Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Rebecca Yoder, the director of legal technology for SpringCM, a contract lifecycle management software provider. We discussed her role at SpringCM, the adoption level of contract lifecycle management in legal, how SpringCM helps the CLM efforts of in-house legal teams, the distinction in CLM usage in buy-side and sell-side of contracts, and her advice for professionals interested in CLM.

I spoke with Stacie Neeter and Jim Mitchell, the co-leaders of the legal management consulting group at Stout, an independent advisory firm. We discussed the focus of the legal management consulting group, why legal management consulting has become so important, how technology is impacting modern law departments, ways that corporate legal teams are evolving, and the most significant trends that are driving change in the legal industry.

I spoke with Zelda Owens, the managing director of Attorney Placements for the Glenmont Group, a leading legal industry recruiting firm. She has served as director of Women in eDiscovery’s New York City chapter and as the chairperson of The Masters Conference, which just held an event in Manhattan. We discussed her role at the Glenmont Group, how the recruiting process has changed, how employment candidates can distinguish themselves in an increasingly competitive market, the areas in which technology is displacing human talent, ways that law firms and law departments can build successful teams, and where legal recruiting is headed.

I spoke with Ian Gauci, a founding partner with GTG Advocates, a law firm of 22 professionals in Malta. He serves on Malta’s National Blockchain Task Force and is one of the drafters of a new law on smart contracts, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies, and advises the government and financial institutions on fintech and blockchain matters. We discussed why distributed ledger technology like blockchain has become so popular in Malta, the unique characteristics of the Maltese legal community that fuel adoption of new technology thrive, how lawyers can take advantage of blockchain and other DLT tools, the risks of doing so, and where this sector is headed in Europe.

I spoke with Imran Jaswal, a managing director at Duff and Phelps who serves as the commercial lead for the company’s new CyberClarity360 solution. We discussed the genesis of CyberClarity360, factors that impact an organization’s cyber risk profile, how CyberClarity360 helps third-party vendors improve their cybersecurity, and ways that it is being used to navigate GDPR.

I spoke with Yves Lefere, the commercial director at Knowliah, a Belgium-based provider of a new digital workplace platform for corporate legal departments in Europe. We discussed what Knowliah offers the legal market, how its technology has evolved since it was founded two decades ago, the overall appetite for legal technology in Belgium, the challenges European corporate legal departments are trying to overcome with legal technology, and where the European legal tech market is headed in the next year.

I spoke with Esther Dediashvili, the legal knowledge manager and head of legal technology implementation at Fischer Behar Chen Well Orion & Co, one of the largest law firms in Israel. We discussed the impact of knowledge management in Israeli law firms, its significance, how technology contributes to legal knowledge management, and the future of legal technology in Israel.

I spoke with Doug Geller, the founder and president of GDSI, a software company that specializes in solving challenges in the legal industry by developing custom tools and augmenting existing applications for law firms, legal departments, and legal software vendors focused on document and records management, case management, and practice management. We discussed the genesis of GDSI, the benefits of writing custom software, and where the market for custom software is headed.

I spoke with Doug Geller, the founder and president of GDSI, a software company that specializes in solving challenges in the legal industry by developing custom tools and augmenting existing applications for law firms, legal departments, and legal software vendors focused on document and records management, case management, and practice management. We discussed the genesis of GDSI, the benefits of writing custom software, and where the market for custom software is headed.