Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Jonathan Reed, the co-founder and CEO of AdvoLogix, a cloud-based legal case and matter management solution for law firms and legal departments. We discussed the most pressing matter management challenges that law firms and corporate legal departments are facing today, best practices for overcoming them, the benefits that legal teams can expect from streamlining their matter management, and how it affects their overall business processes.

I spoke with Deborah Farone, a law firm marketing advisor who served as the Chief Marketing Officer for Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Debevoise & Plimpton. She is the author of Best Practices in Law Firm Business Development and Marketing (Practising Law Institute, 2019), which is based on more than 60 interviews with leading law firm leaders and marketers, general counsel, and innovators in the profession.We discussed the genesis of Best Practices in Law firm Business Development and Marketing, the interesting discussions in the book, the legal industry changes that law firm leaders and marketers need to address, how they are incorporating innovation, their strategic and practice planning mistakes, and how law firms can create a distinct brand in the current competitive climate.

I spoke with Andrew Mellett, the co-founder and CEO of Plexus, the maker of Legal Gateway, a legal operating system used by a wide range of in-house legal teams. We discussed the genesis of Plexus, how the team identified the need for a legal-specific operating system, trends that are impacting the provision of legal services, how legal challenges differ around the world, the impact of artificial intelligence having on the legal industry, and ways that the role of the general counsel is evolving.

I spoke with Jennifer Andres and Michael Gibeault, a Senior Review Manager and the Senior Director of Legal Services, respectively, at TCDI, a provider of litigation management and e-discovery software and services, which offers a Military Spouse Managed Review Program. We discussed the genesis of TCDI’s Military Spouse Managed Review Program, its impact, how this model of leveraging remote talent reflects the changing nature of legal services, the mechanics of participation, the response from clients, and other ways that corporate legal teams and law firms can collaborate with military spouses.

I spoke with Greg Garman, the co-founder of LAWCLERK, an online marketplace of freelance lawyers, and a founding partner with Garman Turner Gordon. We discussed the genesis of LAWCLERK, how Garman balances his LAWCLERK responsibilities with those of a practicing lawyer, the type of firms for which LAWCLERK’s freelancers are most appropriate, the projects that LAWCLERK’s freelancers can handle, the risks and advantages associated with hiring freelance attorneys over full-time associates, and how the freelance market for attorneys will impact the profession in 2019.

I spoke with Parkash Khatri and Cat Pray, the director of global discovery services and review manager, respectively, for Blackstone Discovery, an e-discovery solutions provider that covers the entire range of the EDRM. We discussed Blackstone’s focus on the pharmaceutical sector, how it manages document review teams, the litigation challenges that companies will face in 2019, ways they can overcome them, the application of predictive coding, and where e-discovery is headed.

I spoke with Vikram Savkar, the Vice President and General Manager of International and Higher Education Markets at Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory. We discussed how Wolters Kluwer works with law schools and students, why it created the Leading Edge Prize for Legal Education Innovation, how law schools are driving innovation to expand educational and career opportunities for students and how law schools can help their students prepare for life after graduation.

I spoke with Jack Newton, the co-founder and CEO of Clio, a leading practice management software platform at Legaltech 2019. We discussed the genesis of Clio, its tenth anniversary, the launch of Clio Grow, how companies can simultaneously manage growth while maintaining a unique culture, how expectations of legal technology have changed over the past decade, and the future of legal technology.

I spoke with Joseph Escobio, the Chief Information Officer for Klinedinst, a West Coast-based law firm, where he oversees all IT, e-discovery, and data services for the firm’s five offices. We discussed his role at Klinedinst, the IT challenges that law firms and legal professionals likely to face in 2019, how they differ from what they’ve seen in the past, ways that technology leaders within law firms can structure change, how law firms can align their efforts with their outside providers, and where legal IT is headed.

Thank you to the following individuals for sharing their perspectives with me on the third day of Legaltech 2019:

Chris Bright, VP of Marketing, Zapproved