Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Jason Parkman, the CEO of Mitratech, an enterprise legal management software provider that helps corporate legal teams reduce their costs, collaborate, and increase their visibility. He noted that “We are in the middle of a shift in how legal departments see themselves,” and we discussed the top three best practices they should implement today to position themselves for success in the future. They include: Recognizing that technology is a force multiplier. Becoming a data-driven organization. Focusing on continuous improvement. “What worked in the past isn’t good enough going forward; new technology needs to be highly configurable and flexible, as well as easy to use,” he said.

I spoke with Dominick Esposito, a co-founder and the executive director of eLaw, a leading docketing and calendaring software tool. He is a frequent guest speaker on computers and the law for the New York and New Jersey Trial Lawyers Associations. We discussed the evolution of eLaw, the increasing usage of digital tools for case management, and the rise of electronic docketing, among other topics.

I spoke with Matthew Whalley, the head of legal risk consultancy at Berwin Leighton Paisner in London, who spent six years as part of the legal operations team at HSBC. We discussed the challenges in-house counsel face in identifying, quantifying, and reporting the business risks that arise from law and regulation, the potential consequences of failing to properly manage that legal risk, and the value of using a custom toolkit to help organizations calculate and mitigate the inherent uncertainty in their operations. Whalley will be presenting a case study – Lessons for In-house Counsel: How to Quantify and Report Legal Risk – at the 2014 Yerra Solutions Annual Conference: Connecting the Dots Between Strategy, Operations and Technology on October 15, 2014.

I spoke with Steven Toole, the vice president of marketing for Content Analyst Company, a text analytics software developer with a strong presence in the legal community. Given Toole’s focus on pipeline development, sales enablement, thought leadership, and brand equity, we discussed the evolution of analytics software, the parallels between the U.S. intelligence community and the legal technology sector, the benefits of gaining rapid insight into big content, and how professionals beyond e-discovery are using these applications.

I spoke with Michael Chasin, the co-founder of Lexicata, a new cloud-based application that automates the client intake process. We discussed the genesis of the new site, built to help solo and small firm practitioners to manage their leads and intake, how it works, and its upcoming launch in late September.

I spoke with Ian Campbell, the president of iCONECT Development, the maker of the XERA® hosted review platform. He is responsible for sales, business development, product lifecycle development, and legal service provider and partner relations. We discussed the company’s history and the evolution of eDiscovery, the need for litigation support tools to look and feel like familiar technology platforms, and key trends that he will be discussing at the upcoming Ingenious East Coast eDiscovery and Information Governance Retreat, including healthcare metrics, OLED screens, and the personal cloud, among other topics. Campbell predicts that visualization and a movement toward “glanceable information” will impact eDiscovery in 2015.

I spoke with Bruce Berman, the founder of Brody Berman Associates, a management consulting and communications firm that supports intellectual property rights holders and service providers, who is also the author of five books, including The Intangible Investor – Profiting from Intellectual Property: Companies’ Most Elusive Assets (CloseUp Media, 2014). We discussed the state of intellectual asset management, what makes intangible investors relevant today, the valuation of intangible assets, and the changing nature of innovation.

I spoke with Peter Zver, the president of British Telecom subsidiary Tikit North America, a provider of technology solutions and services to law and accounting firms around the world. We discussed the importance of timekeeping in improving client relations, growing revenue, and enhancing productivity. Zver also addressed the trends associated with passive timekeeping, the velocity of time capture, and next-generation time entry. He highlighted the forces that are shifting the landscape in this area, such as mobile technologies, alternative fee arrangements, and the need for e-billing transparency.

I spoke with Dean Morrison, a national business development manager with Summit Funding Group, an independent equipment leasing company focused on supporting legal technology initiatives at small and mid-sized law firms. We discussed how financing for law firms differs from other industries, how the need for financing is evolving given the move toward cloud computing, and the most common mistakes that law firms make when financing their technology.

I spoke with Jim Merrifield, the Director of Information Governance for FileTrail, a records and information management solutions company. He is also the co-founder of the Information Governance Conference, which will have its inaugural event in September. We discussed his role at FileTrail, the genesis of the Information Governance Conference, the inherent challenges associated with producing industry events, and advice for those interested in applying information governance in their organizations. Merrifield suggested that legal teams identify quick IG wins using live metrics, maintain a plan B, and avoid reading too much into best practices.