Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with George Burgess, the founder and CEO of education app developer, Gojimo. He started the company when he was 17 and I plan to feature his inspiring perspective in the 2nd Edition of The Opportunity Maker, which will be out later this year. In the video below, he shares some networking tips and advice for those interested in creating something new in 2015. “Get out there and do it…there is nothing holding you back,” he says. “You’ll learn more from actually trying it than waiting and suggesting to yourself that you will do it later on in life, which never really happens.”

I spoke with Mark Noel the Managing Director of Professional Services for Catalyst, a provider of litigation support software and services. Before joining Catalyst, Mark co-founded an e-discovery software start-up and was an intellectual property litigator with Latham & Watkins in Washington, DC. We discussed the evolution of technology-assisted review, how to properly define it, why continuous active learning and contextual diversity sampling are critical, and uses of this application beyond document review.

I spoke with Joe Borstein, the global director of the law firm division at Pangea3, a legal process outsourcer. Borstein is also the co-author of the bimonthly alt.legal column for Above The Law. We discussed his role at Pangea3, a Thomson Reuters business, and the growing popularity of alternative managed legal solutions, which the company’s extensive network of full-time attorneys provides to a range of firms, from small offices to the AmLaw 100, and many of the Fortune 1000.

I spoke with Frederick Gyebi-Ababio, the founder and director of the LawTech Europe Congress, a conference and exhibition that has been hosted in Prague, Czech Republic for the past three years. We discussed the event and its genesis, the key trends in legal technology (including e-discovery, cyber forensics, big data, and privacy), and his vision for the event in 2015 (including a possible move from Prague to Dubai or Berlin), among others.

I spoke with Lawrence Cunningham, a leading authority on corporate governance and culture, professor of corporate law at GW Law School (my alma mater), and the author of many business books, including his newest: Berkshire Beyond Buffett: The Enduring Value of Values. We discussed the genesis of the book, professor Cunningham’s research strategy, and the key elements of Berkshire Hathaway’s culture that stand out, including integrity, its commitment to entrepreneurship, and its long-term view of success, among many others. Professor Cunningham is in the middle of a national tour, where he is being joined by Berkshire Hathaway executives and investors from across the country.

I spoke with Phil Homburger, the president and CEO of Synaptec Software, the maker of LawBase, a leading case and matter management solution. We discussed the genesis of LawBase and the evolution of the legal profession since its founding 35 years ago. Homburger remarked on the shift from word processes and PCs to networks and the cloud. He also addressed how legal teams can navigate the divide between applications that focus on a single challenge and those that provide an all-in-one solution given the ‘consumerization’ of technology.

I spoke with Richard Spies, the president and CEO of Lucid IQ, the maker of CaseManagerPro, which is a case and matter management system used by law firms and corporate legal departments nationwide. We discussed the genesis of CaseManagerPro, how firms and corporate law departments are systematizing their approach to complex matters, and the need for readily available information to increase performance.

I spoke with Sandy Serkes, the co-founder, president, and CEO of Valora Technologies, a provider of document, data, and content analytics solutions for corporate, legal, and government clients worldwide. We discussed the genesis of Valora, why data mining has become such a hot topic, the art of “gene sequencing” a document to find key hidden details, and cost-efficient techniques for locating information. “Not knowing what data you are holding is a liability,” said Serkes.

I spoke with Rajitha Boer, the founder and director of Yerra Solutions, a professional services company supporting European and Asian corporate law departments. Boer is also the producer of the Yerra Conference, which is taking place in London on October 15th and 16th. We discussed the challenges that in-house counsel and administrative leaders are facing, key strategies for addressing them, and techniques for leveraging technology to enhance visibility and transparency within a global organization.

I spoke with Jerome Raguin, the founder & director of UK-based Lex Connect, a solutions directory for in-house law departments worldwide. We discussed the genesis of Lex Connect, how vendors and in-house counsel are using it, and the key European legal trends on which he will be focusing at the 2014 Yerra Conference in London on October 13, 2014.