Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Kevin Walker and Bryan Davis, the CEO and CTO, respectively, of Centari, a startup building what they call a generative AI "second brain" for deal lawyers. We discussed the benefits of a generative AI "second brain" for lawyers, the difference between unstructured and structured data, ways that Centari resolves generative AI's hallucination risk, and how legal AI is evolving.

I spoke with Robert Ingalls, the founder and CEO of LawPods, a podcast production and marketing agency for law firms. We discussed the value of a podcast for a law firm, the benefits of podcasting for an individual lawyer, ways a podcast host can grow an audience quickly, and the effect of generative AI on podcasting.

I spoke with Joe McSpadden, the Senior Vice President of Williams Lea, a business support services company for the investment banking, professional services, and legal industries. We discussed the trends identified in The Future of the Legal Workplace report, how law firms are reassessing their business structures, and ways they can create a competitive advantage with AI.

I spoke with James MacGregor, the founder of Ethical eDiscovery, a boutique consulting firm that captures and reviews digital evidence. We discussed how the UK and European e-discovery markets differ from the US, the benefits of working with the UK Chapter for ACEDS and the Litigation Special Interest Group for ILTA Europe, and best practices for demystifying e-discovery pricing.

I spoke with Colin Levy, the Director of Legal and Evangelist for Malbek, a provider of Contract Lifecycle Management software, and the author of The Legal Tech Ecosystem: Innovation, Advancement & the Future of Law Practice, a new book about the evolving legal technology sector. We discussed starting a career in legal technology, the skills that legal professionals need to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving legal sector, and how legal tech facilitates better decision-making.

I spoke with Karthi Purushothaman and Achal Tandon, both management consultants, who are the co-founders of InstaXpert, a mobile app to help individuals find experts in professional services, including lawyers, accountants, and financial planners, among others. We discussed the importance of providing immediate access to professional advice and how the democratization of professional services is evolving.

I had the privilege of facilitating a year-end roundtable discussion with leading CEOs in legal about opportunities, challenges, and the road ahead. They included Josh Baxter of NetDocuments, Josh Blandi of UniCourt, Nicole Clark of Trellis, Aviva Cuyler of JD Supra, Rudy DeFelice of KP Labs, Debbie Foster of Affinity Consulting, Kelly Griswold of Onna, Sheryl Hoskins of Litera, Kelly Lake of CEB, Daniel Lewis of LegalOn, Julie Lewis of Digital Mountain, Anna McGrane of PacerPro, Early Stephens of Actionstep, Matt Sunderman of Harbor, and Eric Thurston of SurePoint.

I spoke with Alex Sappington, the Co-CEO of Page Vault, a legal web capture software and services provider. We discussed how the collection of public electronically stored information as evidence differs from the collection of private ESI, the implications and challenges that come with collecting public data, and the matters where public data is most commonly used as a significant source of evidence.

In this 15th episode of Charting Change in Legal, Caroline Hill, Editor and Publisher of Legal IT Insider, and I discussed deploying new technology in 2024, empowering public speaking, and expanding in-person engagement.

I spoke with Laura Frederick, the founder and CEO of How to Contract, a provider of contract training for lawyers and business professionals, and the creator of ContractsCon, scheduled for January 2024. We discussed the challenges associated with contract training, the value of training-tainment, the 2024 ContractsCon event, the You Can Contract Show podcast, and the book "Practical Tips on How to Contract."