BDO's Legal Tech Talk Podcast

Guest Notes

Judge Paul Grimm has made significant contributions to the legal profession, particularly in the areas of e-discovery and legal technology. His work on the Advisory Committee for the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and his scholarly contributions have been instrumental in shaping modern legal practices. Judge Grimm's dedication to improving the legal system's efficiency and fairness through technology is evident in his teaching and writing, making him a respected authority in the field.

Guest Website

Paul W. Grimm | Generic Website

Key Takeaways

• The integration of generative AI in legal practices presents both significant opportunities and ethical challenges. Judge Grimm emphasizes the importance of understanding the capabilities and limitations of GenAI to effectively leverage its benefits while adhering to legal and ethical standards.
• The 2015 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which Judge Grimm helped craft, are more relevant than ever in the context of GenAI, highlighting the need for competence in technology as part of legal practice.
• Access to justice can be significantly enhanced through the judicious use of GenAI, offering promising solutions to longstanding barriers faced by the public in legal systems. However, ensuring the accuracy and reliability of AI-generated legal assistance is paramount.
• The legal profession must engage in continuous education and dialogue about the evolving landscape of technology in law. Judge Grimm's work exemplifies the critical role of legal educators and practitioners in navigating these changes responsibly and innovatively.

Guest Notes

Judge Paul Grimm has made significant contributions to the legal profession, particularly in the areas of e-discovery and legal technology. His work on the Advisory Committee for the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and his scholarly contributions have been instrumental in shaping modern legal practices. Judge Grimm's dedication to improving the legal system's efficiency and fairness through technology is evident in his teaching and writing, making him a respected authority in the field.

Guest LinkedIn

Paul W. Grimm | Generic Website

Key Takeaways

• The evolution of e-discovery and its impact on the legal profession, highlighting the importance of understanding and leveraging technology for effective legal practice.
• Judge Grimm's perspective on the role of judges and lawyers in ensuring the ethical use of technology, emphasizing the need for continuous education and adaptation.
• Insights into the challenges of maintaining justice in the age of generative AI and the potential for technology to improve access to legal services and enhance the rule of law.
• The significance of collaboration and professionalism in the legal community, as demonstrated through Judge Grimm's experiences and rulings, underscoring the value of civility and cooperation in achieving just outcomes.
• Judge Grimm's vision for the future of legal technology and its implications for the practice of law, including the potential for AI to transform legal research, evidence, and the overall efficiency of the legal system.

Andrea is a partner in the New York office of Norton Rose Fulbright and spearheads the firm's outreach to technology sector clients. She focuses her practice on data privacy, e-discovery, cross border discovery, and cybersecurity.

LinkedIn

Andrea D'Ambra | LinkedIn

Key Takeaways

Norton Rose Fulbright has been using predictive AI for more than 10 years, and Andrea is interested in learning how generative AI can be used to make e-discovery easier or faster.

Andrea enjoys using GenAI to create images and is developing her skill level in prompt engineering. She says it is an artform to do it well.

Andrea sees great value in leveraging GenAI in legal technology, but the industry has to develop ways to validate the results.

Norton Rose Fulbright has a monthly e-discovery information governance group where partners discuss the latest technology and receive training to stay up to date on recent developments.

During her 20 years in the legal industry, Lynn has held previous roles at Sidley Austin LLP, DLA Piper, and Rosen Technology Resources. She has a JD from DePaul University College of Law, and a skill set that includes litigation support, document review, and more.

LinkedIn

Lynn Tubalinal | LinkedIn

Key Takeaways

• Lynn attends Legal Week in New York to network and share ideas with other legal technology professionals.
• She is interested in learning about how legal departments are incorporating generative AI.
• Lynn says technology-assisted review (TAR) was complicated and difficult to explain when it was developed, but AI is user friendly and easy for people to learn.
• Legal professionals are curious about AI, specifically using text to create images.
• As a leader in the legal industry, Lynn’s word of the year is confidence, and the Legal Week keynote speech about quiet confidence resonated with her.

Notes

Emily has been at Akerman, an Am Law 100 law firm, for more than 20 years. She joined the firm as a paralegal. Now, as a litigation manager, she ensures efficient and effective processes for managing workflows, legal data, and documents. Four years ago, she helped start the e-discovery services department.

She’s also Director of Charity at Women in eDiscovery. She has been involved in the organization for several years, helping to establish the Miami Chapter and serving as chapter director.

LinkedIn

Emily Bartkowicz, CEDS, ACP

Key Takeaways

• Emily attends Legal Week in New York to meet other professionals who work in legal operations and learn about the latest updates in technology.
• She is interested in learning about groundbreaking ideas to streamline data collection.
• Emily says generative AI may be useful in identifying data sources that many people forget during the data collection process.
• She suggests AI may be helpful to young lawyers working remotely who do not have the benefit of collaborating in person on a daily basis with more experienced colleagues.
• Emily says the difference between AI and Technology Assisted Review (TAR) is that TAR still requires a human to make decisions, but AI can make them for you.

Notes

Melissa serves as Of Counsel for Kidd Production LLP, a Texas-based oil company. She is the Director of Social Media and Brand Management at Women in eDiscovery, a nonprofit, and a contributor to the American Bar Association's Law Practice magazine. She is founder of mmData, an organization dedicated to spatial computing for the legal sector.

She earned her J.D. from Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law and her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. Melissa is admitted to the State Bar of Texas. She is also co-founder and co-owner of mmQuail Farm, an exotic animal farm outside of Dallas.

Melissa H. | LinkedIn

Key Takeaways

• Melissa says she attends Legal Week in New York to network with others who work in the legal sector and innovate.
• As part of her new venture, mmData, she wants to build useful tools for legal professionals, so she goes to Legal Week to understand what they want, what they need, and what their problems are.
• She is interested in learning about artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
• Melissa says legal professionals should be thinking about privacy and data governance policies for AI and virtual reality to mitigate risks.
• Augmented reality, mixed reality, and other similar technologies are collecting a lot of data that can be accessed through e-discovery.

Since 2019, Emily has overseen PNC’s growing e-discovery team. She regularly advises on discovery issues, including the preservation, collection, review, and production of electronically stored information, information governance, the implementation of new technology, and data remediation. Prior to her time at PNC, Emily was an associate in Reed Smith’s Records and eDiscovery Group where she advised clients on all discovery and information governance issues and served as national discovery counsel for several large international clients. Emily received her M.A. in Educational Theatre from New York University and her J.D. from Duquesne University School of Law. She serves as a member of PNC’s Women’s Initiative and is on the boards of the Pittsburgh Chapter of Women in eDiscovery and Bishop Canevin Catholic High School.

Key Takeaways

• Emily attends Legal Week in New York to talk with other legal operations professionals about how they are implementing new technology, especially AI.
• She is interested in learning more about new software and legal technology by viewing demonstrations at the conference.
• Emily says she is most concerned about the creation of data by AI, what is the acceptable use of the technology, and how to train employees to use it.
• In the financial industry, organizations must consider regulation, litigation, and other issues affecting the use of AI.

Stacey is Counsel and E-Discovery Lead in the Corporate Litigation Department of IBM. She manages all aspects of E-Discovery for Corporate Litigation, from working on global and domestic cases, to setting policies and best practices in e-discovery, maintaining IBM’s e-discovery mapping, and keeping all company-wide platforms of communication compliant with preservation, retention, review and production capabilities. Stacey handles IBM third party subpoenas with duties including reviewing and analyzing subpoena requests, drafting and serving objections, negotiating scope, identifying and interviewing custodians and data source owners, retrieving, reviewing and producing documents, and representing IBM witnesses at depositions.

Key Takeaways

• Industry professionals at Legal Week want to know how AI works. What are the different concerns regarding ethics, integrity, accountability, and auditability of AI?
• Stacey says AI is promising, but it won’t replace human beings. She thinks it will augment life such as expediting critical healthcare decisions and saving lives.
• Her team is running a trial using generative AI on Slack data using an e-discovery vendor.
• Stacey plans to get an AI certification so that she can take her team to the next level.

Throughout his career, Colin has seen technology as a key driver in improving how legal services are performed. His career has spanned industries, and he has witnessed a myriad of issues, from a systemic lack of interest in technology to the high cost of legal services barring entry for consumers. Now, his mission is to bridge the gap between the tech world and the legal world, advocating for the ways technology can be a useful tool for the lawyer’s toolbelt rather than a fear-inducing obstacle to effective legal work.

Key Takeaways

• Collaboration is defined by building and growing relationships with others outside your business function, actively learning from others working with you, and working together towards a shared goal. Collaboration is dynamic and can always be improved. Engagement is key to learning and building relationships.
• Understanding the legal tech ecosystem helps navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of technology in the legal profession. Businesses rely on data analytics, so legal departments need to be fluent in data analytics and that requires digitization.
• Colin Levy defines legal technology as technological solutions aimed at helping to bridge the gap between those delivering legal services and those in need of legal services enhanced by processes and people. Technology is driven by people, so it should meet them where they are. Change cannot be forced but is inevitable. It’s important to lead with empathy when doing technology training.
• Problem identification is the first step. Solution identification comes later. Design thinking helps make digital transformation easier and more accessible through visualization such as an infographic and color coding.
• AI will impact the legal business in many ways including billable hours, the hiring of lawyers and the training of lawyers. It will impact what it means to be a lawyer and what work is done by a lawyer.
• Businesses rely on data analytics, so legal departments need to be fluent in data analytics and that requires digitization.

Zviad Guruli is Director of eDiscovery and Data Analytics at WilmerHale DiscoverySolutions and a member of the Securities Litigation and Enforcement Practice. He provides consultation and strategy in complex discovery matters, advising on best practices, emerging technologies, and trends. He designs and implements workflows using advanced predictive methodologies, statistical modeling, and other smart discovery tools.

Key Takeaways:

• Zviad explains there are five categories to classify how AI works with content: Speeding up content review, organizing content, exploring known and unknown content, and generating it.
• According to Zviad, generative AI is about achieving a result and validating it. He says there are a lot of best practices about Technology Assisted Review but not yet for generative AI in legal technology.
• He advocates for updating the Federal Rules of Evidence to catch up with AI.
• Zviad says AI is an augmenting force that will not replace lawyers and that human agency will always be part of decision making.