Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Brian Schrader, the president and CEO of BIA, a provider of e-discovery services and digital forensics. We discussed 2021 trends impacting the e-discovery sector, permanent changes from the pandemic, the challenges that collaboration platforms pose to litigants, and the shifting regulatory landscape for data privacy.

spoke with Rick Hellers and Bill Bice, the co-founder and CEO, respectively of nQ Zebraworks, formed from the merger of Zebraworks and nQueue, which provides scanning and routing, print management. cost recovery technology, and cloud-based integration tools for the business and practice of law. We discussed legal industry surprises during the pandemic, how firms should manage their return to a physical office, techniques for extending a firm’s technology infrastructure, where legal teams are focused in 2021.

I spoke with Esther Cho, a shareholder and the chair of the executive committee at Keesal, Young & Logan, who also serves on the firm’s diversity and inclusion committee. We discussed balancing firm leadership with an active legal practice, how the firm is managing the transition from remote to in-person activities, maintaining firm culture in a virtual environment, and facilitating meaningful conversations about diversity and inclusion.

I spoke with Dean Sappey, the president and co-founder of DocsCorp, a software company that develops a range of document productivity and security tools for law firms. We discussed DocsCorp’s global strategy, its acquisitions of Docuble and Verowave Technologies, features that clients are requesting, and strategies for approaching growth in an uncertain business climate.

I spoke with Rick Merrill, the founder and CEO of Gavelytics, a litigation analytics company. We discussed why research into litigation analytics has become so attractive, how the approach to gathering and sharing data has changed, and the challenges associated with transitioning from practicing as a large firm lawyer to starting a legal tech company.

I spoke with Matt Kunkel, the co-founder and CEO of LogicGate, a SaaS platform that operationalizes regulatory, risk, and compliance programs. We discussed the genesis of LogicGate, the risk and compliance challenges that organizations are facing as a result of the pandemic, the impact of automation on risk and compliance, and how the regulatory landscape will change in 2021.

I spoke with Varun Mehta, the CEO of Factor, an organization focused on performing complex legal work at scale. We discussed the challenges that Factor helps clients solve, the competitive landscape in managed services, opportunities and challenges in the current distributed workplace, and the pandemic-induced developments that could remain permanent.

I spoke with Chris Dahl, the executive vice president of product development and advisory services at Lighthouse, a provider of e-discovery and information governance technology and services. We discussed Lighthouse Prism, the company’s new artificial intelligence and big data analytics platform, the biggest e-discovery review challenge clients are facing now, how the legal community is generally using AI tools, and where the use of AI in legal is headed in 2021.

I spoke with Jim Vint, a co-founder and the chief revenue officer at Breakwater Solutions, a provider of consulting, managed services, and technology for data risk. We discussed the importance of combining consulting with managed services and technology, how the pandemic has changed the way legal teams are approaching e-discovery and data risk, and the increased use of artificial intelligence in litigation support.

I spoke with Lutz-Christian Wolff, the dean of the faculty of law for the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the author of the newly published book, The Art of Law Teaching. We discussed the impact of replacing face-to-face teaching with remote learning, how a teacher can incorporate their personality, humor, and energy into online classes, and how law school needs to adapt to a world where machines are performing more legal tasks.