Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Tony Donofrio, the chief technology officer for Veritext Legal Solutions, a company that provides deposition and litigation support solutions. We discussed pre-pandemic impressions of remote depositions, challenges that legal professionals needed to overcome when conducting remote depositions early in the pandemic, the experience between remote and in-person proceedings, and where the sector is headed.

I spoke with Kenya Parrish-Dixon, the general counsel and chief operating officer for Empire Technologies Risk Management Group, a cybersecurity, information governance, e-discovery, and managed review consulting company. She is also a member of the global advisory board for the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists. We discussed how the pandemic has impacted the perception of cybersecurity, information governance, and e-discovery, and the Association of Corporate Counsel’s new Data Steward Program.

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.

I 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.