Law Technology Now

In this episode of Law Technology Now, host Bob Ambrogi talks with Opus 2 International, Inc. CEO Graham Smith-Bernal about his career and the evolution of the electronic courtroom. Graham recalls his early interest in becoming a court stenographer and how at the age of 23 he had the opportunity to establish his company Smith Bernal International. At that time he noticed that the legal industry was driven heavily by precedent and tradition and that he could use technology to establish his company as a service differentiator. Graham was also aware that a lot of lawyers are technophobic, so any software he developed had to be easy to use and with the advent of real time transcription he came up with the idea for LiveNote. He shares that there was a lot of pushback and reticence in the early days, but by exercising the ease of use, increase in efficiency, and leveraging end user feature requests the product became mature as a piece of tech. Graham states that success in any business is about timing and your process and the increase in processing speeds and maturity of the stenography systems availability at the time put his company slightly ahead of the technological curve. He discusses the success of LiveNote and explains how he developed the Opus 2 magnum platform. He closes the interview with an analysis of electronic courtroom evolution and the trends he is currently seeing in tech assisted litigation.

Graham Smith-Bernal started his career as a court reporter in the UK, and founded Smith Bernal International, where he created the LiveNote software. Smith Bernal International went on to become the world's largest international court reporting company and LiveNote became the most widely used litigation support software prior to Smith-Bernal selling LiveNote to Thomson Reuters in 2006. He then founded Opus 2, where he is currently CEO, to continue his work in this area.

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In this episode of Law Technology Now, host Monica Bay speaks with reporter and author Charles Duhigg about his new book, “Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business.” Charles emphasizes that a lawyer’s career is predicated upon making choices about how they spend their time and for that reason efficiency is incredibly important. The most productive people, he reveals, are the ones who create routines that allow them to differentiate between busyness and productivity. He encourages leaders to create mental models or visualizations of how any daily transaction will unfold and to make small directed company improvements, or changes to what he calls keystone habits. He continues by providing examples of how this approach, combined with carefully phrasing your proposed change, can lead to greater companywide advancements in the long term. Charles also discusses the importance of having an agile company and explains that the best way to create this culture is to empower your co-workers to make great choices. He states that empowering others to solve problems as they occur allows those individuals who can solve the problem best and who are often the closest to the issue the ability to handle these concerns as they occur. Charles closes the interview with an analysis of how crisis facilitates flexibility and provides tips on how attorneys can create the perception of potential crisis to help facilitate change.

Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter for “The New York Times” and the author of “The Power of Habit.” He is a winner of the National Academies of Sciences, National Journalism, and George Polk awards. A graduate of Harvard Business School and Yale College, he lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children.

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If you think the legal industry’s future depends on small and big firms working together, you might be from MaRS. By MaRS, we mean the Canadian-based MaRS Discovery District (originally named Medical and Related Sciences) and its recent project to innovate the legal profession.

In this episode of Law Technology Now, host Monica Bay interviews Aron Solomon and Jason Moyse, the co-founders of recent MaRS startup LegalX. Together, they talk about today’s transition from the big firm model of yesterday in favor of more nimble practices traditionally found in smaller firms and startups. Although there will always be a need for Biglaw on large, highly profitable matters, 80% of the U.S. market is priced out of legal services. That unmet need has become a primary driver in sweeping change to the legal industry.

So, what do these driving forces mean for the future of law? Monica, Aron, and Jason take turns answering that question with their forecasts of the legal market for the next 2-5 years. Not only will this near future continue to see big firms receding, but it will also usher in an era of innovation. Legal solutions made on one side of the globe will be solving problems on the other. Even more surprising, it is predicted that Biglaw will collaborate with small firms to produce more comprehensive offerings at lower prices. Tune in to hear more about the future of law as seen from MaRS.

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As the body of law continues to grow, so does the consumer demand for cost effective and efficient legal services. What resources do large law firms and corporations have to help them harness technology to keep pace with this growing trend?

In this episode of Law Technology Now, host Bob Ambrogi speaks with Bloomberg BNA Legal Division President David Perla about his career, Bloomberg Law, and how their Smart CodeSM is changing traditional legal annotation. He states that ultimately the company hopes to help lawyers grow their businesses, be better counselors to their clients, and help them be more profitable. David provides an overview of his career, starting with his early days at a large Manhattan law firm, and shares his thoughts on how his particular combination of work experiences prepared him for his current role as Bloomberg BNA Legal Division President. He reflects on how Bloomberg’s ability to leverage technology to help lawyers and law practitioners has improved over the last 5 years and uses their current Smart CodeSM legal annotation tech as an example of this. He closes the interview with an explanation of how this code works, how it can enhance the lives of lawyers, and how it compares to the speed and efficiency of human editors.

David Perla is the president of Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg BNA Legal. He plays a key leadership role in the continued growth of the company’s legal business, which includes legal, legislative, and regulatory news analysis, and the flagship Bloomberg Law® legal and business intelligence research system. He drives the growth strategy for Bloomberg BNA Legal and oversees the development of distinctive content and products characterized by Bloomberg BNA’s renowned editorial excellence and Bloomberg’s reputation as a technology leader.

Before joining Bloomberg BNA, Perla served as chairman and CEO of Matterhorn Transactions and co-CEO and co-founder of Pangea3, the globally known legal process outsourcing provider. Prior to forming Pangea3, he was vice president of business and legal affairs for Monster.com. Perla received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He began his legal career as a corporate lawyer at the law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP.

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The effects of technology on the law can be seen throughout the profession as these innovations are slowly integrated into the legal marketplace. However, has the union of new tech and the practice of law been significantly transformative for lawyers and clients? What factors have hindered the adoption of new technology in the legal sector and what catalysts might be implemented to accelerate the pace of change?

In this episode of Law Technology Now, host Monica Bay speaks with Legal Services Corporation President and CodeX FutureLaw keynote speaker Jim J. Sandman about his 10 reasons the law has been slow to adopt technology and the “levers of power” that might be engaged to accelerate that rate. Jim opens the interview with a brief summary of his time as managing partner at Arnold & Porter LLP, the general counsel for the District of Columbia Public Schools, and his five years of tenure as the president of Legal Services Corporation. He reflects on his CodeX 2016 FutureLaw Conference keynote speech and expresses that his intention was to provide an overview of where the profession stands with technology in law today. Technology, Jim explains, has made a number of improvements in law but hasn’t transformed service delivery in the same way it has in other industries and professions. He shares that 80% of the civil legal needs of low income people go unmet and analyzes statistics from legal aid organization studies that show that between 50% to 67% of individuals who can’t afford a lawyer are denied legal services because of inadequate resources. Jim then presents his list of 10 impediments to the adoption of technology in the legal profession, such as a sluggish lawyer administered regulatory system, and discusses changes made in the UK and Australia to approve non-lawyer ownership of law firms. He closes the interview with his list of the 10 agents of change, such as the legal media and state legislatures, that can aid in increasing efficiency for attorneys through the adoption of new technologies.

James J. Sandman has been president of the Legal Services Corporation since 2011. He practiced law with Arnold & Porter LLP for 30 years and served as the firm’s managing partner for a decade. From 2007 to 2011, he was general counsel for the District of Columbia Public Schools.

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In this episode of Law Technology Now,

Stay tuned to hear about predictions for legal jobs in the

Eric Laughlin is the managing director of the

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As technology continues to permeate society more and more,companies are exploring how advancements in tech can improve thelegal profession. Many of these institutions are researching waysto make the legal system more efficient for all stakeholdersthrough information technology. Where can lawyers who areinterested in this growth industry learn about the progress beingmade from thought leaders in the field?

In this episode of Law Technology Now,host Monica Bay speaks with Stanford Program inLaw, Science and Technology Executive Director Roland Vogl aboutthe upcoming 2016 CodeX FutureLaw Conference. Roland reflects onhis time as a student in The Stanford Program in InternationalLegal Studies (SPILS) and how that path led him to work as anintellectual property lawyer and ultimately a Lecturer in Law atStanford Law School. He then explains the creation of The StanfordCenter for Computers and the Law - CodeX, their growing interest inbig data law, machine learning, and natural language processing inthe law, and their aim to facilitate legal empowerment throughinformation technology. The conversation then shifts to theupcoming 2016 CodeX FutureLaw Conference and the panels, such as“Moot Court 2020: Legal Tech on Trial,” that will be presented.Roland wraps up the interview with a discussion of diversity in theprofession, the lack of women presenting at conferences, and theefforts CodeX is making to ensure greater diversity at theirs.

Dr. Roland Vogl is currently the executivedirector of the Stanford Program in Law, Science and Technology(LST) and is a lecturer in law at Stanford Law School. He alsoresearches international technology law through the TransatlanticTechnology Law Forum (TTLF) and focuses his efforts on legalinformatics work carried out in the Center for Legal Informatics(CodeX). Roland holds both a Dr.iur. (JSD) and a Mag.iur. (JD) fromLeopold-Franzens University of Innsbruck, Austria, as well as a JSMfrom Stanford Law School.

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Many large companies have global business interests that require employees to travel to multiple countries within the same year. However, several of these same companies find it difficult to navigate the shifting rules pertaining to business visas as they cross national boundaries. How can these businesses continue to have a global presence while avoiding the potential pitfalls that can come with frequent international travel?

In this episode of Law Technology Now host Monica Bay sits down with Tracker Corp. and Pearl Travel Tech Founder Julie Pearl to discuss how tech can improve the business travel and immigration process. Julie begins by giving insights into her background and why she created her law firm and tech company. This exploration of her history gives way to an analysis of several key issues, such as communicating in real time and understanding requirement differences between countries, that global employers have relating to immigration. Julie then wraps up the conversation with an explanation of her work with, and her passion for, helping women get involved in science, technology, engineering and math.

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“He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.” - Sun Tzu

In the time leading up to litigation, many attorneys grapple with the pros and cons of litigation for their clients. It is often difficult to quantify the probability of success or what it will take to get there. In the intellectual property world, an expensive victory can be as devastating as a loss. Fortunately, data analytics are making this process more predictable by offering insights to future results based on information from the past.

In this episode of Law Technology Now, host Monica Bay interviews Lex Machina CEO Josh Becker. Together, they discuss the value of data analytics when it comes to making decisions in litigation. Organizations like Becker’s are able to collect data points that show, among many other things, the historic instances of judges ruling on certain motions, wins vs. losses of opposing counsel, and the length of proceedings. From the perspective of lawyers, this information can help craft arguments to conform with successful past efforts and help in the prediction of success. From the perspective of clients, this information can be used to hire counsel, make business decisions on prospective patents, and much more. Stay tuned for Becker’s tips for being a successful upstart in the legal industry.

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It is an exciting time for legal research. The text-based searches of yesterday are giving way to the interactive visualization of data. What this means is that lawyers will have more control over and increased awareness of their research projects. The visual ability to map out information empowers researchers to understand when enough is enough, thus saving time and reducing the cost of providing legal services

In this episode of Law Technology Now, host Bob Ambrogi talks shop with Fastcase founder and CEO Ed Walters. Together, they share exciting new developments in legal software and how it’s developed as well as how it can create jobs for lawyers rather than take them away. With the majority of people doing their computing through mobile devices, there is enormous opportunity to provide valuable legal services in new ways.

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