Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Alex Nwaka, a principal with Touchdown Ventures, which provides venture capital services on behalf of leading corporations. We discussed the model of providing venture capital as a service, why law firms are investing in venture capital, how they are deploying their capital, and the challenges of supporting legal tech companies.

I spoke with Aileen Schultz, a Toronto-based business strategist, the co-founder of the Global Legal Hackathon, and the founder and president of the World Legal Summit. We discussed the genesis of the World Legal Summit, its mission, and how it differs from other legal events and organizations.

I spoke with Neil Sahota, an IBM Master Inventor, an advisor to the United Nations, and the co-author of Own the A.I. Revolution: Unlock Your Artificial Intelligence Strategy to Disrupt Your Competition (McGraw-Hill Education, May 22, 2019). We discussed his inspiration for writing the book, how legal professionals can unlock their artificial intelligence strategy, ways to filter out the noise, and tips for maximizing its benefits.

I spoke with Josh Hass, the Head of eDiscovery and Information Governance at Charles River Associates, a global consulting firm focused on forensics. We discussed the first anniversary of the GDPR implementation date, how that regulation has changed the way organizations approach privacy and information governance, similar state-specific requirements, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, ways that the European restrictions compare to the various U.S. initiatives, the e-discovery advantages to an organization that proactively focuses on its portfolio of data, and where the intersection of e-discovery and data privacy is headed.

I spoke with Don Fuchs, the vice president of sales in North America for HighQ, a software platform that streamlines collaboration, legal service delivery, legal operations, and client engagement. In 2003, he co-founded Legal Anywhere, a provider of secure collaboration solutions for law firms, which HighQ acquired in the summer of 2018. We discussed the renewed interest and use of intranets within law firms, what they are trying to achieve with their intranets, and how law firms are using their intranets to add value to the employee and client experience.

I spoke with Ronny Loew, the National Sales Director for ProCirrus Technologies, a cloud-hosting provider of end-to-end IT services for law firms. We discussed why law firms are embracing the cloud, how they can ensure the safety of their client data during a migration, ways to evaluate cloud vendors, and where cloud adoption is headed.

I spoke with Travis Luther, the founder of Law Father, a legal technology and trial support firm, which is also the developer of trialline.net. We discussed the genesis of Law Father, the release of Trial Line, how technology has changed the way lawyers tell stories in the courtroom, ways that it has improved how they organize cases and develop strategies, and where case management technology is headed.

I spoke with Ryan Anderson, the founder and CEO of Filevine, a case management system for attorneys. We discussed the genesis of Filevine, how it differs from similar tools on the market, why a case management system matters, how client expectations have impacted the modern practice of law, ways that better technology can facilitate adoption, and advice for transitioning from a practicing attorney to the founder of a legal tech startup.

I spoke with Matthew Volm, the co-founder and CEO of Tali, a voice-enabled time capture software tool. We discussed the genesis of Tali, how it works, the company’s announcement that it would be closing on June 30th, what legal tech startups should know before getting into the sector, tips for sifting through the hype and maintaining focus, and what’s next for the Tali team.

I spoke with Josh Taylor, an attorney and the lead content strategist at Smokeball, a practice management software platform for small law firms. We discussed how technology can help a law firm increase efficiency and streamline communication, the biggest hurdle that legal professionals need to overcome in order to implement new technologies, the advantages that multi-national legal tech companies enjoy. and where the use of technology in solo practices and small law firms is headed.