About Blickstein Group
Today’s law firms and legal departments alike find themselves at a crossroads. They want to take advantage of new ways of doing business and practicing law, ways that leverage people, process, technology, and data. But even visionary legal teams struggle to figure out what to do and how to fit new strategies into their existing business and billing models. Providers of technology and alternative legal services also struggle with how to stand out in an increasingly crowded market.
For more than two decades, legal industry leaders have turned to Blickstein Group for insight and advice. We use our knowledge, experience, subject-matter expertise and creativity to help our clients and other stakeholders to understand their industry, prepare for the future and take their offerings to market.
In addition to our groundbreaking work on behalf of our industry-leading clients, our flagship research products include the Annual Law Department Operations Survey (launched in 2008), the Annual Legal Pricing & Project Management Survey (launched in 2020), the Legal AI Efficacy Report (2019-2020) and Modernize Legal: The Practice Management Field Study.
Chief Executive Officer
Brad is a legal industry futurist – he has developed a national reputation for his insight into the changing ways that legal services are being consumed and delivered in the modern marketplace.
As the founder and principal of Blickstein Group, Brad focuses on helping legal service providers better understand and serve their clients while providing information about law departments and legal operations.
A highly respected legal industry strategist and futurist, Brad has been responsible for multiple initiatives that have created a deeper understanding of—and driven change in—the market for legal services. Before most corporations even had legal operations departments, he launched his Annual Law Department Operations Survey, which remains the most comprehensive survey on the topic. He also conceived the long-running Annual Legal Spend Survey, the Legal AI Efficacy Report, and in 2020, the Annual Legal Pricing & Project Management Survey. Like much of Brad’s work, these surveys bring clarifying, evidence-based knowledge to subjects that more frequently inspire conjecture and fear.
Brad is a frequent speaker and writer who has contributed regularly to Above the Law and Legaltech News. Before consulting clients in the legal industry, he was among a small team that launched Corporate Legal Times (now Inside Counsel), the first publication directed to in-house counsel. He subsequently led a management buyout of the media company behind the publication and served as its chief executive.
Brad is a fellow in the College of Law Practice Management, an invitation-only organization of judges, lawyers, academics and others dedicated to excellence in law practice management. He received his B.A. from the University of Chicago.
Please visit our Success Stories page for more information about our projects and clients.
Chief Client Experience Officer
Josie designs and executes marketing programs that produce brand equity and generate revenue for legal tech companies, alternative legal service providers and innovative law firms. She brings a unique understanding of new legal service delivery models and marketing strategies that effectively reach the elusive in-house legal buyer.
Before joining Blickstein Group, Josie spent more than two decades in leadership positions at legal tech firms, often helping to build their reputations among general counsel. She has experience in all stages of a company’s lifecycle, from startup to exit, including on both the buy and sell side of legal tech M&A transactions. Most recently, she was marketing director at Onit, specializing in events, customer programs and European marketing. Previously, Josie served as the chief marketing officer at Yerra Solutions, a Switzerland-based company acquired by Elevate Services in 2019. Josie began her career at Datacert, acquired by Wolters Kluwer in 2014, where she spent nearly 10 years and became the senior manager of global marketing. She also has worked in the fintech sector and at a boutique marketing agency.
Josie is a graduate of the University of Houston, cum laude, and lives in Big Sky, Montana, where she serves on the board of the Big Sky Ski Education Foundation and volunteers for multiple local organizations supporting conservation, recreation and the arts.
Chief Operating Officer and Head of Research
Sam leads our Research and Analysis team and is the engine behind key initiatives, including the Annual Law Department Operations Survey, the Annual Legal Pricing and Project Management Survey, and the Legal Practice Modernization Field Study. He has been with Blickstein Group since 2018 and is known industry-wide for providing extraordinary levels of client service.
Prior to joining Blickstein Group, Sam was media relations manager for CCIM Institute, where he served as the editor of its monthly magazine, Commercial Connections. Sam has a curious nature and is always learning, and he brings extensive value to our team and our clients through lessons he learned throughout his fascinating careers as a restaurateur, private investigator, fly-fishing instructor and magazine photographer.
Sam received his B.A. from the University of Chicago.
Head of Editorial Services
Few professionals have had careers in legal communications as long and wide-ranging as Amy Stickel’s. Early on, as managing editor of InsideCounsel (formerly Corporate Legal Times), Amy developed stories about in-house counsel and their relationships with their law firms. Later, as managing editor of the Legal Marketing Association’s Strategies magazine, she covered legal marketing. And as editor of the Annual Law Department Operations Survey Report, she has become an authority on legal operations and legal tech. Amy also has worked as a journalist and communications professional in higher education and the pharmaceutical industry.
Based in Chicago, Amy works with clients to create sophisticated marketing and business development programs, conduct media outreach, and develop marketing assets. She possesses deep experience in media relations, crisis communications, and content creation enhanced by her years of experience as a journalist and editor. She has focused her career on law firms and in-house counsel, while helping clients across a range of industries tell their stories.
Her experience includes serving as managing editor of Corporate Legal Times/InsideCounsel, working as managing editor of the Legal Marketing Association’s Strategies magazine, overseeing communications for a liberal arts college, and enhancing internal communications for global pharmaceutical firms.
Amy earned a degree in journalism from Boston University, magna cum laude, and an MBA at Saint Xavier University. Her volunteer work includes serving on the board of directors of the Beverly Arts Center.