Jordan Furlong
@jordanfurlong.com
Legal sector analyst, consultant, author, speaker, and reformer (he/him). I publish a free bi-weekly Substack newsletter: https://jordanfurlong.substack.com/ "We have the chance to turn the pages over." Luke 12:24-32.
You know, if I were the private equity industry looking for a headline law firm to carry the banner for PE's legal investment efforts in the US, I'm not sure the firm that represented Ghislaine Maxwell would be at the top of my list.
Law firm Cohen & Gresser in talks to sell stake to private equity on.ft.com/49CS8Pr
Law firm Cohen & Gresser in talks to sell stake to private equity
New York firm that represented Sam Bankman-Fried and Ghislaine Maxwell would be among first to bring in investors
on.ft.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:59 PM
You know, if I were the private equity industry looking for a headline law firm to carry the banner for PE's legal investment efforts in the US, I'm not sure the firm that represented Ghislaine Maxwell would be at the top of my list.
You're a mean one, Charlie Brown.
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold, Charlie Brown
I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure, Charlie Brown
November 24, 2025 at 3:28 PM
You're a mean one, Charlie Brown.
Something we should take away from the latest “Ukraine peace plan” fiasco is that all the men in charge in both Russia and the United States are incompetent cretins. There’s no hidden plan or secret strategy. There’s no clever misdirection or 3D chess. They’re all idiots.
November 23, 2025 at 1:58 AM
Something we should take away from the latest “Ukraine peace plan” fiasco is that all the men in charge in both Russia and the United States are incompetent cretins. There’s no hidden plan or secret strategy. There’s no clever misdirection or 3D chess. They’re all idiots.
Law firms are just so bad at simple business practices. Their initial cost estimates to clients are lowballed and unrealistic; their engagement terms are poorly scoped and sloppy; and a lack of discipline in matter execution leaks value. Maddening stuff. www.legalfutures.co.uk/blog/pitch-p...
Pitch perfect? Why law firms lose margin before work even begins
What has long struck me is how often the gap between projected and realised profit has very little to do with the client being ‘unprofitable’. More often, it’s about the process.
www.legalfutures.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Law firms are just so bad at simple business practices. Their initial cost estimates to clients are lowballed and unrealistic; their engagement terms are poorly scoped and sloppy; and a lack of discipline in matter execution leaks value. Maddening stuff. www.legalfutures.co.uk/blog/pitch-p...
Important and thought-provoking critiques of overly simplistic "AI will fix A2J" takes, along with two good suggestions for how to ameliorate the challenges in this area, by @profmarkovic.bsky.social: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Equal Justice & Generative AI
The United States has long suffered from unequal access to justice, with countless low-and middle-income Americans forced to navigate the legal system alone. Re
papers.ssrn.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Important and thought-provoking critiques of overly simplistic "AI will fix A2J" takes, along with two good suggestions for how to ameliorate the challenges in this area, by @profmarkovic.bsky.social: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
You no longer need to read historical fiction to know the answer to, “What would America look like today if the Confederacy had won the Civil War?”
November 20, 2025 at 6:54 PM
You no longer need to read historical fiction to know the answer to, “What would America look like today if the Confederacy had won the Civil War?”
New from me at Substack: What happens when private equity meets artificial intelligence in the legal sector? The profit engine of law firms changes address -- and lawyers get a chance to rethink their purpose. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/the-migrat...
November 20, 2025 at 3:36 PM
New from me at Substack: What happens when private equity meets artificial intelligence in the legal sector? The profit engine of law firms changes address -- and lawyers get a chance to rethink their purpose. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/the-migrat...
Reposted by Jordan Furlong
Far too much credibility is being given to the new ‘Trump peace plan’ that would be tantamount to Ukraine’s capitulation. Here I explain why this new plan is far less than it seems and is unlikely to lead to anything. (£/free trial), open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/y...?
Yet another peace plan?
What's going on with leaked proposals for a new US/Russia deal
open.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Far too much credibility is being given to the new ‘Trump peace plan’ that would be tantamount to Ukraine’s capitulation. Here I explain why this new plan is far less than it seems and is unlikely to lead to anything. (£/free trial), open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/y...?
Just call it a “surrender plan,” because that’s all it is. Keep “peace” out of it.
The proposal envisions major concessions from Ukraine, and the Trump administration and Russian officials have urged President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept it. on.ft.com/47OH5RZ
November 19, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Just call it a “surrender plan,” because that’s all it is. Keep “peace” out of it.
Man, the more I look at this "private equity buying law firm MSOs" thing, the more questions I have, and the answers I'm coming up with are not encouraging.
November 14, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Man, the more I look at this "private equity buying law firm MSOs" thing, the more questions I have, and the answers I'm coming up with are not encouraging.
Private equity in the AmLaw 100? Not a possibility most people took seriously until this news from Will McDermott: news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and... | Includes comments and analysis from me.
McDermott’s Outside Investor Talks Augur Big Law Transformation
The possibility of outside investors taking a stake in McDermott Will & Schulte nudges rivals to consider a similar step and possibly change the way the legal industry operates.
news.bloomberglaw.com
November 14, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Private equity in the AmLaw 100? Not a possibility most people took seriously until this news from Will McDermott: news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and... | Includes comments and analysis from me.
You could set your clock by it.
November 13, 2025 at 11:07 PM
You could set your clock by it.
Reposted by Jordan Furlong
America has long feared it would suffer the same fate as the Roman republic, but never quite truly appreciated how utterly absurd Roman elites had become by the time of the late republic.
November 12, 2025 at 11:23 PM
America has long feared it would suffer the same fate as the Roman republic, but never quite truly appreciated how utterly absurd Roman elites had become by the time of the late republic.
New from me at Substack: My analysis of the surging wave of private equity activity in the legal sector. My message to lawyers and legal regulators: Be very, very careful here. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/private-eq...
November 13, 2025 at 1:59 PM
New from me at Substack: My analysis of the surging wave of private equity activity in the legal sector. My message to lawyers and legal regulators: Be very, very careful here. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/private-eq...
I just read a comment by an interviewee in a legal news article that 100% looked to be written by ChatGPT. The clever analogy, the "it's not this; it's that" structure, etc.
One of the side effects of working with ChatGPT as much as I do is recognizing its cadence. (Also, it uses "cadence" a lot.)
One of the side effects of working with ChatGPT as much as I do is recognizing its cadence. (Also, it uses "cadence" a lot.)
November 12, 2025 at 3:53 PM
I just read a comment by an interviewee in a legal news article that 100% looked to be written by ChatGPT. The clever analogy, the "it's not this; it's that" structure, etc.
One of the side effects of working with ChatGPT as much as I do is recognizing its cadence. (Also, it uses "cadence" a lot.)
One of the side effects of working with ChatGPT as much as I do is recognizing its cadence. (Also, it uses "cadence" a lot.)
"FinTRAC identified 4,300 suspicious transaction reports that totalled $7.99-billion ... and 67,500 electronic funds transfer reports with a collective value of $13.8-billion." Lawyers' unwillingness to deal with money laundering will do them in someday. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...
Opinion: Lawyers are the ‘black hole’ of money laundering. Why is Canada turning a blind eye?
Canada’s 2025 national risk assessment rates lawyers and Quebec notaries as having a ‘high vulnerability’ to money-laundering risks
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:19 PM
"FinTRAC identified 4,300 suspicious transaction reports that totalled $7.99-billion ... and 67,500 electronic funds transfer reports with a collective value of $13.8-billion." Lawyers' unwillingness to deal with money laundering will do them in someday. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...
"The ultimate beneficiaries of this new industrial revolution may not be the providers of the general-purpose technology itself, but those that apply it. ... The fact that Nvidia is financing its customers to buy its products is not a supportive signal." spencea.substack.com/p/double-dou...
Double Double Toil & Trouble
AI & General Purpose Technologies
spencea.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:32 PM
"The ultimate beneficiaries of this new industrial revolution may not be the providers of the general-purpose technology itself, but those that apply it. ... The fact that Nvidia is financing its customers to buy its products is not a supportive signal." spencea.substack.com/p/double-dou...
Nvidia's CEO meets two other Korean tech CEOs for fried chicken -- and chicken-related stocks immediately increase, including a company that makes chicken-frying robots.
The bubble is going to burst, and a whole lot of chaos will follow. Get yourself as mentally and financially prepared as you can.
The bubble is going to burst, and a whole lot of chaos will follow. Get yourself as mentally and financially prepared as you can.
The AI bubble has reached its ‘fried chicken’ phase ft.trib.al/VGyrH8K
The AI bubble has reached its ‘fried chicken’ phase
This is nuts. When’s the crash?
ft.trib.al
October 31, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Nvidia's CEO meets two other Korean tech CEOs for fried chicken -- and chicken-related stocks immediately increase, including a company that makes chicken-frying robots.
The bubble is going to burst, and a whole lot of chaos will follow. Get yourself as mentally and financially prepared as you can.
The bubble is going to burst, and a whole lot of chaos will follow. Get yourself as mentally and financially prepared as you can.
It's interesting to think how history might have unfolded differently if nuclear technology had been developed first as a clean power source and later used as a weapon, rather than the other way around. Much of the world might now be powered by nuclear stations.
October 31, 2025 at 6:15 PM
It's interesting to think how history might have unfolded differently if nuclear technology had been developed first as a clean power source and later used as a weapon, rather than the other way around. Much of the world might now be powered by nuclear stations.
"Trump’s personal worth has increased by $3.4 billion over just the first eight months of his presidency, to say nothing of the wealth funnelled into the accounts of his party, sycophants, and allies. And he’s just getting started."
Essential reading (especially for Americans) right now.
Essential reading (especially for Americans) right now.
I tried to cobble together a narrative of the industrial-scale corruption of the Trump state, and to think about why it's not breaking through.
www.bugeyedandshameless.com/p/guide-to-d...
www.bugeyedandshameless.com/p/guide-to-d...
A Guide To Donald Trump's Kleptocracy
Donald Trump is getting richer. That's a threat to democracy.
www.bugeyedandshameless.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:38 PM
"Trump’s personal worth has increased by $3.4 billion over just the first eight months of his presidency, to say nothing of the wealth funnelled into the accounts of his party, sycophants, and allies. And he’s just getting started."
Essential reading (especially for Americans) right now.
Essential reading (especially for Americans) right now.
Reposted by Jordan Furlong
Polling is not an indicator of peoples' deeply-held, immutable, moral convictions — it's a function of people pressing a button on a phone after having had three seconds to think about a topic.
It is *a* data point, not a fact of nature.
It is *a* data point, not a fact of nature.
October 29, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Polling is not an indicator of peoples' deeply-held, immutable, moral convictions — it's a function of people pressing a button on a phone after having had three seconds to think about a topic.
It is *a* data point, not a fact of nature.
It is *a* data point, not a fact of nature.
The sound of the '70s haunts the legal sector to this day:
October 29, 2025 at 2:53 PM
The sound of the '70s haunts the legal sector to this day:
New from me at Substack: What happens when the capacity to solve legal problems is no longer exclusive to lawyers, and can instead be found on every desktop and smartphone? What does it mean when legal reasoning becomes ubiquitous? We're about to find out. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/the-new-le...
October 28, 2025 at 2:01 PM
New from me at Substack: What happens when the capacity to solve legal problems is no longer exclusive to lawyers, and can instead be found on every desktop and smartphone? What does it mean when legal reasoning becomes ubiquitous? We're about to find out. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/the-new-le...
Reposted by Jordan Furlong
ordinary americans are filming ice agents and trying to save their neighbors. for all the hemming and hawing during 2024 about how democracy was an elite concern, the elites gave up far more quickly than average people.
October 24, 2025 at 1:51 PM
ordinary americans are filming ice agents and trying to save their neighbors. for all the hemming and hawing during 2024 about how democracy was an elite concern, the elites gave up far more quickly than average people.
For no particular reason, read this timeless list of 18 reasons why complex systems fail: how.complexsystems.fail
How Complex Systems Fail
how.complexsystems.fail
October 20, 2025 at 4:33 PM
For no particular reason, read this timeless list of 18 reasons why complex systems fail: how.complexsystems.fail