Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Jon Squire, the chief marketing officer at ContractPodAI, a provider of contract intelligence software, about the rise of AI-powered contract management, the company’s growth, and its mission at the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium 2018 Institute.

I spoke with Shmuli Goldberg, the vice president of marketing for LawGeex, an artificial intelligence tool for contract review automation. We discussed how LawGeex works, its recent research study – AI vs. Lawyers – comparing the performance of its technology with 20 human reviewers, how the perception and acceptance of automation has changed, whether an AI tool can mimic the talent, experience, and judgment of a practicing lawyer, and if lawyers are still relevant.

I spoke with Dan Carmel, the chief marketing officer at iManage, a leading provider of work product management solutions for law firms, corporate legal departments, and other professional services firms. We discussed the evolution of iManage, its acquisition of RAVN and how the company is incorporating artificial intelligence into its platform, why AI is so important for providers of legal and professional services, the key themes of its upcoming user conference – ConnectLive 2018 – on May 3rd and 4th, and where the sector is headed.

I spoke with Larry Bridgesmith, an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt Law School and the co-creator of the school’s Summit on Law & Innovation (SoLI), which will take place on April 30th in Nashville. We discussed the genesis of the Summit on Law & Innovation, how this differs from other law school-sponsored conferences, and the benefits of cognitive diversity and radical collaboration.

I spoke with Derek Duarte, the president of BlackStone Discovery, which integrates e-discovery, consulting, forensics, case management, and technology development for law firms and corporate legal teams worldwide, with a focus on the West Coast of the U.S. and Asia. We discussed key trends in electronic discovery, where organizations are incorporating innovation into their discovery processes, how they can negotiate the scope of their discovery requests, how metadata impacts e-discovery strategy, and where e-discovery support is headed.

I spoke with Bill Hamilton, a legal skills professor at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law and the executive director of the UF Law E-Discovery Project, which is hosting the UF Law E-Discovery Conference on Thursday, March 29th. Bill practiced with Holland & Knight in Miami and Tampa for 27 years and at Quarles & Brady in Tampa for six, where he served as the firm’s national e-discovery partner. We discussed the UF Law E-Discovery Conference on Thursday, March 29th, the Careerfest component of the event, the consortium of professors meeting after the conference to discuss e-discovery education in law schools, and how individuals can remotely take advantage of the content (as the law school will be live streaming and recording the sessions).

I spoke with Michelle Desachy, the vibe manager for the Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya, Mexico. We discussed her role at the facility, the importance of maintaining a unified culture, and the value of understanding client interests to constantly improve customer service.

I spoke with Joe Garber, the global head of product marketing for information management and governance at Micro Focus, a global software company that among many other tools, develops security and risk solutions, as well as predictive analytics. We discussed in the increased interest in predictive analytics, how professionals are approaching security and risk in 2018, the challenges associated with encouraging enterprises to adopt stronger information governance strategies, and what the rise of tools like those offered by Micro Focus indicate about the trajectory of the legal industry.

I spoke with Keith Lee, a lawyer, author, and blogger in Birmingham, Alabama. He has been blogging at Associates Mind for eight years and recently created LawyerSmack, a private community for attorneys interested in discussing practice-related issues with their peers in real time. We discussed the genesis of LawyerSmack, how it works, the community’s most active groups, what is driving its popularity, the surprising benefits of its creation, and what its growth indicates about the changing nature of communication in the legal profession.

I spoke with David Cowen, the president and managing director of The Cowen Group, a staffing and recruiting firm focusing exclusively on the eDiscovery, litigation support, privacy, security, and information governance sectors. His firm also produces the Summit on Legal Innovation and Disruption in various cities across the U.S We discussed the genesis of the SOLID summit, why the legal industry so focused on innovation and disruption this year, how individuals can give themselves an advantage in an increasingly competitive job market, and how events like SOLID capture the evolution of the legal profession.