the New York Times today.

One was a review of a new book called “The Idea Factory,” about Bell Labs in the 1920’s. If you think all great ideas have been created since Steve Jobs cobbled together that first Mac in his garage, consider Mervin Kelly, who led the charge to visionary technological thinking decades earlier. Granted, as the book points out, Bell had lots and lot of phone-bill money coming in, so they could afford to spend time tinkering with the future. Either way, they had a drive to creatively think about the technology that made our digital world possible well before the Mac was an Apple in Steve Jobs’ eye.

The other was an article on the drastically dropping rate of law school applicants. First line of the article: “Legal diplomas are apparently losing luster.”

The article makes the mostly business case that low-end legal fees will continue to be shipped overseas and corporations will continue to demand more cost-efficient lawyering. I’d suggest it’s also a result of the ever-increasing importance of right-brained thinking in the world, as business people (and the rest of the world, too) figure out how to get to solutions in more creative ways. Hence, a decline in law school applications, and an increase in varied interests, like bakeries, brain stores, and meeting in awesome varied locations to debate (and solve!) the problems of the world.

Less litigation, more collaboration.

Fewer torts, more tarts.

You get the point…