This week’s 5Q features Christopher Anderson, Founding Partner of New Leaf Family. New Leaf Family is a Colorado-based family law firm, with locations including Lakewood, Golden, and Castle Rock, that focuses on divorce, custody, and post-decree modifications using a non-traditional, future-focused approach. Anderson received his A.B. from Cornell University and his J.D.. from the University of Georgia.
Question 1: Are you an early-bird or night-owl lawyer?
Anderson: That has evolved over time. I used to be a night owl, and I think a lot of lawyers probably go through that phase. Now, I’m definitely more of an early bird. When I’m on trial or doing lawyer things, I’m much more likely to wake up early and arrange my work around that time. The thoughts come more easily in the morning. The connections come. The creative work comes. When I work at night now, it tends to feel dry, factual, and perfunctory.
During my last trial, I was up at 3 every morning writing that day’s questions and getting ready. I like doing that close in time because it stays in my short-term memory, and I feel like my mind is constantly working on it and making connections. I think it adds to my effectiveness at trial.
Q2: If you weren’t a lawyer, what would you be doing in Colorado?
Anderson: I’d be a ski instructor for kids. That’s part of my dream for retirement, whenever retirement comes, which is not anytime soon.
Q3: What’s the best career advice that you’ve received?
Anderson: The best career advice I’ve ever received is that you will make more money and be happier because of the cases you turn down than the cases you accept. Knowing when to turn down certain cases and being strong enough to do so is a really important part of growing your career. I got that advice early, and I took it to heart. It has been really helpful to me, and it has helped me help other lawyers as well.
Q4: What legal issue do you think will matter most in the next 10 years?
Anderson: I think the legal issue over the next 10 years will be whether humans are essential to the dispensation of justice. There will be a lot of debate about whether algorithms and AI can make legal decisions and whether people will accept that. I think people will accept it, and I think it’s a bad idea.
There is something uniquely human that goes into the application of justice. I think we lose that when we turn decisions over to machines, but it will be tempting because it is less expensive, faster, and more efficient. It may start with something small, like whether an AI decides if I pay a parking ticket. Then maybe a speeding ticket. Then a disturbance of the peace. Then a minor assault. Then a major assault. At some point, people will ask where the line is. I don’t think there should be a line. I think the line is never. But I think that is the issue we will face as we turn more and more of our lives over to artificial intelligence agents and, soon enough, general AI models.
Q5: What’s the one case or moment that shaped your career?
Anderson: It was not one case as much as a moment during the pandemic. I’ve had a long career, so it’s interesting to say something from roughly six years ago shaped it, but the past six years have been totally shaped by that moment.
Penn and I spent time doing a root cause analysis on what is really wrong with consumer-facing legal practice, and particularly family law. We landed on two problems. One was the billable hour. The other was the definition of “winning” that most trial lawyers use, which is often lawyer-focused rather than client-focused.
The moment that shaped my career was when we landed on that analysis and decided to build a brand-new kind of law firm that eradicates both of those problems. That has shaped everything for the past six years.
Law Week Colorado invites Colorado lawyers, paralegals, judges, law professors and other legal professionals to share their insights and experiences with the community with our weekly 5Q Questionnaire.
Responses may be edited for clarity and length and will be published in the order received. Your patience is appreciated. If you have questions, email [email protected].