(Photo of Patrick Palace and his dog, Sirius George, by Yosef Kalinko/ABA Journal)
Patrick Palace is a lawyer who has made some life changes. He grew his hair, wears sports and casual clothes more than suits, and focuses on legal technology and systems to expand his firm in Tacoma, Washington, rather than trying to be the No. 1 trial lawyer and rainmaker.
He is a workers’ compensation attorney who also handles personal injury cases and has acquired five law practices in two years. Palace is also a former president of the Washington State Bar Association, and he works to convince other lawyers to embrace innovation and change in the profession instead of beating back.
His current volunteer work includes serving as vice chair of the ABA Center for Innovation and secretary of the National Conference of Bar Presidents – two groups whose members sometimes disagree on legislative changes. “I am a bridge,” says Palace, who favors reregulation to allow law firm ownership and limited licensing to non-lawyers.
“Guys like me can show how much their own companies have used technology and how much opportunity there is. So bar leaders can be megaphones of opportunity, not naysayers of fear,” adds the Palace Law founder.
Palace grew up in Washington and attended Loyola University Chicago School of Law because he wanted to see what life was like in a big city. He graduated in 1991 and returned home the same year, initially working as an attorney for police misconduct cases. In 1995, he moved to plaintiff’s work as a sole proprietorship.
Today, Palace Law employs 11 lawyers and 27 legal professionals. Nearly everyone in the practice, including himself, works remotely, and he estimates that about 80% of the company’s new revenue comes from online contacts.
“We use technology to keep lawyers and staff at the top of their skills and leave as much of the lower level work to technology as possible, preferably without human intervention,” he adds.
Tech tools include a “Patbot,” a chatbot that uses consumers’ information to analyze their business, create forms and write letters. The website also has a case value calculator, which is free.
“There is a lot of money to be made from the law. I don’t have to monetize everything, and it shouldn’t be my goal to make money from everyone who calls me,” says Palace, 57. He sees himself as an experimenter rather than a builder and often turns to Twitter when he shops for law firm technology.
“I don’t always consider the company that produces the tool to be the best source, but I often listen to those who use it, and sometimes those who have invested in it,” adds Palace, who has moved from process work to management of law firms. and strategy four years ago.
His personal life has also changed. Palace, a former student of mixed martial arts, now practices yoga. He also enjoys hiking and fishing, and he has a winery, Sunken Cellars, where his products age underwater in Puget Sound.
“I’ve gotten a little closer to my roots,” Palace says. “That helps when I’m on the road talking about mindfulness, work-life balance and how to be successful by scaling or changing company culture, as long as the culture is strong and positive.”
Legal Rebel Class of 2023
Stacy Butler
Josh Blandi
Zacharias DeMeola
Sonja Ebron and Debra Slone of Courtroom5
Natalie Anne Knowlton
Uzoma Orchingwa and Gabriel Saruhashi from Ameelio
Patrick Palace
Janis C. Puracal