Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Monica Harris, a product business manager for Cellebrite, a digital intelligence software company that provides tools to collect, review, analyze and manage digital data for law enforcement agencies, enterprises, and providers of services. We discussed its new report, Changes, Challenges, and Choices in Managing Modern Mobile Collections: Harnessing New Technology to Enhance E-Discovery, and new developments in remote mobile collections that law department leaders should be prepared to address in 2023.

I spoke with Holger Zscheyge and Zohar Fisher. Zohar is the founder of Tech&Law in Israel, which is the legal tech department at his consulting firm, Robus, and Holger is the managing director of Infotropic Media, a publisher and provider of information services located in Moscow, and also serves as the president of the European Legal Tech Association, a consortium of law firms, legal technology companies, and individuals focused on driving the growth of legal tech in Europe, which is hosting its annual ELTA conference in Tel-Aviv on November 29th, for which Zohar is the Israeli ambassador. We discussed the conference, what attendees can expect, and how legal technology in Europe is evolving.

I spoke with Marc Zamsky, the CEO of Cimplifi, about the 2022 E-Discovery Unfiltered report and expectations for e-discovery in 2023.

I spoke with Erika Segal, the brand manager for LawPay, a legal payments platform. We discussed how payment options for legal services have evolved, whether legal professionals should consider offering a Buy Now, Pay Later option to their clients, and where the development of new payment options is headed.

I spoke with Albert Tawil, the founder & CEO of Lateral Hub, an online job platform that allows attorneys to browse and apply for job openings at top-tier law firms, and for law firms to review and hire candidates directly. We discussed trends in the legal recruiting market and advice for potential lateral candidates.

I spoke with Daniel Porus. the Chief Commercial Officer at Legatics, a legal transaction management platform. We discussed the key transaction management challenges that legal teams are addressing, what legal professionals can do to accelerate change, and how legal transaction management is evolving.

I spoke with Aria Nejad, in-house counsel with Lex Machina, a legal analytics company. We discussed how legal analytics can provide attorneys with a competitive advantage, ways that law firms can use legal analytics to enhance their services, and how APIs are driving value and data integration in legal.

I spoke with Freddie Hustler, the Head of International Sales at Litera, a software company that provides document lifecycle, deal management, and firm intelligence solutions to the legal profession. We discussed Litera’s sponsorship of the keynote at the Legal Management Forum in Madrid, what is driving the focus on innovation and law firm transformation in Europe, the common challenges that law firms in the US and the EU share, how global law firms are aligning the way their teams around the world leverage technology, and best practices for global teams to collaborate and drive change.

I spoke with Peter Carayiannis, a partner with EY Law and the author of Corporate Counsel: Expert Advice on Becoming a Successful In-House Lawyer. We discussed the challenges that new law department leaders face, the qualities that make a general counsel successful, and how in-house legal departments are evolving.

I spoke with Tom O’Connor, a consultant, speaker, and writer focused on innovative litigation support systems. He is a member of the global advisory board for the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists and the author of Ediscovery for the Rest of Us. We discussed the most common e-discovery mistakes and how the pandemic impacted e-discovery.

I spoke with Varun Mehta, the CEO of Factor, a provider of complex legal work at scale. We discussed how integrated law differs from traditional alternative legal services, the companies or industries to which an integrated law approach is best suited, and how to align software and services to accommodate client needs.

I spoke with Sean Greaney, the general counsel of HyperDraft, a legal document automation platform. We discussed how advancements in document automation have affected the overall development of legal technology and career advice in making the transition from law firm partner to startup general counsel.

I spoke with Hiro Notaney, the chief marketing officer, at Sirion Labs, a contract management software platform. We discussed the advantages of leveraging contract management software, how the growth in this sector reflect changes in how law firms and law departments manage their agreements, and where contract management is headed.

I spoke with Jodie Zerega, the founder of Zerega Consulting, a recruiting firm that has placed attorneys in law firms, corporations, and non-profit organizations, and the developer of the Attorney Jobs app. We discussed current trends in legal recruiting, tips for attorneys searching for a lateral opportunity, and the direction of legal hiring.

I spoke with Sean West, the co-founder of Hence Technologies, an external counsel management platform. We discussed the most significant risks that corporate legal departments are facing in 2022, where corporate legal teams are driving change, and how corporate legal teams integrate data analytics into their technology portfolios.

I spoke with Ross Guberman, the founder of Legal Writing Pro and the developer of BriefCatch, a legal editing software tool. We discussed how BriefCatch reflects the broad application of technology in the legal profession, whether the way legal professionals draft content has changed, and how legal drafting is evolving.

I spoke with Simon Taylor, the CEO of HYCU, a multi-cloud backup and recovery SaaS business. We discussed best practices for leading through a growth phase, proven techniques for managing teams working on remote and hybrid schedules, and how the backup and data recovery sector is evolving.

I spoke with Leah Del Percio, the co-founder and CEO of Trustate, an estate administration platform. We discussed the genesis of Trustate, how it helps lawyers and law firms with their probate and estate administration practices, adapting the skills of a lawyer to the role of CEO of a legal tech company, and the opportunities for growth in legal technology.

I spoke with Laura Keily, the founder and CEO of Immediation, a dispute resolution platform. We discussed how the use of video collaboration tools has changed over the past few years, the advantages and disadvantages of remote advocacy, transitioning from practicing law to becoming a legal tech founder, and where video collaboration and dispute resolution platforms are headed.

During the 2022 International Legal Technology Association conference, I spoke with Athena Strasel of Casepoint, Daniel Porus of Legatics, Horace Wu of Syntheia, Jeff Pfeifer of LexisNexis, and Mark Davey of Ricoh USA about the technology-related challenges that law firms are facing in the current environment.